Forbes lists are largely a status symbol for the 1%, but as the business publication has expanded its purview — and as the music business has grown legit billionaires — its lists and criteria have grown.
Pegged to its four-year-old Iconoclast conference is an “Iconoclast 50” list released on Wednesday, and its vague criteria — recognizing “leaders in finance, business, technology, media, entertainment and philanthropy that are changing the game in real time, disrupting their industries and challenging the status quo” — has led to an unusual list: There’s Elon and Zuck and Trump and Buffet on the one hand; Beyonce and Taylor and Bad Bunny and the Weeknd and Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani and the “South Park” duo of Trey Parker and Matt Stone on the other. Some are hundred-billionaires; others have no net worth listed.
One who does, however, is Taylor Swift, whose income bracket is now up to $2 billion, according to the publication, thanks largely to the 2023-24 “Eras” tour and her multiple recent releases, including her “Tortured Poets Department” and “Life of a Showgirl” albums, as well as the re-recordings of her past catalog.
“Swift changed the music industry in 2020 when she leveraged her star power to re-record most of her discography,” her brief blurb reads in part. “As a result, her royalties flowed straight into her pocket and she inspired fellow artists to take ownership of their music. In 2024, Swift reached billionaire status thanks to the ‘Eras Tour,’ which became the highest-grossing concert tour in history with revenue of $2.2 billion. She used the cash to buy back her original masters for an estimated $360 million. By March 2026, her net worth doubled to $2 billion, making her the richest female musician in history.”
However, even that status doesn’t make her the wealthiest living musician: According to Forbes, that’s Jay-Z, whose real-time net worth is $2.8 billion.
On Thursday, Swift will release an original song titled “I Knew It, I Knew You” connected to the upcoming Pixar-Disney film “Toy Story 5”; next week, Swift will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame; and within the next few weeks — reportedly on July 3 — she and fiance Travis Kelce will tie the knot.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source variety.com ’
