World's richest musician revealed and it's surprisingly not Beyoncé or Taylor Swift
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy/Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic via Getty
The world's richest musician has been revealed and no, it's not Beyoncé or Taylor Swift - much to the internet's surprise, too.
Beyoncè and Swift are two Titans of the music industry - their names hold a lot of weight in album streams, fandom and awards - and recently, Beyoncè added the 'Album of Year' Grammy to her repertoire.
And with their recent charitable donations, with The Lion King star handing over an 'eye-watering' amount towards LA relief funds and Swift giving her Eras Tour staff $197 million bonuses, they aren't short for cash.
However, when it comes to be the richest, they have been sadly been beat out.
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In fact, it is in Jay-Z who is the richest musician alive.
According to Forbes, the Brooklyn-born rapper - real name Shawn Carter - has a net worth of $2.5 billion, which is $900,000 more than Swift's figure of $1.6 billion.
As of 2023, he also surpassed his wife too, with Beyoncè hitting the $760 million last year, Forbes reports.
The rapper has faced an amazing surge in wealth since receiving his initial title of 'hip-hop's first billionaire' back in 2019.
Ranking as the third Highest-Paid Entertainer, the 53-year-old has seen a steady rise in his net worth from 2020 onwards due to various projects and businesses separate to his longstanding music career.
With ventures such as Roc-A-Fella Records, who had one-third of it's share bought by the New York government for $1 million, as per The New York Post, the music mogul also moved onto other pastures like his Roc Nation entertainment company, which, according to its website, covers 'artist management, music publishing, touring, production, strategic brand development and beyond'.
Elsewhere in the music rich list, you've got Rihanna at $1.4 billion, Bruce Springsteen at $1.1 billion and Jimmy Buffett coming in at $1 million.
But while she may not be top dog, Swift sits at second place.
Swift's Eras Tour is estimated to have earned the 'Shake It Off' star a whopping $4.1 billion, the most any artist has made from one tour in history.
In fact, Swift's earnings from the tour are set to exceed 42 nations' yearly economic output, and Bloomberg reported that she had officially reached billionaire status—17 years after she began her music career.
While these individuals are extremely rich, their net worth is a drop in the ocean compared to Elon Musk, who has a massive net worth of $421 billion.