It’s been a long time coming, but… Taylor Swift has now joined Forbes’ Worlds’ Billionaire List.
Here’s what we know.
Is Taylor Swift a billionaire?
Yes. The pop superstar, who reached billionaire status in October, landed on Forbes’ World’s Billionaires list, the business magazine shared Tuesday. Among other celeb billionaires who made the cut — including Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey and “Star Wars” creator George Lucas — Swift was ranked at No. 14 with a net worth of $1.1 billion.
Lucas tops the celebrity billionaire list, with a net worth of $5.5 billion — five times that of Swift.
However, the “Is It Over Now?” singer still managed to make history as the first person to reach billionaire status “based solely on songwriting and performing,” according to Forbes.
Swift had a lucrative 2023, thanks in large part to her record-breaking Eras Tour, which became the first tour in history to earn more than $1 billion. The global trek, which kicked off in March 2023, took in an estimated ticket gross of $1.04 billion last year from 4.35 million tickets sold, according to music industry trade publication Pollstar.
A concert film of the tour, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” opened at the box office in October with earnings of $92.8 million. Within days, it became the highest-grossing concert film ever in North America, not accounting for inflation.
If Taylor Swift still has a “Blank Space,” she can write in a dollar sign now.
The pop superstar, who reached billionaire status in October, landed on Forbes’ World’s Billionaires list, the business magazine shared Tuesday. Among other celeb billionaires who made the cut – including Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey and “Star Wars” creator George Lucas – Swift was ranked at No. 14 with a net worth of $1.1 billion.
Lucas topped the celebrity billionaires list with a whopping net worth of $5.5 billion.
“I think what’s really interesting is the proliferation of self-made billionaires,” Grace Chung, senior editor at Forbes magazine, told the Nashville Tennessean (part of the USA TODAY network) of Swift’s distinction. “To be a self-made woman, not just an heir that inherited her wealth, is really exciting to see and also see it grow.”
Swift had a lucrative 2023, thanks in large part to her record-breaking Eras Tour, which became the first tour in history to earn more than $1 billion. The global trek, which Chung said makes up approximately 45% of Swift’s net worth, took in an estimated ticket gross of $1.04 billion in 2023 from 4.35 million tickets sold, according to music industry trade publication Pollstar.
Swift’s U.S. concerts added an estimated $4.3 billion to the country’s gross domestic product in 2023, Bloomberg reported in October.
A concert film of the tour, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” opened at the box office in October with earnings of $92.8 million. Within days, it became the highest-grossing concert film ever in North America, not accounting for inflation.
The singer’s expanding music catalog has also added to her wealth. In 2019, Swift released “Lover,” the first album she owned after the masters to her first six albums were purchased by Scooter Braun via his acquisition of Big Machine Label Group. She has re-released four “Taylor’s Version” editions of those albums since then, including “1989,” “Fearless,” “Red” and “Speak Now.”
“After her first six albums, she singed that lucrative distribution deal with Universal Music (Group), which gave her monetary control over her work,” Chung said. “That’s something very few artists have.”
Swift’s billionaire ranking follows a big night at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards on Monday. The singer, who was not in attendance, took home six awards, including artist of the year.
“I wanted to say thank you so much to anyone who voted for this award,” said Swift in a recorded video. “To the fans, it’s completely up to you to choose how you spend your time, what concerts you want to go to, what music do you want to make the soundtrack to your life, and to anyone who has included me in those choices, I’m so so so thankful for that.”
