Don McLean's Biggest Hit Earns Him $300,000-$500,000 Annually
- - Don McLean's Biggest Hit Earns Him $300,000-$500,000 Annually
Jacqueline Burt CoteJanuary 28, 2026 at 10:00 PM
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Photo by Michael Putland on Getty Images
It goes without saying that a chart-topping song can make the musician behind it quite a bit of money, but how much cash does a hit tune really generate? That all depends on how long the song stays popular...so that means certain enduring classics are basically non-stop money-making machines.
Case in point: Don McLean's "American Pie." Released in 1971 on the singer-songwriter's album of the same name, the track went on to hit #1 in January of 1972 and stayed there for four consecutive weeks.
And that was only the beginning: As anyone who's listened to classic rock radio over the past 50 years knows, the song went on to become one of the most successful of the 20th century, and was even chosen for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 2017.
So how much money does McLean continue to make from "American Pie" after all these years? According to International Business Times, the 80-year-old singer-songwriter earns $300,000 — $500,000 per year in royalties from the eight-minute-long song. Considering that yearly paycheck, in addition to all the revenue from the McLean's other albums and hits (such as "Vincent" and "Castles in the Air"), it's no wonder he reportedly has a net worth of approximately $50 million.
In spite of his vast fortune, McLean said in a 2021 interview with the Daily Mail that he cut his daughter, Jackie McLean, out of his will. The move came several months after Jackie spoke out about her father's alleged abuse.
"I stopped supporting my daughter last year," McLean said. "I have a son [Wyatt], you know, who grew up the same way, who thinks I'm a great father and who has none of these complaints. But I said to my daughter, 'If you speak out about me and trash me, I'm going to disinherit you.'"
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"She's been automatically disinherited — that's almost a $3 million trust fund that went down the tubes," he continued, adding, "I've always supported my daughter — $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 a year, doubling her husband's salary. I wanted to make sure the grandkids had everything they wanted."
Jackie told Rolling Stone that she grew up in a "constant state of fear."
"My dad couldn't find a key to a piece of furniture and he thought that I hid it and he was just screaming in my face," she said. "I couldn't leave, I couldn't move, I couldn't say anything. I didn't know where the key was and I was just trapped in that moment having to endure the fear and the trauma until it ended. That was just a normal kind of thing that there would be screaming and yelling."
McLean was arrested in 2016 on a domestic violence charge. His wife Patrisha claimed in her police statement that she was "terrorized" for hours "until the 911 call that I think might have saved my life. He was scaring me with the intensity of his rage and the craziness in his eyes."
After pleading guilty to domestic violence, McLean avoided jail as part of a plea bargain. The couple divorced that same year.
Related: The 1972 Song That Turned Tragedy Into a No. 1 Hit
This story was originally published by Parade on Jan 29, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
