“She’s Got Money”: Man Estimates Tyla’s Wealth From ‘Water’ After 1 Billion Streams
- A musician hopped onto his TikTok account and estimated the amount of money Tyla had made after her 2023 song Water reached over one billion streams on streaming platforms
- Contrary to what might have been heard, Spotify confirmed that it doesn't pay royalties according to a per-play or per-stream rate
- After seeing the potential figures that may have entered Tyla's bank account, local online community members expressed their surprise
Source: Getty Images
After singing sensation Tyla made history as the first African artist to reach one billion Spotify streams with her hit song Water, a man attempted to estimate how much money the award-winning singer earned. The totals pulled up wowed internet users, who thought Tyla was rolling in cash.
Musician and content creator Heart Beats took to his TikTok account to show that he used ChatGPT to help figure out the 'mystery.' According to Spotify, they calculate streamshares by tallying the total number of streams per month and determining what proportion of those streams were people listening to music owned or controlled by a rights holder. Spotify confirmed that it doesn't pay royalties according to a per-play or per-stream rate.
However, ChatGPT estimated the revenue from streaming based on standard industry payouts, which are approximately $0.003 to $0.005 per stream. This meant that Tyla would have received between $3 million and $5 million (roughly between R51 million and R85 million).
These totals excluded other streaming platforms, such as Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon, where streaming royalties could realistically fall in the $4-8 million range (roughly R68 million to R137 million, based on the current exchange rate of R17.17 per $1).
Source: Instagram
Tyla's potential wealth amazes South Africans
Several social media users gathered in the post's comment section, applauding Tyla's achievements and wondering how much of the potential millions her label, Epic Records, owned by Sony Music Entertainment, would receive.
Spotify also noted that artists' royalty payments may vary according to the way their music is streamed or the agreements they have with labels and distributors.
@noo_noo_pie was in shock and said:
"What the heck? This child is rich, rich mos."
Heart Beats responded to the TikTok user:
"She's got money."
@infolntnjx thought optimistically and stated:
"Tyla is on route to become extremely wealthy, $100 million."
A curious @nicholas.corbin.j wondered:
"So after tax, it's how much?"
@vibez_galor3 added their assumptions in the comments, writing:
"Her label probably took half, then she still gets taxed half again… eish."
@khanye_tyler told the online community:
"Asking ChatGPT about someone's income is scary crazy."
Take a look at the TikTok video below:
3 Other stories about Tyla
- In another story, Briefly News reported that Tyla mourned her grandmother's death, confirming the devastating news on her Instagram Stories on 1 September, 2025. She credited her grandmother for the artist she is today.
- South African teens came to Tyla's rescue after a woman criticised the singer's underperforming EP sales. The young fans discussed Tyla's identification as a Coloured woman and the assumption of wanting to be the face of Afrobeats.
- During her Global Citizen Festival debut performance in New York, Tyla recreated Khanyi Mbau's iconic dance on stage. Online commentators praised the Johannesburg singer's creative nod to the multi-talented media personality.
Source: Briefly News
