American Pop Star Taylor Swift Makes Forbes World’s Billionaires List at $1.1 Billion
American pop sensation Taylor Swift has secured her debut on the Forbes World’s Billionaires List with a fortune of $1.1 billion (£877 million), alongside Sam Altman, the creator of the AI chatbot ChatGPT, who stands at $1 billion (£800 million).
Topping the chart is LVMH French luxury goods magnate Bernard Arnault and his family, commanding an estimated $233 billion (£185 billion).
Forbes reported a record-breaking count of 2,781 billionaires for the year 2024.
This figure marks an increase of 141 from the previous year and 26 more than the previous record set in 2021. Forbes further noted that the elite are richer than ever, amassing a collective wealth of $14.2 trillion (£11.3 trillion).
Swift, renowned as a singer-songwriter, ascended to the ranks of the wealthy following her meteoric rise to stardom. Her dominance was highlighted at this year’s Grammy Awards, where she became the first artist to win the album of the year award four times.
Her album “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” also emerged as the best-selling vinyl LP of the past year.
Swift’s influence transcends music, as her mere presence at American football games to support her boyfriend Travis Kelce has been credited with boosting NFL viewership.
Among the top 10 wealthiest individuals globally, eight hail from the United States, with six of them having amassed their wealth in the technology sector.
Following Bernard Arnault and his family, Elon Musk, the visionary behind Tesla and X (formerly Twitter), holds the second position, boasting an estimated net worth of $195 billion (£155 billion).
He is trailed closely by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos in third place.
While Musk’s riches have seen an 8% increase from last year, they remain lower than his net worth in November 2021, when he became the first person ever to be worth $300 billion (£239 billion).
Also making an appearance on Forbes’s list are basketball icon Magic Johnson, with a wealth of $1.2 billion (£950 million), and TV producer Dick Wolf, the creative force behind US Law and Order and Chicago PD series, also standing at $1.2 billion.
Chase Peterson-Withorn, senior editor on wealth for Forbes, hailed it as an “amazing” year for the world’s richest individuals.
“A record-breaking 14 centi-billionaires have 12-figure fortunes. Even during times of financial uncertainty for many, the super-rich continue to thrive,” he remarked.
