Rihanna is not only making history (again) as the richest female musician, but today Forbes announced that the Barbados native is now a part of the billionaire club. The outlet says the entertainer-turned-entrepreneur is worth $1.7 billion, with $1.4 billion of that coming from her makeup business that she owns 50 percent of.
After spending about a decade in the music industry, the now-33-year-old decided it was time for her to expand her brand. In 2017, the self-proclaimed beauty icon partnered with french luxury brand LVMH to launch her cosmetic brand Fenty Beauty. The trailblazing entrepreneur’s business quickly became a household name due to its inclusiveness and the diversity of her products. Her products allowed people of color to not only feel seen but also considered, and the customers’ appreciation of her products showed in the revenue numbers.
Within the first year of the brand’s existence, Fenty Beauty made $550 million beating out its top celebrity-branded cosmetics competitors, including Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics and her sister Kim Kardashian’s KKW Beauty. The company overall is worth about $2.8 billion.
But Rihanna did not stop there. Two years after getting into the cosmetics business, Rihanna launched her lingerie line, Savage X Fenty. Bringing fresh styles and innovative fashion shows in addition to bringing in new and familiar faces to model the pieces, the “Take a Bow” singer dominated the frillies business. She used the same strategy that skyrocketed Fenty Beauty to elevate Savage X Fenty — inclusivity.
After dropping a new collection, she would earn herself a spot on Twitter’s trending list for promoting body positivity and supporting the LGBTQIA+ community. She had people of all shapes and sizes modeling her lingerie pieces, and challenged the traditional norms of masculinity and femininity by allowing, for example, men to wear makeup and heels on the runway if they chose.
Earlier this year, Savage X Fenty joined Fenty Beauty in being a billion-dollar brand after receiving $115 million in funding, which increased its value to $1 billion. It’s estimated to bring in an annual revenue of $150 million.
It looks like Rihanna still has some “Work” to do before her fans are satisfied though. But for a while now, fans have been begging Rihanna to get back to her roots and get in the studio. It’s been five years since she dropped her eighth studio album, and all anyone keeps talking about is her getting the ninth one done.
Luckily for such fans! she was spotted filming a music video with her boyfriend and rapper A$AP Rocky a few weeks ago, and they both went to the studio together. Fans are keeping their fingers crossed that the shoot was for her music and not his.
