How Ariana Grande built her fortune, from Broadway and Nickelodeon to hit albums and movies

Grande launched her music career as an adolescent performing in local community theatre and on cruise ships.

At 15, she auditioned for Jason Robert Brown's Broadway show, "13: The Musical," and was cast in the role of Charlotte.

The play ran for a few months in 2008, and while Grande's compensation isn't public knowledge, she did win a National Youth Theatre Association Award for her portrayal of the character.

Following her stint on Broadway, Grande was cast in the hit Nickelodeon show "Victorious" as Cat Valentine, a red-haired and absent-minded theater kid. The show premiered in 2010 and earned 3.5 million viewers right off the bat, eventually wrapping after four seasons.

According to a contract obtained by TMZ, Grande made $9,000 per episode in the first season alone. She reportedly earned additional thousands for writing songs for the show.

During her time on Nickelodeon, Grande also appeared on "Winx Club," "Snowflake, the White Gorilla," and a music video with Greyson Chance.

Following "Victorious," Grande landed her own spin-off show with Jennette McCurdy, "Sam & Cat," which was canceled after 35 episodes. Though her earnings from "Sam & Cat" have not been reported, she wrote on Twitter in 2014 that she and McCurdy were paid equally.

Grande later made guest appearances on shows and films including "Family Guy," "Scream Queens," "Zoolander 2," and "Saturday Night Live." In 2016, she portrayed Penny Pingleton in NBC's "Hairspray Live!"

During her time on "Victorious," Grande began writing her own songs and collaborating with other songwriters and producers. She signed a recording contract with Republic Records in 2011 and her debut studio album, "Yours Truly," was released in 2013.

The album's lead single, "The Way" featuring Mac Miller, reached the No. 1 spot on iTunes less than eight hours after its release. "Yours Truly" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and sold 138,000 copies in its release week. It has since been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, meaning it has sold at least 1 million copies in the US.

Grande also won best new artist at the American Music Awards in 2013.

Though it's unclear how much revenue "Yours Truly" brought in, TMZ reported that her Republic contract includes a $50,000 guarantee for the first album "and goes up from there."

Since "Yours Truly," Grande has released six more studio albums (plus a holiday EP and a live album). They have all sold at least 1 million copies in the US, with Grande's 2014 sophomore album "My Everything" earning the highest certification from the RIAA (4x platinum).

To promote that album, Grande embarked on the eight-month Honeymoon Tour, for which she visited America, Europe, and Asia, logging sales in the $40 million range, according to Billboard.

In 2016, Grande released her third album, "Dangerous Woman," which spawned top-40 hits like "Into You," "Side to Side," and the title track.

The Dangerous Woman Tour, which wrapped up in September 2017, proved even more massive than Grande's previous outing. With 75 headlining performances worldwide, the tour sold over 875,000 tickets and grossed over $71 million, per Billboard.

Grande released her fourth studio album, "Sweetener," in 2018. It became her third debut atop the Billboard 200. 

Just a few months later, Grande earned her first-ever No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Thank U, Next." The breakup anthem went on to dominate the chart for seven weeks.

Grande's follow-up single "7 Rings," which interpolates the melody of "My Favourite Things" from "The Sound of Music," was an even bigger hit. It also debuted at No. 1 and spent eight weeks atop the chart.

Although Grande's team gave away 90% of the song's royalties to the estate of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II (meaning she likely made very little money from the song's success), it still lifted Grande to new heights of commercial success. She now boasts seven songs that debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100, tying Taylor Swift for the most among women and the second-most in history.

Both hit singles were included on Grande's 2019 blockbuster "Thank U, Next." The album sold 360,000 equivalent album units in its first week and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It also set a record among pop albums for the biggest streaming week ever, per Billboard.

Later that year, Grande embarked on the Sweetener World Tour to promote the pair of releases. She performed over 100 shows throughout 2019, including headlining slots at Coachella and Lollapalooza.

