Citadel boss Ken Griffin made $4.1 billion last year, the most of any hedge fund manager in history

• Institutional Investor just released its annual rankings of the highest-earning hedge fund managers.
• Ken Griffin topped the list. Citadel's flagship fund climbed 38.1% in 2022 as the broader market tanked.
• The top 25 hedge-fund managers on the list together made $21.5 billion in 2022, the third highest total in the rankings' history.

Citadel CEO Ken Griffin took home $4.1 billion in earnings in 2022, the highest among hedge-fund managers last year and the most ever in the history of the rankings, according to Institutional Investor's 22nd annual Rich List.

While broader markets swooned and the S&P 500 lost almost 20% last year, Citadel's flagship fund posted a 38.1% gain. Last year marked the best year for the fund in 13 years, and caps off a three-year stretch of 117% gains, according to Institutional Investor. Griffin took the number one spot on the rich list for the first time in six years.

Across the firm, assets under management ballooned to $53.7 billion, according to Institutional Investor. Overall, in 2022 Citadel brought in $16 billion, and returned roughly $7 billion to investors at the end of the year.

The annual Rich List, published by Institutional Investor on Tuesday, shows that the top 25 individual earners in the hedge fund industry together made $21.5 billion last year, the third highest total after 2020 and 2021. That breaks down to about $860 million per money manager.

Israel Englander of Millennium Management came in as runner-up for the second year in a row, taking home $3.2 billion after his funds gained 12.4% in 2022.

Steven Cohen of Point72 took third place, with $1.9 billion in earnings last year.