Over the years, many television shows and sitcoms have been made for our entertainment. While some have garnered a niche fan base, others have turned into money-making engines. The shows that usually generate the most revenue are those with a broader audience and accessible to a person of any age.

While many of these shows have ended, their networks and actors are still making lots of money through reruns and syndication revenues. And other shows, such as The Simpsons and Grey’s Anatomy, are still running and making millions. These shows are the highest-grossing in television history.

1 ‘The Simpsons’

Created by Matt Groening

The Simpsons - Worst Episodes

Since the beginning of its run in 1989, The Simpsons have had 35 seasons and 740 episodes, making it the longest-running American animated series, the longest-running American sitcom, and the longest-running American scripted primetime television series of all time. Although an animated series, The Simpsons uses its humor to touch on social and political issues in the United States and the world.

According to Variety, in 2013, Twentieth Century Fox TV and Twentieth TV sold the first-ever cable syndication and VOD sale of the animated series to FXX and FXNow for more than $750 million. In 2007, the release of The Simpsons Movie alone grossed over $527 million. Apart from the television and film franchise, The Simpsons has also made millions of dollars through merchandise.

The Simpsons
TV-14

Release Date
December 17, 1989
Cast
Dan Castellaneta , Julie Kavner , Nancy Cartwright , Yeardley Smith , Hank Azaria , Harry Shearer
Main Genre
Comedy
Seasons
36

Watch on Disney+

2 ‘Friends’

Created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman

The cast of Friends with Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, and Lisa Kudrow sipping from milkshakes together
Image via NBC

Although Friends ended its 10-season run in 2004, many still regularly watch it and consider it one of the best sitcoms ever. The stars were already earning a modest $22,500 per episode in the first season, but its popularity changed those earnings to $1 million per episode in the last two years of its run. These figures made Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, and Lisa Kudrow the highest-paid actresses of the time.

Forbes estimated the cast has collectively earned $816 million and at least $550 million for the executive producers Marta Kauffman, David Crane, and Kevin S. Bright. Overall, the show has generated an estimated $1.4 billion in earnings for its stars and creators since its 1994 debut and $4.8 billion for its production company, Warner Bros.

Friends
TV-14

Release Date
September 22, 1994
Cast
Jennifer Aniston , Courteney Cox , Lisa Kudrow , Matt LeBlanc , Matthew Perry , David Schwimmer
Main Genre
Sitcom
Seasons
10

Watch on Max

3 ‘Modern Family’

Created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan

The cast of Modern Family taking a selfie in the series finale
Image via ABC

Throughout 11 seasons, Modern Family became a widely beloved family sitcom show worldwide. The grown-up cast members such as Sofia Vergara, Julie Bowen, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson were earning an estimated $65,000 per episode in the first season and bumped up to half a million dollars in the last season. As for the younger cast, namely Rico Rodriguez, Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, and Nolan Gould, those figures started at $15,000 per episode and ended at $125,000 per episode.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the USA Network purchased syndication rights for the show in 2010, valued at $1.8 million per episode. In 2021, Hulu and NBCUniversal’s Peacock also announced its streaming rights for the show’s 250 episodes to be shown on their platforms.

Modern Family
TV-PG
Release Date
September 23, 2009
Cast
Ed O'Neill , Sofia Vergara , Julie Bowen , Ty Burrell , Jesse Tyler Ferguson , Eric Stonestreet , Sarah Hyland , Ariel Winter
Main Genre
Comedy
Seasons
11

Watch on Hulu

4 ‘The Big Bang Theory’

Created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady

The cast of 'The Big Bang Theory' in the final moments of the series finale
Image via CBS

In 2019, the longest-running multi-camera comedy series in TV history, The Big Bang Theory, ended its 12-season run. The sitcom stars were said to have earned nearly $1 million per episode by the final seasons of the show. In 2017, the five main stars of the show decided to take pay cuts of $100,000 each so that their co-stars, Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch, who earned $100,000 compared to their $1 million per episode, would get a pay rise.

CBS was earning $125 million - $150 million per season just from ad revenues, and the show’s distributor Warner Bros. earned $1 billion through syndication revenues. The show and cast members would also generate more income through merchandise and future syndication revenues as well.

The Big Bang Theory

A woman who moves into an apartment across the hall from two brilliant but socially awkward physicists shows them how little they know about life outside of the laboratory.

Release Date
September 24, 2007
Cast
Johnny Galecki , Jim Parsons , Kaley Cuoco , Simon Helberg , Kunal Nayyar , Melissa Rauch , Mayim Bialik , Kevin Sussman
Main Genre
Comedy
Seasons
12

Watch on Max

5 ‘Cheers’

Created by Glenn and Les Charles and James Burrows

Cheers

Before production companies sold syndication rights to other networks and channels, such things didn’t really exist or were really rare. According to Los Angeles Times, Cheers has always been a costly show to make, costing Paramount $2.2 million per episode, and its widely popular cast, such as Ted Danson, earned $450,000 per episode. But as Cheers attracted many viewers and were NBC’s most valuable show, they couldn’t afford to lose the show even though Paramount was losing more than $25 million annually in production costs.

In 1991, NBC earned an average of $330,000 per 30-second ad during the show, which amounted to $2.6 million per episode, so $115 million annually in ad revenues. Three decades later, the Cheers cast is still worth millions thanks to royalties and syndication earnings.

