Rihanna Has Surpassed Madonna as the Richest Female Musician, According to Forbes

Like her Anti track says, all Rihanna does is work, work, work, work, work, work. And, it’s really paid off. The vocalist and designer has just been named the world’s richest female musician by Forbes due to her estimated worth of $600 million.

In taking that honor, Rihanna managed to surpass an artist who has been working over twice as long as her: Madonna. The pop icon’s net worth is estimated at $570 million according to Forbes, despite the fact that her touring career alone has garnered an estimated $1.2 billion. For Rihanna, though, her number one spot is less due to her music career and more to her blossoming fashion design career. Namely, Rihanna’s upcoming luxury line with LVMH helped her secure her spot, which impressively hasn’t even launched yet, even though Rihanna has been spotted out and about wearing pieces from her debut collection. There is also the fact that Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty brand raked in $570 million in sales last year, which is truly incredible when you consider that the brand was just launched in September 2017.

Rihanna’s financial reign wasn’t revealed as part of a top-paid musician list. Last year, though, Katy Perry far exceeded Rihanna in that department, according to Forbes, with $83 million thanks largely to her pay from judging American Idol. Rihanna, meanwhile, allegedly was number seven on that list, with $37.5 million made in 2018 alone. Which is to say, it’s wild that the richest female in music wasn’t the top-paid female in music last year and, accordingly, you should maybe take Forbes‘ calculations with a grain of salt. Who can forget the “self-made” billionaire Kylie Jenner controversy?

Coincidentally—although probably not—Forbes revealed its annual list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women with “self-made scores.” Jenner, who sits at the number one spot, with an estimated net worth of $1 billion, received a seven in that department, as did her sister Kim Kardashian, who has an estimated net worth of $360 million—the same as her rival Taylor Swift, who sits right below Rihanna and Beyoncé in the music department. Bey has an estimated net worth of $400 million and a self-made score of eight. As for Serena Williams, her self-made score at nine is only second to Rihanna (who has 10 in that department). With this latest list, Williams became the first athlete on Forbes‘ list of Richest Self-Made Women, with an estimated net worth of $225 million.

Of course, it should always be noted that Forbes doesn’t actually have access to anyone’s financial records, and is, of course, estimating.