She's in 'Control' of Her Bank Account! Find Out Janet Jackson's Net Worth—And What Her Super Bowl Controversy Cost Her
Janet Jackson, 55, may be the youngest Jackson sibling, but long ago, she figured out how to live her life far beyond the shadows of her famous family name. As she declared in the mid-1908s on the title track of Control, her third studio LP, “When I was 17, I did what people told me"—but that masterful album proved she could take charge of her life and career; it was her personal declaration of independence. With that, of course, came a net worth that allowed her to make her own choices in life.
Control produced five smash-hit singles—“What Have You Done For Me Lately,” “Nasty,” “Control,” “The Pleasure Principle” and “When I Think Of You"—that all cracked the top five of Billboard’s Top 100, making Jackson the first female artist to achieve that feat. Control was critically acclaimed and sold over 10 million copies worldwide, and is still considered to be one of the best albums of that decade.
Her 1989 follow-up, Rhythm Nation 1814, was even bigger, generating seven top five hits—the first album in history to do so. From 1986 through the whole of the 1990s, Janet Jackson was a radio and MTV darling, and her influence as a performer and choreographer is still felt all over pop culture.
And then, on February 1, 2004, Jackson headlined the Super Bowl halftime show. She performed a medley of hits including “All For You” and “Rhythm Nation,” before Justin Timberlake joined her for a duet of his song “Rock Your Body.” At the close of the song, on Timberlake’s line “Gonna have you naked by the end of this song,” the former *NSYNC member was supposed to remove part of Jackson’s bustier to reveal mildly shocking red lace, according to one of Jackson’s representatives. Instead, a “wardrobe malfunction” caused Timberlake to reveal Jackson's breast, which was covered with a star-shaped nipple shield.
This half-second of live television sparked a media maelstrom that left a major impact on American pop culture for years afterward. The bulk of the blame for the incident fell squarely on Jackson’s shoulders, and if that seems ludicrous now, it also felt over the top then too, at least to some of us. Lately, the icon has started to receive the flowers she's due; the Lifetime and A&E docuseries Janet Jackson (premiering Friday, Jan. 28, 2022) offers "an intimate, honest and unfiltered look at her untold story," timed to the 40th anniversary of the release of her debut album.
Just months prior to that doc, Malfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson premiered in November 2021, addressing the Super Bowl injustice through interviews with MTV and NFL executives, those who were manning the controls for the halftime show, and new reporting by The New York Times.
If those projects have you wondering what Janet Jackson has done for herself lately, don't worry: The R&B icon is doing more than fine. Keep reading to find out about Janet Jackson's net worth, what her Super Bowl controversy cost her and which A-list celeb paid five figures for a piece of "Miss Jackson" memorabilia!
What is Janet Jackson’s net worth?
As of 2021, Janet Jackson’s net worth is valued at $190 million. There was some confusion about this several years ago, stemming from an interview with Jackson in Variety, in which the reporter totaled up the gross revenues from Jackson’s many projects—albums, movies, concerts, merchandise—and the figure was $1.2 billion. That number, however, does not reflect Jackson’s net worth, which is the value of the assets one owns at the moment.
How much did Janet Jackson’s auction make?
In May 2021, Jackson partnered with Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills for an in-person and online auction event, which featured outfits she'd worn in videos and onstage in both concerts and MTV performances. Jackson sold not only clothing but jewelry, various paraphernalia and assorted merchandise, such as dolls in her likeness, stuffed animals, minor awards, furniture and exercise equipment, even one of her old report cards from her school days. There were over 1,300 lots sold at the auction; a portion of the proceeds will go to one of Jackson’s cherished charities, Compassion International, which partners with churches to advocate for children around the world.
The iconic military-style leather jacket Jackson wore for her 1990 Rhythm Nation tour sold for $81,250, while all the outfits Jackson wore in the video for 1995’s “Scream,” a duet with brother Michael Jackson, sold for a combined total of $270,400.
Fun fact: Kim Kardashian owns a piece of Jackson history after placing the winning bid for the outfit Jackson wore in the 1993 “If” video, for which she paid $25,000!
How many albums has Janet Jackson sold?
Jackson has released a total of 16 albums since her self-titled debut in 1982, selling an estimated 100 million copies overall. Eight of her albums have achieved platinum status, with Control going five-times platinum, while Rhythm Nation went six-times platinum.
How much did Janet Jackson’s tours make?
Jackson has mounted nine tours over the course of her career, starting with the 1990 tour for Rhythm Nation, which instantly sold out most venues and ranked in the top five tours of 1990. All told, her various tours have earned well over $250 million in box office sales (adjusted for 2020 dollars). In 2019, Jackson held a concert residency at the Park Theater in Las Vegas; called “Metamorphosis,” it coincided with the 30-year anniversary of Rhythm Nation and preceded her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The 18-date residency grossed nearly $13 million in ticket sales.
How much did Janet Jackson make on GoodTimes?
Before her music career took off, Jackson was a child actor, appearing at age 11 on the hit sitcom Good Times. She played Penny Gordon, a girl abandoned by her birth mother and adopted by Willona Woods, played by Ja’net DuBois (who would later play Jackson’s mother in the video for “Control”). It’s not clear how much she earned from that show, but it led to other TV appearances, on Diff’rent Strokes and Fame.
How much did Janet Jackson get paid for PoeticJustice?
In 1993, Jackson appeared as the lead in writer/director John Singleton’s Poetic Justice, playing a hairdresser grieving the murder of her boyfriend. She embarks on a road trip with her friend, played by Regina King, and an aspiring musician named Lucky, played by Tupac Shakur. The film was a quiet success, achieving cult status as critics praised the performances of and chemistry between Shakur and Jackson. One source claims that Shakur received a mere $7,500 for his role, which might suggest a comparable rate for Jackson, but the claim has not been verified. Jackson also recorded “Again” for the movie’s soundtrack and was nominated for a Grammy. The song was later included on the album Janet and was certified platinum in December 1993.
What happened to Janet Jackson after the Super Bowl?
If you thought that the so-called “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2004 Super Bowl slowed Jackson down, well... you’d be right. Jackson had been slated to present a tribute to Luther Vandross at the Grammy Awards the week after the Super Bowl but the invitation was withdrawn.
It had also been announced that Jackson would play Lena Horne in a TV biopic for ABC, but Horne herself demanded that Jackson be removed from the production, citing the halftime show as her reason. According to Variety, Horne refused to even meet with Jackson to resolve the conflict.
Above all other retribution, the most vindictive came from Super Bowl airer CBS. The network demanded that Jackson issue a public apology, which she did—but then Les Moonves, CEO and chairman of CBS at the time, also decided to blacklist her songs and videos from all Viacom properties (at the time Viacom was the parent company of CBS), including MTV, VH1 and various radio stations. That move had serious repercussions for the March 2004 release of Jackson’s eighth studio album Damita Jo. (In 2018, Moonves would resign from CBS following multiple accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct.)
Jackson eventually recovered. Damita Jo sold more than three million copies. Jackson made appearances on various talk shows that year and did double duty on Saturday Night Live as host and musical guestin April 2004, poking light fun at the halftime show controversy.
In September of that year, she appeared as herself on an episode of Will & Grace, making what Entertainment Weekly called “a fabulous entrance and [departing] with her dignity intact.”
Since 2004, Jackson has appeared in three movies, all directed by Tyler Perry, including For Colored Girls, based on Ntozake Shange’s 1975 poetic work. Since Damita Jo, she's also released three more albums and gone on five world tours. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.