Cheers

Release Date
September 30, 1982
Cast
Ted Danson , Kirstie Alley , Rhea Perlman , John Ratzenberger , George Wendt , Kelsey Grammer , Woody Harrelson , Bebe Neuwirth
Main Genre
Comedy
Seasons
11

Watch on Paramount+

6 ‘Frasier’

Created by David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee

frasier
Image via NBC

Frasier is a spin-off of the sitcom Cheers, which follows the psychiatrist Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), who returns to Seattle as a radio show host. The show went on to be one of the most successful and well-liked spin-off series in history, and it ran for 11 seasons (264 episodes).

In 2005, a year after Frasier ended, the show had grossed more than $1.5 billion in revenues, of which $830 million were from licensing fees. In 2011, Netflix paid CBS $200 million to stream Frasier and other popular CBS shows, such as Cheers, Twin Peaks, Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, and Family Ties, for two years.

Frasier

Release Date
September 16, 1993
Cast
Kelsey Grammer , David Hyde Pierce , Jane Leeves , Peri Gilpin , John Mahoney
Main Genre
Comedy
Seasons
11

Watch on Hulu

7 ‘Seinfeld’

Created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld

'Seinfeld' Season 1 Promotional Cast Photo
Image via NBC

Seinfeld is undoubtedly one of the most successful sitcoms to date. When it aired its final episode in 1998, around 76.3 million people tuned in to watch, which according to The New York Times, made it the third most-watched finale in television history. Co-creator and star of the show Jerry Seinfeld became the first television actor to earn $1 million per episode, way before the cast of Friends earned that same amount in the early 2000s.

In terms of syndication, streaming rights, and merchandise, co-creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David initially kept 7.5% each of whatever the show earned. But as the show continued to gain popularity, they negotiated that figure to double, at 15% each. It is estimated that Seinfeld and David both still earn between $40 million and $60 million from the show's reruns each year.

Seinfeld

Release Date
July 5, 1989
Cast
Jerry Seinfeld , Jason Alexander , Michael Richards , Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Main Genre
Comedy
Seasons
9

Watch on Netflix

8 ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’

Created by Philip Rosenthal

The principal cast of Everybody Loves Raymond, looking upwards at an object offscreen, in a promotional photo for the show
Image via CBS

Everybody Loves Raymond quickly became a fan-favorite show not long after it premiered on CBS. The show was so popular that in the final two seasons of the show, leading actor Ray Romano made an estimated $1.75 million per episode. However, this struck a chord with the other cast members, who were an equally important part of the show but were only getting paid $160,000 per episode, compared to Romano’s whopping salary.

In response to this, Brad Garrett (who played Robert) and other actors who felt they were unfairly paid, walked out of set. Only after a new settlement of the cast's salary was made did the cast finally agree to come back to work. And although it has been over two decades since the show ended, Romano is reportedly still making $18 million per year through reruns.

Everybody Loves Raymond

Release Date
September 13, 1996
Cast
Ray Romano , Patricia Heaton , Doris Roberts , Peter Boyle , Brad Garrett
Main Genre
Comedy
Seasons
9

Watch on Peacock

9 ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

Created by Shonda Rhimes

Grey's Anatomy Season 2 Cast Photo

With 19 seasons and counting, Grey’s Anatomy holds the record for the longest-running scripted primetime show on ABC and the longest-running scripted medical drama series of all time. It comes as no surprise that the billion-dollar-worth Shondaland series shows no signs of slowing down. When Patrick Dempsey was still on the show, he and Ellen Pompeo were reportedly earning the same salary, but Pompeo believed she should be making more.

Her salary was raised to a reported $575,000 per episode after Dempsey walked away from the show. In 2019, Pompeo earned $22 million and an additional $6 - $7 million from backend equity points. But when compared to how much Grey’s Anatomy has generated for Disney+ (nearly $3 billion), it’s only fair that Pompeo and the other cast members get paid millions for being the stars of the show.

Grey's Anatomy

Release Date
March 27, 2005
Cast
Ellen Pompeo , James Pickens Jr. , Chandra Wilson , Justin Chambers , Kevin McKidd , Jesse Williams , Patrick Dempsey
Main Genre
Drama
Seasons
20

Watch on Netflix

10 ‘Two and a Half Men’

Created by Chuck Lorre and Lee Aronsohn

Two and a Half Men

Two and a Half Men is a CBS sitcom that aired for 12 seasons from 2003 to 2015. Charlie Sheen played the leading character for most of the series, but after entering rehabilitation and making derogatory comments about the show’s creator Chuck Lorre, he got kicked out of the show and his contract was terminated. Following this incident, the show replaced Sheen with Ashton Kutcher.

While Sheen was making $1.8 million per episode in the final seasons of his time at the series, Kutcher made less than half per episode, at $700,000. As for the show itself, CBS was selling 30-second ad spots in Two and a Half Men for $200,000 in 2011 (eighth season), which meant that the show grossed $155 million per season in ad revenue alone.

Two and a Half Men

Release Date
September 22, 2003
Cast
Ashton Kutcher , Conchata Ferrell , Amber Tamblyn , Jon Cryer , Angus T. Jones
Main Genre
Comedy
Seasons
12

Watch on Peacock

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