InOctober 2023, Taylor Swift accomplished a feat no other musician had before: she became a billionaire strictly off of earnings from her music and performances. Three months later, Forbes named television tycoon Dick Wolf a billionaire, too, thanks to his estimated $1.9 billion (pretax) career earnings from producing shows like Law & Order and FBI.
The two entertainers bring even more star power to the Forbes World’s Billionaires list, which has seen an explosion in celebrity billionaires in recent years. Ten of the 14 A-listers on the ranking have become billionaires in the past four years, spurred by entertainers capitalizing on their brand and fame.
Most on this list have made their billions from their own entrepreneurship and ventures outside of their claim to fame. Pop star Rihanna, for example, built her fortune mainly from her stake in two billion-dollar companies, makeup brand Fenty Beauty, a joint venture with luxury giant LVMH, and lingerie maker Savage X Fenty. Jay-Z became hip hop’s first billionaire thanks to two alcohol companies, D’Usse Cognac and Armand de Brignac Champagne. He sold a 50% stake in the latter to LVMH, and he also has stakes in Uber and Block, among other investments. Michael Jordan earned less than $100 million from his basketball career, but pocketed big bucks from Nike. Jordan had his biggest score in August, when he sold his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets at a sky-high $3 billion valuation.
Miss Americana capped off one of the most culturally influential years a musician has ever had by becoming a billionaire in October. Her estimated $190 million post-tax earnings from her historic Eras Tour helped boost the country-and-pop musician into the three-comma club—the first person to do it based solely on songwriting and performing.
The mastermind behind the most watched crime shows on TV, including Law & Order and FBI, Wolf debuts on the billionaire’s list thanks to nearly $2 billion pretax earnings from his 30-year career in television.
Johnson made his name in basketball, but long before the crazy salaries or even endorsements deals of late. Instead he made his fortune in business and, specifically, through savvy partnerships with other billionaires. He owns pieces of the NFL’s Washington Commanders (with Justin Harris), the MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers (with Todd Boehly), the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and MLS’ LAFC. Most of his wealth comes from his stake in Iowa-based life insurance provider EquiTrust.
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The basketball great has pulled in more than $1 billion in on and off-court earnings over his two-decade career. He’s invested it in real estate, stakes in businesses like Blaze Pizza, his own production and entertainment company SpringHill, and, of course, sports. James has a stake in Fenway Sports Group, owner of the MLB’s Boston Red Sox; soccer club Liverpool and the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
Tiger Woods is in an exclusive club, joining Lebron James as the only two athletes who became billionaires while still active in their sport. But, more than anything, it was his celebrity that pushed him into ten digits. The five-time Masters’ winner has earned over $1.7 billion in his career, the bulk of it from endorsements. His most notable brand deal, a nearly three-decade partnership with Nike, came to an end in January. Woods soon announced his own clothing line, Sun Day Red.
The pop star has stakes in two billion-dollar brands: cosmetics company Fenty Beauty, which she owns alongside luxury goods giant LVMH, and lingerie business Savage X Fenty. Both are named after the Barbados-born singer, whose real name is Robyn Fenty.
Perry has brought in well over $1 billion in pretax earnings over a three-decade career creating and acting in TV shows, movies and stage plays. He famously lent one of his Los Angeles homes to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle when they stepped down as senior members of the British royal family.
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The visionary director behind the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit franchises, Jackson made most of his fortune from his visual effects company, Weta Digital, which sold a portion of its assets to game maker Unity Software in 2021. That deal netted the New Zealander nearly $1 billion in cash and stock.
No one has cashed in on reality star fame more than Kim Kardashian, who has become a billionaire from her beauty and clothing brands. Her shapewear line Skims was valued at $4 billion in a 2023 funding round, and she sold 20% of KKW Beauty makeup company to Coty in 2020 for $200 million. She has since shut KKW Beauty down.
Hip-hop’s first billionaire sold a 50% stake in his champagne brand, Armand de Brignac, to luxury goods giant LVMH in 2021 for at least $300 million, and a majority stake in his cognac label D’Usse in 2023 for a reported $750 million to Bacardi. He also owns stakes in Uber and Block. His net worth does not include his wife Beyonce’s own half-billion-dollar fortune.
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The daytime talk show host became the first black female billionaire in 2003. In the years since, she has built her brand into a media and business empire, including investments in real estate and her own production company. Soon after Winfrey revealed that she had started taking a weight-loss drug, the longtime WeightWatchers board member and key shareholder announced plans to step aside.
Jordan became the first billionaire athlete in 2015, but it wasn’t from his legendary basketball career or gambling winnings. Instead, Jordan has raked in more than $1.8 billion from brand partnerships, most famously Nike’s Jordan brand. He also made a very wise investment in 2010, buying the Charlotte Hornets NBA team for $175 million. He sold the team in August 2023 for $3 billion.
Spielberg joined the list in 1994, the first director to make the cut, after a string of hits that included Jaws, Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List. “I’m a gambler,” he told Forbes that year. “I haven’t taken a salary for almost a decade now.” Instead, he negotiated to get a percentage of gross sales for his movies, and he still gets a slice of every ticket sold at Universal theme parks thanks to the Indiana Jones series
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The Star Wars director, who debuted as a billionaire in 1997, is the richest celebrity thanks in large part to his production company LucasFilm, which he sold to Disney in 2012 for more than $4 billion in cash and stock.
