Selena Gomez, the actor-musician-producer-makeup-mogul, has been named a billionaire by Bloomberg — the outlet estimates her net worth at $1.3 billion, to be precise.
Here's how these five musicians made their fortunes.
Jay-Z has been chasing mogul status for almost 30 years — he founded Roc-A-Fella Records back in 1995.
Since then, he's started his own sports agency (Roc Nation Sports), bought and sold the music streaming platform Tidal — netting himself $149 million, according to a 2021 Forbes report — owns a stake in the Champagne brand Armand de Brignac and the Cognac brand D'ussé … the list goes on.
All that, plus his extremely popular music, has led Forbes to estimate his net worth at $2.5 billion as of September 2024.
Unlike many of her peers, Swift's wealth solely comes from her — she doesn't have any side hustles. Her money comes from her extremely lucrative Eras Tour, the sheer popularity of her music, merch sales, real estate, and the unprecedented distribution deal she made with AMC for her concert film.
Gomez has recently stepped away from music. Her last album, "Rare," was released in 2020.
Instead, she's been concentrating on her makeup brand, Rare Beauty, which, by any metric, has been a smashing success. Bloomberg reported in September 2024 that her estimated worth is now $1.3 billion.
The cult-favorite blush alone earned $70 million in 2022.
In addition to her makeup brand, Gomez, a former Disney Channel star, is an actor. Her Hulu series "Only Murders in the Building" was recently renewed for a fifth season; she has lent her voice to the "Hotel Transylvania" animated films; and she is generating some awards buzz for her role in the film "Emilia Pérez."
She also executive produces many of her own projects, including "Only Murders," the upcoming sequel series "Wizards Beyond Waverly Place," and her reality series "Selena + Chef" and "Selena + Restaurant."
In July, 51 years after the Boss released his first album, "Greetings from Asbury Park," he was named a billionaire by Forbes. As of September, Forbes estimates his net worth to be $1.1 billion.
Variety reported most of Springsteen's wealth comes from the 2021 sale of his music catalog to Sony for a cool $500 million.
In addition to that mega-sale, Springsteen is constantly on the road. The E Street Band seems like it's been on a never-ending tour recently — this tour (called the 2023 Tour) started in February 2023 and will wrap up in July 2025.
Forbes puts Rihanna's estimated net worth at $1.4 billion.
She hasn't released an album since 2016's "Anti," which means that most of her wealth is from her two eponymously named brands: Fenty Beauty, which she co-owns with the French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, and Savage X Fenty, a lingerie brand.
After its initial launch in 2017, Fenty Beauty has since expanded to encompass Fenty Skin, Fenty Hair, and Fenty Fragrance.
She was also named Puma's creative director in 2014. She released her latest collaboration with the brand in 2023.
The Rise of Selena Gomez: From Disney Star to Billionaire
Selena Gomez, the 32-year-old actress, singer, investor, and entrepreneur, is officially a billionaire. But her journey to this point wasn’t easy.
“I can remember about seven times when our car got stuck on the highway because we’d run out of gas money,” Gomez told Elle in 2012, recounting her time growing up in poverty with her then-teen mom Mandy Teefey.
“My mom gave up everything for me and had, like, three jobs,” Gomez said in a 2017 interview with E! Entertainment.
Teefey, 16 at the time, gave birth to Gomez in 1992 in a “really rough neighborhood” of Grand Prairie, Texas. Five years later, she divorced her then husband and raised Selena as a single mother while struggling to make it as a stage actress.
As fate would have it, Gomez discovered her passion for acting after spending time on her mother’s theater sets, which later propelled her to stardom.
Teefey detailed her daughter’s early fascination with acting to the New York Times in 2017: “She went to one of my rehearsals with me and sat through the whole thing, not moving. On the way home, she was quiet, and then she goes, ‘You know, Mom, that might be funnier if you did it this way.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, no. She’s going to be an actor.”
And she did just that.
At just 10 years old, Selena made her acting debut on Barney and Friends, rising to fame five years later with her lead role in Disney’s Emmy award-winning series Wizards of Waverly Place, which earned her around $3 million in total, according to Cosmopolitan. She then transitioned to music as the leading lady of pop band Selena Gomez & the Scene before launching a successful solo career with her 2013 hit album Stars Dance, which ranked No. 1.
Today, Gomez boasts an impressive résumé: three studio albums, nine Top 10 pop hits, 44 singles (half of which are platinum or gold), and two Grammy nominations.
Rare Beauty and Beyond: The Key to Selena Gomez's Billion-Dollar Empire
Interestingly enough, acting and singing don’t make up the majority of Gomez’s fortune.
According to Bloomberg, music tours accounted for less than 5% of Gomez’s wealth, with album and record sales less than 2%—unlike her close friend Taylor Swift, who reached billionaire status in October 2023 primarily from her music and concerts.
“Selena is not just a pop star,” Stacy Jones, founder and CEO of Hollywood Branded, a Los Angeles-based branding agency, told Bloomberg.
Launched in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, entering an already saturated market with celebrity-backed giants like Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty and Kim Kardashian’s SKKN, Gomez marketed Rare Beauty products as “moderately priced makeup,” according to Bloomberg.
“I really tried my hardest to create products that were beyond just me putting my name on something,” she told 102.7 KIISFM in a 2023 radio interview.
Of course, having the third most-followed Instagram account on the planet helped.
With 424 million followers on the platform, just behind soccer stars Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, Gomez aided her brand’s marketing efforts by posting clips of her applying makeup with Rare Beauty products. With 14 product categories and 150 items at launch, the brand quickly built a loyal following—especially for its viral liquid blush. In 2023, Rare Beauty hit $350 million in total sales, $70 million of which were generated from its blush alone, reports Bloomberg.
Her social media influence has also helped her secure multimillion-dollar deals with major brands like Puma and Coach, which earned her $30 million and $10 million, respectively.
But that’s not all. The “Come and Get It” singer, who’s been open about her struggles with bipolar disorder and depression, started her own mental health startup called Wondermind with her mother, which was valued at $100 million in 2022.
“She’s a multifaceted businesswoman with diverse income streams contributing to her impressive net worth,” Stacy Jones tells Bloomberg.
But despite all her business success, the Only Murders in the Building star (Hulu pays her $6 million per season) is most proud of her philanthropic mission to expand mental health services and education globally. She contributes 1% of her cosmetic sales to the Rare Impact Fund, which aims to raise $100 million by 2030.
At the TIME 100 Summit in April, Gomez said, “I think that we’ve been able to do something that, at least in cosmetics, no one has ever done. That is what makes me happy every night when I go to sleep.”
Selena Gomez's Legacy: More Than Just a Billionaire
Selena Gomez's journey from a humble background to a global icon is a testament to her hard work, talent, and resilience. She has consistently used her platform to advocate for mental health awareness and empower others to prioritize their well-being. While her billionaire status is a significant achievement, it's her commitment to making a positive impact on the world that truly defines her legacy.
