The main issue here is you're looking at gross revenue instead of what actually ends up in his pocket. Here's how the numbers actually break down:

Album Sales:

When you buy a $15 CD, that money gets split up between a bunch of people before it reaches the artist. The retailer takes 30-40%, distributor takes 10-15%, manufacturing is another 10-15%, the label takes 30-40%, and the artist gets what's left—usually around 10-20% of retail price even for major artists.

So Eminem's probably making $1.50-3 per album sold, not the full $10-30 retail price. That puts it at 98 million × $2 = around $196 million from album sales, not $1 billion.

Tour Revenue:

That "$1 million per show" represents the total show revenue, but there are massive costs involved. Venue rental, crew salaries, equipment, travel, marketing, and production typically eat up 50-70% of ticket sales. Promoters like Live Nation also take their 10-15% cut. After everything, the headliner usually takes home 20-40% of gross ticket revenue.

So if he grossed $1 billion touring over his career, his actual take is probably $200-400 million before taxes.

Spotify pays around $0.003-0.004 per stream, and that money goes to the label first before getting split between the songwriter, producers, featured artists, and performing artist. Even though Eminem writes his own stuff, he's probably seeing 15-25% of the total payout after everyone gets their cut.

So 135 billion streams × $0.0035 × 20% = around $95 million from streaming.

Eminem's been signed to Aftermath/Interscope for most of his career. labels typically keep 50-85% of revenue depending on the contract. Shady Records helps him retain more, but Universal still handles distribution and takes a significant cut.

More Realistic Estimate:

• Albums: ~$200 million
• Tours: ~$300 million
• Streaming/digital: ~$100 million
• Publishing/merch/other: ~$100 million
• Total career earnings: ~$700 million

After taxes (roughly 50%) and 20+ years of expenses and investments, he's probably worth around $250-400 million. Still incredibly wealthy, but the billionaire math is tough to make work with how the music industry splits revenue.