Taylor Swift makes Forbes billionaire list

Taylor Swift has joined the world's richest people on the latest Forbes World's Billionaire List for the first time.

The 34-year-old American pop star's record-breaking Eras tour is the first of its kind to surpass $1billion in revenue and Forbes said she has now amassed a $1.1billion fortune.

Forbes says Taylor is the first musician to hit billionaire status just based on her songs and performances, with $500million of her fortune cash from music royalties and touring, another $500million from the increasing value of her music catalogue and $125million from real estate.

She became the first artist to win the Grammy for album of the year four times and her album 1989 (Taylor's Version) was the best selling LP of 2023.

Forbes said there were a record 2,781 billionaires for 2024, 141 more than last year and 26 more than the previous record set in 2021 - the collective wealth of 2024's billionaires is $14.2trillion.

The richest in the world is Bernard Arnault and family with $233billion who oversee the LVMH empire of 75 fashion and cosmetic brands including Louis Vuitton and Sephora.

Eight of the top 10 are from the US and six have backgrounds in technology, including X / Twitter and Tesla owner Elon Musk in second ($195billion), Amazon owner Jeff Bezos in third ($194billion) and Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg in fourth ($177billion).

TV producer Dick Wolf, behind shows such as Law & Order and Chicago, is also new to the list alongside Magic Johnson, the NBA hall-of-famer who, according to Forbes, made his stash after retirement through business deals and stakes in several sports teams.

They join other famous A-list billionaires such as George Lucas, Michael Jordan and Kim Kardashian on the list.

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