In 25 years, exactly once have I had someone in my team that was paid more than me.
It was someone who had been in the job 5-6 years longer than me, and consistently been one of the highest performers. I believe I was the one to give him a raise to a higher base than me.
So it does certainly happen, but as you say I think they're outliers.
Usually I think you'll see this happen because companies are poor at having a separate tech promotion track that doesn't lead into management, and so it sometimes happens with people that really ought to have been promoted, but that neither they or you want to become managers.
It was someone who had been in the job 5-6 years longer than me, and consistently been one of the highest performers. I believe I was the one to give him a raise to a higher base than me.
So it does certainly happen, but as you say I think they're outliers.
Usually I think you'll see this happen because companies are poor at having a separate tech promotion track that doesn't lead into management, and so it sometimes happens with people that really ought to have been promoted, but that neither they or you want to become managers.