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Taylor Swift made her debut on a new chart: Forbes’ billionaires list.
The pop superstar was propelled to billionaire status last October, thanks to a combination of her music catalog and the major revenues from her sold-out Eras Tour shows. With a net worth of $1.1 billion, according to Forbes, Swift is now one of the 2,781 billionaires on the list for 2024.
The 34-year-old is the first musician to join the list solely based on her songs and performances, and not from additional income from brand partnerships, business ventures, or other money-making activities.
Swift’s billionaire status is made up of more than $500 million in estimated wealth amassed from royalties and touring, combined with a $500 million music catalog and about $125 million in real estate, according to Forbes.
Over the last three years, Swift has re-released several of her hit albums to regain ownership after a rights dispute between herself and record executive Scooter Braun (who purchased Big Machine Records, the label that signed Swift for more than a decade, in 2019). And last year, she embarked on the Eras Tour — starting in the U.S. and continuing to sell out stadiums worldwide — which reportedly brought in a historic $4.1 billion in earnings for Swift.
Other famous faces who made it onto the list include Magic Johnson, who makes his first appearance on the chart this year with a $1.2 billion fortune; Rihanna with her two multi-billion dollar brands, Fenty Beauty and Savage X Fenty; and Michael Jordan, thanks to his lucrative partnership with Nike.
As for the rest of the billionaires list, CEO of the sprawling French luxury empire, LVMH, Bernard Arnault topped the ranks with an estimated $233 billion. He was followed by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has an estimated wealth of $195 billion. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos rounded out the top three billionaires worldwide with a $194 billion fortune, according to Forbes.
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