What Is Iggy Azalea's Net Worth?
Iggy Azalea is an Australian rapper and musician who has a net worth of $25 million. Iggy Azalea rose to international fame with her 2014 hit single "Fancy" featuring Charli XCX, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Her debut studio album, "The New Classic," was released the same year and included other successful singles like "Black Widow" and "Work." Azalea's unique flow and confident persona quickly made her one of the most prominent female rappers in the music industry. As of this writing, she has sold more than 50 million albums and 22 million singles worldwide.
Throughout her career, Azalea collaborated with numerous high-profile artists, such as Ariana Grande, Britney Spears, and Jennifer Lopez. She also faced controversy and criticism regarding her lyrics, alleged cultural appropriation, and public feuds with other celebrities. Despite the challenges, Azalea continued to release music, including her second studio album, "In My Defense," in 2019 and a series of EPs and singles. She has won several awards, including an American Music Award, an MTV Video Music Award, and a People's Choice Award.
As we detail in the sections below, Iggy has made a number of claims about her wealth and investments over the years. Some of which may very well be true! But so far they are mostly unconfirmed. For example, in a May 2024 Twitter post, Iggy claimed to have:
- Made $15 million selling her royalties
- Is a shareholder in Poppy soda and Magic Spoon cereal
- Is the founder of a tech startup that has raised $7 million in venture capital
- Owns 25% of a telecom company
- Made more than any other person on OnlyFans in 2023
- Owns an OnlyFans management agency
OnlyFans Earnings
Iggy joined OnlyFans in January 2023. At the end of the year, various reports alleged she made more on the platform than any other performer. According to one widely circulated rumor on social media, Iggy earned $48 million on OF in 2023. That rumor can be traced to a Toronto-based lifestyle blog called Narcity, which itself was quoting an estimate that originated from a website that sells adult toys. The same site claimed that Cardi B makes $45 million per year and Blac Chyna makes $35 million per year. NONE of these numbers are remotely accurate. According to testimony given in April 2022 by Blac Chyna herself in a lawsuit against the Kardashian family, she made a total of $1 million off OnlyFans at that point after being on the platform for over a year.
Iggy has claimed she made more on OnlyFans than anyone else on the platform in 2023. This may be true, but it's unsubstantiated. Iggy also claimed in a social media post that she owns an agency that manages other OnlyFans models.
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Catalog Sale
In December 2022 it was revealed that Iggy sold her portion of her song publishing royalties for a reported 8-figure sum. In social posts, Iggy has claimed she "cleared $15 million" from the sale. After the sale was made public, Azalea herself confirmed the news on her official Twitter account, replying to a tweet from a fan expressing concern that the deal might leave her "like Taylor [Swift]," without control of her original master recordings:
"Taylor did not profit from that sale. I sold a portion of my catalog to who I wanted, for an amount that means I don't have to work another day in my life. I love y'all down but the masters conversation is a little beyond most of your understanding of business."
She continued in another post:
"I sold a portion of my catalog to who I wanted, for an amount that means I don't have to work another day in my life."
Tax Issues
In April 2016, Iggy experienced the stuff of IRS nightmares when the government agency hit her with a tax lien for almost $400,000 in unpaid taxes for 2014. Four months later, the IRS delivered another, probably scary-looking piece of mail to the Azalea household: another lien, this one for last year, totaling almost $270,000.
Those exact figures are $269,980.20 for 2015 and $391,056.55 for the year before that, which brings the grand total of back taxes she owes Uncle Sam (minus any payments she's made since April) to $661,036.75. Ouch. Even with a net worth of $10 million, getting a bill for well over half a million dollars has to sting.
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Early Life
Iggy Azalea was born Amethyst Amelia Kelly on June 7, 1990, in Sydney, Australia. Iggy Azalea is one of the few rising female MCs on the hip-hop scene. But as a white girl from rural Australia, she's openly admitted to being something of an outsider in the world of rap. Azalea spent most of her childhood in Mullumbimby, New South Wales, living humbly with her father, Brendan Kelly, a painter and comic artist, and her mother, Tanya, a hotel cleaner.
Iggy started rapping at the age of 14, inspired by the girl group TLC and rapper Left Eye Lopez, and even formed a group with two other girls from her neighborhood. Soon she quit the all-female band due to a lack of the other girls' interest in the group. Having a burning desire to move to America, Iggy dropped out of high school and started to work with her mother.
In 2006, she came to the United States right before she turned 16. It was supposed to be only a holiday, but eventually, she decided to stay and told her parents she was not coming back. Iggy obtained her GED and got a visa waiver, and she returned to Australia every three months to renew it in order to remain in the U.S. legally. Azalea first stayed in Miami, Florida, followed by a brief stint in Houston, Texas, and a few-year stay in Atlanta, Georgia. She worked illegally in the United States until she was granted a five-year O visa in February 2013. Iggy Azalea came up with her unique stage name by putting together the name of her dog, Iggy, with the street she grew up on, Azalea.
(Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
Career
In 2010, Iggy settled in Los Angeles, California, where she still resides. Meanwhile, she met rapper Jefe "Wine-O" Wine, who became her boyfriend and subsequently signed Azalea to his independent record label, Wine-O Music. After they broke up, Wine-O still released Azalea's music via iTunes under his label. In 2011, she started to upload her freestyle videos on YouTube. Azalea's career saw a major rise when her controversial songs "Pussy" and "Two Times" went viral on the video-sharing site. In September 2011, Azalea released her first full-length project, a mixtape entitled "Ignorant Art." It was followed by "TrapGold," her second mixtape that came a year later. In 2012, Azalea made history by becoming the first non-American female rapper to be featured on the cover of "XXL's" annual "Top 10 Freshman" issue. She began to hint at her debut studio album, "The New Classic," and said she would release it once she obtained a major record deal. Azalea reached out to rapper T.I. for some artistic direction and input on her debut album. She signed with Grand Hustle Records in 2012 and continued to work on her new album, collaborate with fellow artists, and perform. She embarked on a North American tour with Rita Ora and headlined a tour in Europe to support "TrapGold."
It was announced that Azalea had signed with Mercury Records on February 13, 2013. She released the music video for her debut single "Work" on March 13, 2013. "Work" immediately became a hit. A month later, her second single, "Bounce," premiered on BBC Radio 1. In July 2013, she opened for Beyonce on the 17-date Australia leg of her "Mrs. Carter Show World Tour." BBC Radio 1 premiered the third single from "The New Classic," "Change Your Life," on August 19, 2013, and the hit single "Fancy" on February 6, 2014. Hitting the top of the US "Billboard" chart immediately, "Fancy" went on to be Azalea's most successful single to date.
"The New Classic" was finally released to much fanfare on April 21, 2014. It debuted at #3 on the "Billboard" chart and sold 52,000 copies in the US within the first week. It was the highest-charting female rap album since Nicki Minaj's 2013 album "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded." Later that spring, Iggy collaborated with Ariana Grande on her song "Problem" and with Jennifer Lopez on the single "Booty." Via her Twitter account on December 10, 2014, Azalea announced her plans for a world tour in 2015 and a second studio album.
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In May 2015, Iggy released the duet "Pretty Girls" with Britney Spears. She canceled her world tour and planned a new tour for 2016 to support the album she was working on. She announced in October of that same year that her second album would be called "Digital Distortion." The lead single, "Team," was released in March 2016. Azalea signed up to be a judge on "The X Factor Australia" for its eighth season, running from October to November 2016. She delayed her next album further but released two singles, "Mo Bounce" and "Switch," in the spring of 2017.
In February 2019, Azalea announced that she had completed work on her second studio album, "In My Defense." "Sally Walker" was the first single off the album, debuting at #62 and racking up sales of over 82,000 copies. The album "In My Defense" was released on July 19, 2019. It debuted and peaked at #50 on the "Billboard" chart, and despite the wild popularity of her first album, her second was unfortunately met with many negative critical reviews.
Accolades
Iggy Azalea has been nominated for and won several major awards. In 2015 alone, she was up for four Grammys in the categories of Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, and Best Rap Album. She was nominated for eight MTV Video Music Awards in 2014 and won Best Pop Video for "Fancy." To date, she has been nominated for 128 awards and has won 39.
Personal Life
Azalea was approved as a permanent resident of the United States in March 2018.
Azalea and rapper A$AP Rocky dated for one year. They had gotten matching tattoos on their fingers, but Azalea removed hers. She started dating LA Laker Nick Young in November 2013 and announced their engagement on June 1, 2015. However, a leaked video consisting of Young appearing to brag about cheating on Azalea led to their split in June 2016.
She began dating rapper Playboi Carti in 2018. They have a son together.
Azalea confirmed to "Vogue" and "Seventeen" magazine that she has undergone breast augmentation and a nose job.
Real Estate
In June 2021, Iggy paid $5.2 million for a home in Hidden Hills, California. Soon after moving in, Iggy got into a bit of a war with a neighbor over the noise that was being made by her construction. She even went so far as to publicly call out the neighbor over Twitter with a tweet that proclaimed:
"Day 1 living in my new house and my bored housewives ass neighbor already tried to snitch on me for doing construction on my own fucking home."
Maybe the tensions became too much because Iggy decided to list this mansion for sale roughly six months later for $6.2 million. In May 2022, she accepted $5.949 million for the home. Here's a video tour from when she listed the property in February 2022: