I don't know if either fit you "simple" definition, but NomadList and RemoteOk (both built and run by Pieter Levels) are the first to come to my mind. Neither one is a static blog but both started VERY simply: NomadList was a Google Sheet with a list of cities, Remote OK was job board that scraped other boards for Remote job posts and posted on the site plus allowed users to post their own job posts for fee.

Also, JustFuckingDoIt was "profitable" when it was launched. Probably not the level of profitability one would brag about, but definitely made money.

THese are the first three that pop into my head because I was just writing about Pieter Levels, but there are others.

There are a lot static blogs and some of them sell ads. Being static is not how they generate money :).

by static I guess I mean “minimal to no backend”. Sites have to change to be relevant and generate money, so not necessarily “static” in content.

thisiswhyimbroke.com is a very simple concept, it lists unique products found on Amazon with affiliate links.

It gets well over 1m visits per month...at a guess, it's making minimum $250K per year with just one employee (and maybe some part-time freelancers).