Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez crack America’s billionaire list with booming empires
Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez have cracked the list of America's billionaires.
According to The Wall Street Journal, of the 1,135 billionaires in the U.S., about 86 percent are men — leaving just over 150 women, or roughly 14 percent, to make up the remainder.
Among those women are Swift and Gomez, who have managed to turn their pop culture fame into billion-dollar businesses. Whether they gained their fortune after a record-breaking tour or through a makeup brand, they broke barriers.
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Here are some of the famous women who have managed to break through and reach billionaire status.
Taylor Swift shot to stardom when she released her self-titled debut album in October 2006, and her star continued to rise with each new album release.
She reached billionaire status in 2023, when, according to Forbes, she made "an estimated $190 million after taxes for just the first leg of her famous Eras Tour." The tour ran for nearly two years, starting in March 2023 and ending in December 2024, and reportedly grossed more than $2 billion.
When combined with album sales, her past tours, her real estate investments and the revenue from the theatrical release of "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour," Forbes estimated Swift's net worth to be around $1.6 billion.
Selena Gomez started creating her fortune at a young age, starring on the children's show "Barney & Friends" when she was just 10 years old. She later became a household name as the star of Disney Channel's "Wizards of Waverly Place," which she appeared in for four seasons, from 2007 to 2012.
She continued acting into adulthood, earning an Emmy nomination in 2024 for her role in "Only Murders in the Building." During the COVID-19 pandemic, she also launched the cooking show "Selena + Chef" on HBO Max. After establishing her acting career, Gomez also made a name for herself as a singer,
In September 2020, Gomez transformed her fame into a successful business when she launched Rare Beauty, with products available online and in Sephora stores. After going viral on TikTok, Rare Beauty quickly became one of the most successful celebrity-owned beauty brands out there, seen as inclusive and affordable.
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The company's estimated value reached $2 billion in 2023, and with a 51% stake in the brand's ownership, Gomez became a billionaire. Combined with her earnings as a singer, actress and business owner, Bloomberg estimated her net worth to be around $1.3 billion in 2024, with Rare Beauty being the main contributing factor.
Rihanna got her start as a musician, releasing eight albums between 2005 and 2016.
Following the release of her last studio album, Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty in 2017. The brand was celebrated as one of the first to feature an inclusive range of foundation shades. She later launched the lingerie line Savage X Fenty, "which raised $125 million in a 2022 funding round," according to Forbes.
The singer and businesswoman first landed on the Forbes billionaires list in 2021, the outlet reporting she was worth $1.7 billion. At the time, that made her the wealthiest female musician in the world and second only to Oprah Winfrey as the wealthiest female entertainer.
In 2025, Forbes listed Rihanna’s net worth at $1.4 billion, driven largely by her lingerie and beauty businesses.
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Kim Kardashian first shot to fame when she and her family began appearing on the E! reality show "Keeping up with the Kardashians," which premiered in October 2007.
Since the show's premiere, Kardashian has managed to turn her reality stardom into business success, starting with various fragrances and an app, and later expanding to include a makeup line, KKW Beauty. In 2021, KKW Beauty was shut down and, after undergoing a huge revamp, was relaunched in 2022 as SKKN BY KIM, a high-end skin care line.
The reality star officially made the Forbes billionaires list in April 2025, and the magazine estimated her net worth to be $1.7 billion.
Forbes credits Kardashian's shapewear company, SKIMS, as the driving force behind her billionaire status, stating the company was valued at $4 billion in 2023.
