According to Forbes, as of 2024, there are 2,781 billionaires in the world, with a combined net worth of about $14.2 trillion. The level of inequality between them and the rest of the world is exasperating — Oxfam International reported that the richest one percent of the global population is wealthier than the poorest 95 percent combined.
Here are billionaires who made their fortunes in entertainment:
Kim Kardashian is worth an estimated $1.7 billion. In 2021, Forbes added her to the World’s Billionaires List. At the time, the majority of her wealth came from KKW Beauty, the beauty brand she founded in 2017, and from Skims, the shapewear brand she started in 2019. However, she shut down KKW Beauty in 2021, and four years later, she makes most of her money from Skims.
Taylor Swift is worth an estimated $1.6 billion. According to Forbes, she’s the first musician to achieve billionaire status predominantly through her music and performances. She was added to the list in October 2023, largely because of her music catalog and The Eras Tour.
Rihanna’s net worth is reportedly $1.4 billion. In 2021, Forbes reported that she achieved billionaire status largely through Fenty Beauty, the makeup brand she launched in partnership with LVMH in 2017. Another large chunk of her wealth — in the neighborhood of $270 million — comes from her stake in Savage x Fenty, the lingerie brand she started in 2018. Per ABC News, in 2022, Rihanna was the youngest self-made billionaire.
Jay-Z is reportedly worth $2.5 billion. Per Forbes, in 2019, he became the first hip-hop artist to achieve billionaire status, and since then, he’s more than doubled his wealth through his liquor businesses, including Armand de Brignac Champagne and D’Usse cognac. His fortune also comes from his music ventures, such as Roc Nation and Tidal, and his investments in companies like Uber.
Per Rolling Stone, in a 2022 Twitter Space, Jay-Z addressed criticism of his billionaire status. He said, “Yeah, we’re not gonna stop. You know, hip-hop is young, we still growing, and we’re not falling for that trick-nology whatever, you know, this public puts out there. Before was the American dream, ‘Pull yourself by the bootstraps, and you can make yourself…you can make it in America,’ all these lies that America told us our whole life. And then when we start getting in, they tried to lock us out of it. They start inventing words like you know, ‘capitalist,’ you know, things like that.” He then named racial slurs he’s been called and added, “I don’t care; those words y’all come up with. Y’all gotta come up with stronger words.”
Michael Jordan is reportedly worth $3.5 billion. According to Forbes, before tax, about $2.4 billion of his career earnings have come from endorsement deals with brands like Nike, McDonald’s, and Hanes. Per ESPN, in August 2023, he sold his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets to Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin and their group for an estimated $3 billion. The deal made him the first pro athlete to make it onto The Forbes 400, aka the list of the richest people in the US.
LeBron James’s net worth is an estimated $1.2 billion. Forbes reported that he earned billionaire status in 2022 — and he’s the first active NBA player to do so. Most of his money comes from endorsement deals with brands like Nike and PepsiCo. However, a lot of it boils down to his decision to take equity in brands he partners with, such as Blaze Pizza, Lyft, and Tonal.
Back in 2014, LeBron manifested becoming a billionaire. He told Qq, “If it happens. It’s my biggest milestone. Obviously. I want to maximize my business. And if I happen to get it, if I happen to be a billion-dollar athlete, ho. Hip hip hooray! Oh, my God, I’m gonna be excited.”
Bruce Springsteen’s net worth is estimated at $1.2 billion. According to Forbes, he sold his catalog to his longtime label, Sony, for $500 million in 2021. Two years later, his tour generated $380 million in revenue, and, per CNN, he has no plans to stop touring. During a 2024 concert in Philadelphia, he reportedly said, “We’ve been around for 50 fucking years, and we ain’t quitting. We ain’t doing no farewell tour bullshit. No farewell tour for the E Street Band. Farewell to what? Thousands of people screaming your name? Yeah, I wanna quit that.”
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