NFTs are one of the hottest digital trends today and have enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past few years, going from relative obscurity a few years ago to being a billion-dollar industry today. NFTs are a form of digital art including (but not limited to) music, digital artwork, and video files that are uniquely owned by the person who purchased them, like a traditional painting having a providence document that lists all previous owners.
Many internet personalities, politicians, and celebrities have boarded the NFT train and either created their own or posted in support of the NFT industry as a whole, including former First Lady Melania Trump, Arizona Senatorial candidate Blake Masters and many others. But which Hollywood celebrities have launched their own NFTs?
Emily Ratajkowski, best known for her role in the 2016 David Fincher film Gone Girl, released an NFT called “Buying Myself Back: A Model for Redistribution.” Ratajkowski had previously complained about a photo of herself being used for unauthorized purposes, so she purchased the rights to the photo from photographer Richard Prince, photographed herself standing in front of it, and sold it as an NFT for $140,000.
Rapper and actor Snoop Dogg released an NFT Package called “A Journey with the Dogg” that contained interviews about his early career, artwork, an exclusive song, and Snoop Dogge Coins (a play on the popular meme token Dogecoin). It was available for only 48 hours and netted Snoop Dogg over $100,000.
Millionaire heiress and socialite Paris Hilton launched an NFT called “The Crypto Queen” in partnership with Super Plastic, a vinyl and digital collectibles company featuring celebrity backing by Justin Timberlake. The image was a parody of Barbie, featuring Paris Hilton holding a Bitcoin logo with the phrase “Bitcoin Barbie” on the bottom of the package and sold for over one million dollars. To date, Hilton has created over 140 individual NFTs and has a dedicated Instagram account called “ParisHiltonNFT” that has over 15,000 followers.
Canadian musician Grimes, the former girlfriend of billionaire industrialist Elon Musk, was one of the original celebrity pioneers of the NFT market, having sold over $6 million worth of her own art directly to fans. She received $389,000 for an NFT package called “Death of the Old,” a video that features original artwork and an original song by Grimes herself.
Singer-songwriter, actor, and producer Eminem has sold over $1.8 million in NFTs in the past year, ranging from digital action figures to special instrumental tracks made by Eminem, known in the rap world as “beats.”
The band Kings of Leon released an NFT package last year called When You See Yourself that included a limited edition album, digital artwork, and other bonuses.
These are just a few of the rapidly increasing list of Hollywood celebrities, athletes, political candidates, and others who have joined the NFT world in the past few years. As more and more celebrities realize the value of NFTs and how great they can be in building a more direct relationship with their fans, it’s safe to say that NFTs are the future of art.
