Lil Nas X Net Worth: How Old Town Road, Montero and Columbia Built $10 Million

Lil Nas X’s net worth is estimated at $10 million as of October 2026, a fortune built mostly on “Old Town Road,” the country rap song that spent 19 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2019, followed by a Columbia Records deal, three chart-topping singles, a debut album nominated for Album of the Year, his first headline tour and a string of brand partnerships.

Estimates for Montero Lamar Hill vary because almost none of his income is public. Forbes measured one year of his earnings at the height of “Old Town Road,” but nobody has published his royalty rates, his Columbia terms or what his tour grossed. The Radar Readout below shows our working: the published figure, our modeled range and how each income lane adds up.

Lil Nas X Net Worth at a Glance

How Lil Nas X’s $10 Million Net Worth Is Built

The starting lane is the only one anchored to a published dollar figure. Everything after it is a model, because Columbia, his publishers and his partners have not disclosed what they paid him. We kept the royalty lane conservative: streaming income is split with the label, and his releases since 2024 have not charted the way his early hits did.

Old Town Road: The $30 Beat That Changed Everything

Lil Nas X bought the instrumental for “Old Town Road” for $30 on the beat marketplace BeatStars and released the song on December 3, 2018. Forbes notes that he first put it out through the independent distribution service Amuse, which meant he owned the early version outright before any label got involved.

The song spread through TikTok’s #Yeehaw Challenge in early 2019. It debuted at No. 83 on the Hot 100, and after a remix featuring Billy Ray Cyrus arrived in April 2019 it climbed to No. 1 and stayed there for 19 weeks. At the time that was the longest run at the top in the chart’s history. Records have since moved on: Wikipedia’s chart milestones list now has “Old Town Road” tied for third with Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” behind Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” at 22 weeks and Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” at 24.

The commercial numbers were just as large. In the week ending April 11, 2019, the song drew 143 million U.S. streams, beating Drake’s record for a single week. The RIAA certified it diamond in October 2019, the fastest song to reach that level, and it has since been certified 17 times platinum in the United States. Wikipedia credits it with more than 18 million copies sold worldwide.

The Columbia Deal and the Forbes Payday

In March 2019, after what Wikipedia describes as an intense bidding war, Lil Nas X signed with Columbia Records. The terms were never published. His debut EP, 7, followed on June 21, 2019, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and produced “Panini,” which reached No. 5 on the Hot 100, and “Rodeo,” a Cardi B collaboration later remixed with Nas.

That year Forbes put him on its Highest-Paid Country Acts list for the first time, at No. 18 with an estimated $14 million in pretax earnings for June 1, 2018, to June 1, 2019. theGrio, reporting on the list, said the money came from streams, concerts and his new Columbia deal. He was the first openly gay performer and the first person of color to make that Forbes list, and Forbes also named him to its 30 Under 30 music class of 2020.

We treat this year as the foundation of his fortune. A single breakout year at 20, taxed at top rates and shared with managers, lawyers and agents, usually leaves a performer with well under half of the headline figure, and early spending tends to be heavy. We credit him with $5 million kept from that window.

Montero: Three No. 1 Hits and an Album of the Year Nomination

His second wave of success came with Montero. “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” was released on March 26, 2021, and debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100. “Industry Baby,” with Jack Harlow, debuted at No. 2 and reached No. 1 in the week ending October 23, 2021. “Thats What I Want” became another top ten single.

The album itself debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 126,000 equivalent units in its first week and earned an Album of the Year nomination at the 64th Grammy Awards. In the U.S., Montero is certified double platinum, and both “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” and “Industry Baby” are certified seven times platinum. Those certifications are the main reason we add a separate royalty lane on top of the 2019 earnings: the catalog kept producing streams long after the Forbes window closed.

His newer music has not matched those numbers. “J Christ” peaked at No. 69 in January 2024, his first lead single not to reach No. 1. The singles released from late 2024 into March 2025 for his planned second album, Dreamboy, including “Light Again!” and “Hotbox,” missed the Hot 100, and the eight-track EP Days Before Dreamboy came out on March 28, 2025. On October 1, 2026, he released a new single, “World’s Greatest!,” with a music video.

Touring, Festivals and TV

Lil Nas X did not headline a tour until the Long Live Montero Tour, which opened at Detroit’s Fox Theatre on September 6, 2022. It ran to 29 shows across North America, Europe and Oceania, mostly in theaters rather than arenas. No gross has been published, so we model a modest take after production, crew, commissions and tax. He also played festival dates, including Lollapalooza Chile in March 2023 and Glastonbury in 2023.

Screen work adds smaller sums. He was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live in 2021, appeared on Dave and The Eric Andre Show, and voiced June Bug on The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder from 2022 to 2023. The documentary Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. He also published a children’s book, C Is for Country, in January 2021. None of these fees are public, and we fold them into the live and brand lanes rather than inventing separate figures.

Brand Deals and Business Moves

Brands moved quickly after “Old Town Road.” Wrangler announced a co-branded collection with him in May 2019. In September 2022, Riot Games named him “President of League of Legends” for its 2022 World Championship, released his tournament anthem “Star Walkin’,” had him perform at the opening ceremony and sold a character outfit he co-designed. He also appeared in a 2020 Fenty Beauty skincare trailer.

His best-known product, the “Satan Shoes” made with the art collective MSCHF in March 2021, was limited to 666 pairs at $1,018 each. Nike, which was not involved, sued MSCHF over trademark use. We do not count any share of those sales, because no split was reported.

On the asset side, Celebrity Net Worth reports that he paid $2.4 million for a home in Sherman Oaks, California, in March 2021. A house like that is part of net worth rather than extra to it, so it sits inside our total. In February 2025 he signed with Crush Management for his next phase.

Why Other Sites Say $9 Million

Our figure sits just above Celebrity Net Worth’s because we credit more than a year of royalties from three seven-times-platinum or bigger singles. We stay well below the Forbes number because that was income before tax and costs, not savings, and his chart output has slowed since 2024.

How Lil Nas X Compares

Lil Nas X sits among the younger rap and pop names whose fortunes rest on a handful of huge streaming hits. For context, see how his “Industry Baby” partner Jack Harlow’s net worth stacks up, along with Cardi B’s net worth, his “Rodeo” collaborator, and fellow chart regular Doja Cat’s net worth. The songs ahead of “Old Town Road” on the all-time weeks at No. 1 list include one by Mariah Carey, whose net worth we also track, and the song that outranks it on RIAA certifications belongs to Post Malone, whose net worth is profiled here too.

Frequently Asked Questions About Lil Nas X’s Net Worth

How much is Lil Nas X worth in 2026?

We estimate Lil Nas X’s net worth at $10 million as of October 2026, with a likely range of $7 million to $15 million. Celebrity Net Worth lists him at $9 million.

How much did Lil Nas X make from Old Town Road?

No exact figure exists for the song alone. Forbes estimated he earned $14 million before tax between June 2018 and June 2019, the year “Old Town Road” broke, from streams, concerts and his Columbia deal.

How many weeks was Old Town Road at No. 1?

“Old Town Road” spent 19 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2019, a record at the time. It is now tied for third all time with Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”

What record label is Lil Nas X signed to?

He signed with Columbia Records in March 2019 after a bidding war. The deal terms have not been made public.

How much did Lil Nas X pay for the Old Town Road beat?

He bought the beat for $30 on BeatStars before releasing the song in December 2018.

Does Lil Nas X own a house?

Celebrity Net Worth reports that he bought a home in Sherman Oaks, California, for $2.4 million in March 2021.