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Published: Friday 2nd June, 2023
Taylor Swift sold over 2 million tickets to her Eras tour on November 15, the most ever for an artist in a single day on Ticketmaster, and enough to crash parts of the company’s site. Beyoncé Knowles won her 32nd Grammy award, more than any other musician in history. Rihanna performed one of the most watched Super Bowl halftime shows in history, in front of more than 121 million viewers.
Women celebrities are making history, and along the way taking control of their own fame and fortune. Altogether 15 stars made this year’s Forbes list of America’s Richest Self-Made
Women. Worth a combined $10.8 billion, these celebrities include some of the most well-known and hardest-working performers, artists and producers—folks like Reese Witherspoon, who is executive producer of several hit series and stars in another; Dolly Parton, who’s been busy with TV specials, new books and new product lines this past year; and yes, Taylor Swift, who is in the middle of her first tour in five years and her biggest ever: 52 performances in 20 cities over 145 days.
To no surprise, Swift added more to her fortune than any other celebrity this past year, jumping 14 spots in the ranks to No. 34, up from No. 48. The $170 million increase to her net worth is tied to the release of her No. 1 album Midnights and the launch of her tour, which kicked off in March. It’s a labor of love for Swift: “I’ve just never been this happy in my life,” she recently said on-stage. Her net worth should jump even higher on next year’s list as the tour continues; she gets a cut of all merchandise sold at each concert.
Also moving up the ranks is Beyoncé, who began her Renaissance tour in
May; she’s worth $540 million, $90 million more than last year, and now ranks No. 48, up from No. 61.
The only famous newcomer to debut this year is showrunner Shonda Rhimes, thanks to the success of her long-running ABC shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal and newer Netflix hits like Bridgerton and Inventing Anna. Her latest, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, debuted on Netflix on May 4.
Making the list is no easy feat. The 2022 list featured 17 celebrities with a minimum net worth of $215 million, compared to this year’s threshold of $225 million. Sandra Bullock, Maria Sharapova and Kris Jenner all dropped out of the ranks, unable to keep up. While Kris Jenner fell below the cut, largely due to Forbes’ lower valuation of her daughter Kim Kardashian’s unicorn shapewear brand Skims, Kim and sister Kylie Jenner still appear in the ranks. In fact Kylie, at age 25, is the youngest self-made woman on the top 100 list, a title she’s held since 2018 when she first made her debut at age 20.
Oprah Winfrey
Net worth: $2.5 billion
Winfrey reportedly purchased nearly 900 acres of land in Maui earlier this year, adding to her portfolio of 13 properties on the Hawaiian islands plus real estate in California and Wyoming. The media mogul returned to her alma mater, Tennessee State University, for the first time since 1987 to deliver the commencement address in May. She’s producing a Stephen Speilberg-directed remake of The Color Purple, the 1985 film for which she earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Rihanna
Net worth: $1.4 billion
Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show in February attracted 121 million viewers, making it one of the most watched in history. It was her first live performance in more than five years and came two months after she released new music for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. She is launching a new Fenty X Puma partnership and has an estimated 30% stake in lingerie line Savage X Fenty. The bulk of her fortune comes from Fenty Beauty, the makeup line she co-owns with LVMH and whose sales doubled in 2022.
Kim Kardashian
Net worth: $1.2 billion
The TV star and business mogul is pushing forward in both realms. She’ll join the season 12 cast of FX show American Horror Story, premiering later this year. Her private equity firm,
SKKY Partners, headed by a former Carlyle Group exec, is reportedly trying to raise a $1 billion fund to invest in consumer and media companies. Kardashian, who launched skin care line SKKN by Kim last summer, still owes much of her ten-figure wealth to a 35% stake in shapewear label Skims. Forbes lowered the valuation of that brand in line with public markets, knocking Kardashian’s fortune down by $600 million.
Taylor Swift
Net worth: $740 million
The ninth-highest-earning entertainer of 2022 had a massive year thanks to the success of her tenth studio album, Midnights, and the announcement of her Eras tour, which kicked off in March. A record 2 million-plus tickets were sold by Ticketmaster on a single November day. Her fortune is up $170 million thanks to the album and start of the tour. She will make much more as she performs on the road and will also get a cut from all 52 performances and merchandise sales.
Kylie Jenner
Net worth: $680 million
The social media star continues to pump her followers—including 390 million Instagrammers—with endorsements of products like Glow water (she recently became a spokesperson) and ads for Kylie Cosmetics items including products sold in British luxury retailer Selfridges and a new line inspired by DC Comics’ Batman. In March, Jenner’s cosmetics brand lit up Dubai’s Burj Khalifa skyscraper with her face to celebrate its launch in the Middle East. Jenner owns an estimated 44.1% of Kylie Cosmetics; she sold 51% of it to French beauty giant Coty for $600 million in 2020.
Beyoncé Knowles
Net worth: $540 million
Knowles released her seventh studio album, Renaissance, last year, which helped her break the record for the most Grammy wins in history, with 32 trophies. Her clothing line, Ivy Park, severed its partnership with Adidas in March. The singer announced a couture collection with fashion house Balmain that’s inspired by the new album. In May, she embarked on the Renaissance world tour, her first solo tour in seven years. She and husband Jay-Z reportedly purchased a $200 million Malibu mansion, the most expensive in California history.