According to Forbes, the arena tour grossed $146 million, Grande's biggest sum to date. The magazine also named Grande as the highest-paid female musician on the 2020 Celebrity 100.

Grande's sixth album, "Positions," was released in 2020. All 14 of its tracks debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously.

"Positions" sold 174,000 equivalent album units in its first week and became Grande's third No. 1 album in a little over two years.

According to a 2020 study of Spotify earnings, "Positions" earned $2 million from Spotify streams alone in just two weeks (though Grande would split those payments with other songwriters, producers, and copyright holders).

Grande's latest album, "Eternal Sunshine," arrived four years later. As expected, it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 227,000 equivalent units earned in the US. The album also spawned two No. 1 hits on the Hot 100: "Yes, And?" and "We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)."

Grande launched her own perfume line with "Ari" in 2015. She followed that with "Frankie," named after her brother, and "Sweet Like Candy" in 2016.

By 2017, according to Refinery29, Grande's perfume line had grossed over $150 million in retail sales worldwide.

At the 2019 Fragrance Foundation Awards, Grande was awarded fragrance of the year for her latest release, Cloud Eau de Parfum.

She has continued to release a steady stream of scents, including multiple products named after her own songs, like "Thank U, Next" in 2019, "R.E.M." in 2020, and "God Is a Woman" in 2021. Most recently, she partnered with Luxe Brands for the multi-fragrance collection, "Lovenotes."

Grande has plenty of experience partnering with brands. In 2016, she became the face of Lipsy's new campaign and released a 20-piece collection in collaboration with the British brand.

Later, in 2017, the singer expanded her portfolio and signed a yearlong partnership with shoe brand Reebok.

Grande joined a long list of celebrities making money in the beauty industry and launched her own makeup line, r.e.m. beauty, named after a fan-favorite track on "Sweetener."

The first collection dropped in an online-only launch in November 2021 and quickly sold out of several lip glosses and eye-shadow shades.

Through the brand's partnership with Ulta, r.e.m. Beauty has maintained high consumer demand.

According to Forbes, the big-box beauty retailer's 2022 Q1 sales were up 21% to $2.3 billion compared to 2021's earnings, citing the strong interest in prestige brands like r.e.m. beauty.

Citing data from Upbeat Agency, Marie Claire reported that r.e.m. beauty made $88.7 million in revenue in 2023, making it the fourth-wealthiest celebrity brand on their list.

Grande joined season 21 of NBC's "The Voice" as a coach, mentoring 16 singers in their hopes of scoring a recording contract with Republic and a $100,000 prize.

Although Grande was only featured on the show for one season, multiple sources report that she was the highest-paid coach by far. According to Forbes, Grande could've earned anywhere between $20 million to $25 million for the gig, which the outlet described as "one of the largest checks ever for a judge of a reality singing competition."

By comparison, longtime coaches John Legend and Blake Shelton reportedly earn $13 million apiece per season.

Grande starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, and Timothée Chalamet in Netflix's satirical film "Don't Look Up," which was released on the platform in December 2021.

Though it's not clear how much Grande was paid for the role, the film's budget was sizable; Variety reported that DiCaprio and Lawrence were paid a combined $30 million and $25 million, respectively. 

Around the same time, it was announced that Grande had landed her dream role as Glinda in "Wicked," the big-screen adaptation of the Broadway show.

John Chu's blockbuster musical is already generating box-office buzz and is likely headed for a huge opening weekend. According to Variety, the movie is tracking for an opening weekend in the low $100 million range, with some estimates as high as $130 million. It reportedly cost about $150 million to produce.

Grande will also star in the film's second installment, which is scheduled for release next year.

She recently revealed that she's planning to lean deeper into her Broadway roots and away from pop music.

"I love musical theater," Grande said. "I think reconnecting with this part of myself who started in musical theater and who loves comedy — it heals me to do that."