In Numbers: The facts of Pharrell Williams’ music career
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In Numbers: The facts of Pharrell Williams' music career

Pharrell Williams has had an expansive, impressive music career that’s spanned across his own music and that which he’s produced for others. The American rapper, singer, songwriter, producer and entrepreneur has had plenty of successes, so much so that it can be hard to keep track.

When it comes to his music career itself, he’s been active for years, so it’s no surprise that he’s one of the most successful artists around right now, both in terms of numbers and notoriety. He’s worked with all kinds of famous artists. From Gwen Stefani to The Strokes, he’s had his hands in all different kinds of music.

As for the numbers, we can get into the facts of Pharrell Williams’ music career and figure out exactly what the facts and figures say about this modern legend.

Pharrell Williams’ solo albums

For most artists, getting to the bottom of their best-selling and worst-selling albums can usually tell you a lot, but that might not always be the case, and Pharrell Williams is definitely one of those cases. 

Even with all of his success, Williams has actually only produced two solo studio albums. In My Mind and Girl came out nearly a decade apart from one another, and each reached middling success. Although obviously one of them had to come out on top, it goes to show that there are plenty of artists who can find success entirely apart from traditional means of album and record production. 

His 2006 album In My Mind went silver, and his 2014 album Girl went platinum, making it the more successful of the two. In the United States, Girl sold 591,000 copies.

Pharrell Williams’ most streamed song

I’m sure that you can take one guess and figure out exactly which Pharrell Williams song is his most successful by nearly every metric. ‘Happy’ is by far his most streamed track. It appeared on the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack and on his album Girl. 

The song is still one of his most successful to date, having gone diamond, platinum, and gold almost everywhere. The song hit number one in multiple countries, won tons of awards, and simply got burned into the cultural consciousness in a way that will likely stick around for years to come.

Of course, he’s had plenty of other successful songs and writing credits, but this song topped the charts in over 22 countries, totalling more than 13.9 million units worldwide. By far, it’s one of the most iconic to grace the world stage.

Pharrell Williams’ biggest video on YouTube

It should come as no surprise that the video for ‘Happy’ is the biggest video that Pharrell Williams has made. Of course, this likely has more than anything to do with the song attached to the video, as it’s one of his most successful songs, but the video itself also stands on its own merrit.

The video, which currently sits at 971,845,861 views, came out in 2014, and went viral almost immediately. Not only has the video reached great success on its own, but it also started a trend of people copying the video and making their own versions, which likely contributed to the success of the original.

He’s had plenty of other great music videos, as well as features in other songs, but ‘Happy’ is by far his most successful in many respects.

Pharrell Williams’ net worth

Here’s where we might be able to see a little more clearly into the entire bigger picture. Sure, we can look at solo album sales, or single streams, music videos, and even features or producer credits, but even that doesn’t completely encompass all that Pharrell Williams is.

He’s also an entrepreneur with his own skincare line. And a fashion designer. And a director. And a judge on The Voice. He simply does so many things that put him in a league of his own, and taking a look at his net worth can give a little insight into just how successful that’s made him.

So, here it goes. As of right now, Pharrell Williams’ net worth is $200 million—a number so high that it’s honestly hard to conceptualize. Plus, it’s still subject to growth. If Pharrell Williams proves one thing, it’s that wearing many hats (pun intended) can take you far.