Beyoncé makes the leap to billionaire status – half of the top 10 richest musicians are now women. Read the whole list here.
There was a belated Christmas present for US singer Beyoncé: the US singer is a billionaire. This puts her in an exclusive elite of music stars who have managed to build billions in fortunes with songs, tours and business acumen. This ranking is based on two of the most important wealth lists worldwide: the “Forbes List of Music Artists by Net Worth” and the British “Sunday Times Rich List”. Both sometimes come to different assessments, but taken together, a clear picture emerges of the richest musicians in the world at the moment. The gender ratio is now balanced among the top 10 richest musicians: with Beyoncé, there are now five female musicians in the top 10.
1. Jay-Z ($2.5 billion)
Jay-Z is not only a rapper but also a global entrepreneur. His assets are made up of music rights, the sale of his streaming service Tidal, investments in champagne brands such as Armand de Brignac, as well as real estate and art collections. Forbes estimates his music catalog alone to be worth several hundred million dollars.
2. Taylor Swift (1.6 billion)
Taylor Swift is the first musician to become a billionaire solely through her music. The “Eras Tour” grossed a total of over a billion dollars. In addition, there is income from re-recordings of her albums and a real estate portfolio worth around $124 million.
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3. Paul McCartney (1.3 billion)
To this day, the Beatles star benefits from one of the most valuable song catalogs in music history. Paul McCartney’s largest sources of income are royalties from the Beatles and solo catalogue, investments in music publishing houses and decades-long world tours with income in the hundreds of millions. While Forbes puts his fortune at just under $1 billion, the Sunday Times continues to list McCartney as a billionaire.
4. Bruce Springsteen (1.2 billion)
“The Boss” Bruce Springsteen sold his entire music catalog for around $500 million in 2021. Together with decades of touring and high ticket prices, this deal finally catapulted him into the billions.
5. Rihanna (1 billion)
Rihanna is not only a musician but also an entrepreneur. Her beauty label “Fenty Beauty” made her almost twice as rich at times, even though Forbes recently valued her fortune at around a billion dollars. Their music still remains a central source of income.
6. Beyoncé (1 billion)
Beyoncé has doubled her fortune in the last two years. The Renaissance World Tour grossed almost $600 million, of which $100 million came this year alone. There was also new income from the country album “Cowboy Carter”, exclusive appearances and lucrative partnerships.
7. Jimmy Buffett (1 billion)
The musician Jimmy Buffet, who died in 2023, built a billion-dollar empire of restaurants, hotels and merchandising with “Margaritaville”. His brand has long outlived the pure music business.
8. Madonna (850 million)
The “Queen of Pop” Madonna has been earning consistently for decades. Her world tours, music rights and fashion and film projects ensured that she is one of the richest artists even without new number one hits.
9. Dr. Dre (850 million)
The producer and rapper owes a large part of his fortune to the sale of “Beats by Dre” to Apple in 2014 for around three billion dollars. Music productions and participations secure Dr. Dre, real name André Romelle Young, continues to have high earnings.
10. Selena Gomez (700 million)
Selena Gomez is the youngest in the ranking. In addition to music and acting, her cosmetics brand “Rare Beauty” in particular generates enormous sales, which have brought her close to the billion-dollar club in a short time. The 33-year-old has the most followers worldwide on Instagram with 416 million followers.