Dr Dre tops the Forbes's list of hip-hop earners in 2012

Here's Forbes Top Ten Hip-Hop Earners 2012 are: 1. Dr. Dre - $110m (Â£70m) 2. Diddy - $45m (Â£28m) 3. Jay-Z - $38m (Â£24m) 4. Kanye West - $35m (Â£22m) 5. Lil Wayne - $27m (Â£17m)

Rap mogul Dr Dre, which has not released a new album in the past decade has recently been named the biggest earning star in hip-hop, ahead of the likes of big names such as Nicki Minaj and Jay-Z.

Rapper's last album was 1999's 2001, and has now beat his long-time collaborator and friend Eminem to number one with earnings of $110 million before tax.

Dre's earnings over the last 12 months have come largely from his range of headphones, Beats Electronics. A percentage of the company was sold to HTC for $309 million last year. Diddy is second in the list with earnings of $45 million, while Beyonce's husband Jay-Z was just behind with before tax earnings of $38 million.

Female rapper Nicki Minaj came eighth with earnings of $15.5 million over the last 12 months. Nicki Minaj was in eighth place with $15.5 million and Eminem was ninth with earnings of $15 million. The Forbes countdown takes into account artists' record sales as well as their own businesses and endorsements.

Here's Forbes Top Ten Hip-Hop Earners 2012 are:

1. Dr. Dre - $110m (£70m)

2. Diddy - $45m (£28m)

3. Jay-Z - $38m (£24m)

4. Kanye West - $35m (£22m)

5. Lil Wayne - $27m (£17m)

6. Drake - $20.5m (£13m)

7. Birdman - $20m (£12.5m)

8. Nicki Minaj - $15.5m (£10m)

9. Eminem - $15m (£9.5m)

10. Ludacris - $12m (£7.5m)

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