Taylor Swift makes it onto Forbes' World Billionaires list

Taylor Swift has made it onto Forbes' World Billionaires list.

The 34-year-old pop superstar became the first person in history to reach a net worth of US$1 billion (S$1.35 billion) solely through their music or performances.

She has now joined the likes of SpaceX founder Elon Musk on the annual ranking for the very first time as her Eras tour continues to break box office records around the world.

Forbes said: "Celebrities are getting richer, too. Taylor Swift (US$1.1 billion) joins the 2024 ranks — the first musician to do it based solely on songwriting and performing — after the record-breaking first leg of her Eras tour.

"TV producer Dick Wolf (US$1.2 billion), the mastermind behind shows such as Law and Order and Chicago, is also new to the billionaires list, as is Magic Johnson, the NBA hall-of-famer who really made his stash after retirement, through savvy business deals and stakes in several sports teams, one of the best paths to getting rich[er].

"They join nearly a dozen other famous A-list billionaires, including George Lucas (US$5.5 billion), Michael Jordan (US$3.2 billion) and Kim Kardashian (US$1.7 billion)."

Taylor currently has a net worth of US$1.1 billion and has also joined Sam Altman on the list, who made US$1 billion through his AI chatbot ChatGPT.

Topping the overall list was LVMH French luxury goods titan Bernard Arnault and his family, who have a net worth of US$233 billion whilst Amazon founder Jeff Bezos came in second place with a fortune worth US$197.9 billion.

Just below Elon was Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, who bagged fourth place on the list with a net worth of US$172.1 billion.

In describing what has been a record-breaking year for the list, Forbes said: "It's been a banner year for the mega-wealthy.

"Forbes found an unprecedented 2,781 billionaires around the globe for this year's World's Billionaires list — 141 more than in 2023 and 26 more than the previous record, set in 2021.

"The super-rich are also richer than ever, with their combined wealth hitting US$14.2 trillion — US$2 trillion more than just a year ago and US$1.1 trillion above the previous record, also set in 2021."

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