Taylor Swift, the American singer, has become a billionaire, according to Forbes magazine, which has just published its latest ranking of world celebrity fortunes. A milestone reached after a historic year in 2023 for the pop star.
First female artist to become a billionaire through music alone
With a net worth now estimated at $1.1 billion, the “Shake It Off” performer becomes the first artist, woman or man, to cross the ten-figure threshold thanks to income from her music alone.
In just one year, the Pennsylvania-born singer has seen her fortune grow by $360 million, largely thanks to the economic benefits of her monster “The Eras Tour”, which features over 152 dates.
According to several estimates, the “Eras” tour is poised to become the highest-grossing concert series in music history, well over the billion-dollar mark.
500 million from royalties and concerts
This tour, which is due to end on December 8 in Vancouver (Canada), has already earned her $190 million, according to Forbes. The magazine estimates that, since the start of her career, Taylor Swift has earned over $500 million from royalties and concerts.
Singer and co-writer of almost all her songs, the 34-year-old artist is also producer or co-producer, multiplying her sources of earnings. She also re-recorded her first six albums, for which she did not own the original recording rights, or “masters”, which her former record company, Big Machine, refused to sell her.
According to Forbes, her music catalog is now worth around $500 million. To this, the magazine adds real estate valued at a total of $125 million, and a private jet, estimated at $10 million.
Dazzling success for his tour film
His personal wallet was also filled by the film “The Eras Tour”, a montage of three of his concerts, which grossed $261 million at the worldwide box office.
Forbes did not include the rights to the film “Eras” paid by Disney to be able to offer it on its Disney+ platform, i.e. around $75 million, according to Variety magazine.
Billboard, the trade magazine, estimates sales for the Taylor Swift brand at $1.82 billion in 2023.
She joins billionaire artists Rihanna and Jay-Z
Taylor Swift isn’t the only musical artist to have entered the exclusive circle of celebrity billionaires. She had already been surpassed by rapper Jay-Z (2.5 billion dollars), singer Rihanna (1.4) and singer Jimmy Buffett (1), who died last September, but all owe part of their fortune to investments in activities not directly linked to music.
Among the artists who have made the most money from their music alone, Paul McCartney is undoubtedly the best placed, behind Taylor Swift. Last year, the Sunday Times newspaper estimated his net worth at ยฃ950 million, or just under $1.2 billion.
Beyoncรฉ in the starting-blocks
But this figure included the fortune of his wife, Nancy Shevell, valued at around $200 million. In addition to Paul McCartney, singer Beyoncรฉ is approaching the symbolic billion-dollar threshold, according to Forbes, which estimated her assets at $800 million last year.
At the Grammy Awards ceremony earlier this year, Taylor Swift announced that she would be releasing a new album on April 19. The opus is entitled “The Tortured Poets Department”. The artist remains on a run of 13 consecutive albums in the USA since “Fearless” 16 years ago, counting the four re-recorded albums but excluding the live albums.