Joe Rogan is arguably the most well-known podcaster, as he hosts the #1 podcast in the world called “The Joe Rogan Experience”. Rogan invites knowledgeable guests to his podcast to discuss various topics of interest. He further grew his podcast by signing an exclusive deal with Spotify. Let us look at how this deal that would make him the third highest-paid athlete of all time in professional sports terms.

Rogan initially started his podcast on YouTube back in 2009 but later shifted to Spotify in an exclusive deal. He signed this deal in May 2020, with his podcast exclusively available on Spotify in September 2020. Although Spotify has disclosed no official figures, the Wall Street Journal estimated this deal to be worth $100 million.

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But since then, more information has come to the surface, indicating that Spotify would pay the UFC color commentator $200 million over the course of three and a half years.

Joe Rogan’s Spotify salary in terms of an athlete

Assuming the production cost for his podcast to be a conservative 5 million over the three years, this accounts for $194 million, which goes to Rogan. Calculating this salary in terms of annual income, it amounts to roughly $55 million.

This is more than some of the top athletes’ contracts, including – Kevin Durant ($49.4 million), Stephen Curry ($53.8 million), and LeBron James ($40 million). The only two athletes who earn more than Rogan would be – Canelo Alvarez and Lionel Messi.

Alvarez’s five-year deal with DAZN, signed in 2018, is worth a whopping $73 million in terms of annual income. The only athlete above him is Lionel Messi, who signed a four-year deal with FC Barcelona, which amounts to a massive $168.5 million annually from 2018 to 2021.

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Rogan also shifted from California to Texas in 2020, which further saved his money. This is because Texas has no state income tax. But California has a state tax of 13.3% of individuals in his tax bracket. Podcasting is only one of his multiple sources of income. Rogan is also a UFC color commentator and an established comedian. Taking this into account, he is likely richer than we can estimate.

What did you think of Rogan’s annual income? Did you expect him to be one of the top three? Let us know by dropping your opinions in the comments below.