Europe 1 with AFP 7:45 a.m., April 3, 2024
It's official: American singer Taylor Swift is a billionaire, according to the latest ranking of the fortunes of world celebrities published Tuesday by Forbes magazine. The star becomes the first artist, woman or man, to have crossed the ten-figure threshold thanks solely to income from her music.
American singer Taylor Swift is a billionaire, according to the latest ranking of the fortunes of world celebrities published Tuesday by Forbes magazine, a threshold crossed after a historic 2023 for the pop star.
Assets estimated at $1.1 billion
With assets now estimated at $1.1 billion, the "Shake It Off" singer becomes the first artist, woman or man, to have crossed the ten-figure threshold thanks solely to income from her music.
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In less than a year, the Pennsylvania native has seen her fortune grow by $360 million, largely thanks to the economic benefits of her 152-date monster tour “The Eras Tour”. According to several estimates, "Eras" is on track to become the highest-grossing concert series in music history, well over a billion dollars. This tour, which is due to end on December 8 in Vancouver (Canada), has already earned him $190 million, according to Forbes. The magazine estimates that, since the start of her career, Taylor Swift has earned more than $500 million from royalties and concerts.
A music catalog worth 500 million dollars
Performer, but also author or co-author of almost all of her titles, the 34-year-old artist is also producer or co-producer, which multiplies the sources of income. 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 resell to her.
According to Forbes, the value of his music catalog is now around $500 million. The magazine adds to this heritage real estate valued at $125 million in total, as well as a private jet, estimated at $10 million.
Success of the film "The Eras Tour"
The sudden increase in his personal fortune is also due to the film "The Eras Tour", a montage of three of his concerts, which recorded $261 million in worldwide box office revenue. Forbes did not count the rights to the film "Eras" paid by Disney to be able to offer it on its Disney+ platform, or around $75 million, according to Variety magazine.
The trade magazine Billboard has estimated the turnover of the Taylor Swift brand at $1.82 billion in 2023, including sales of music, concert tickets, merchandise, movie tickets and royalties.
Taylor Swift is not the only musical artist to have entered the very closed circle of celebrity billionaires. She had already been overtaken by the rapper Jay-Z (2.5 billion dollars), the singer Rihanna (1.4) or the singer Jimmy Buffett (1), who died last September, but all owe part of their fortune to investments in activities not directly related to music.
Among the artists who have earned 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 assets at £950 million, or just under $1.2 billion. But that figure included the fortune of the former Beatle's wife, Nancy Shevell, estimated at around $200 million. In addition to Paul McCartney, singer Beyoncé, whose assets Forbes estimated at $800 million last year, is approaching the symbolic threshold of one billion.
A new album expected on April 19
Taylor Swift announced at the Grammy Awards earlier this year that she would release a new album on April 19. The opus is entitled "The Tortured Poets Department". Counting the four re-recorded albums but excluding the live albums, the artist remains on a streak of 13 consecutive albums in the United States since "Fearless", 16 years ago.