U.S. singer Beyonce is now a billionaire, Forbes magazine said, becoming only the fifth musician to achieve such a milestone.
The 44-year-old entertainer joins a select club that includes her husband, rapper Jay-Z, as well as Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen and Rihanna, according to the publication, known for its rankings of the world’s richest people.
Beyonce reached the landmark after several very lucrative years.
In 2023, her Renaissance World Tour grossed nearly $600 million.
She then reinvented her musical profile in 2024 with the Grammy-winning country album “Cowboy Carter” before staging the world’s highest-grossing tour of 2025.
Combining these earnings with income from her music catalog and other deals, Forbes estimated that Beyonce brought in $148 million in 2025 before taxes, making her the third highest-paid musician in the world.
The publication did not provide a more specific estimate of the former Destiny’s Child member’s net worth, who founded Parkwood Entertainment to manage her career and productions.
Forbes said that while Beyonce has expanded her business empire with ventures such as a hair care brand, a whiskey label and a clothing line, most of her personal wealth derives from her music, along with her global tours and controlling the rights to her back catalog. (JapanToday)
With the meticulously planned release of Taylor Swift’s 12th album this Friday, the country singer-turned-pop star demonstrates again that she is as business savvy as she is musically adept.
From hints dropped during her last tour in 2024 to movie screenings this coming weekend to accompany the new album’s release, “Taylor Swift has perfected marketing as narrative art,” said Robin Landa, a professor who studies advertising and branding at Kean University. “She doesn’t simply release an album — she orchestrates a cultural phenomenon.”
The massively hyped “The Life of a Showgirl” album was inspired by Swift’s experiences during her record-breaking “Eras” concert tour, which coincided with the singer’s romance with her now-fiance Travis Kelce, a three-time Super Bowl champion football star.
The 12-track record “comes from the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in in my life — and so that effervescence has come through,” Swift herself promises.
That appears to signal a return to pop after her darker 11th album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” last year.
Swift, 35, has said to expect “bangers” — high-energy, dance-friendly songs — in the ilk of her fan-favorite “22” and “Shake It Off,” and created with the same Swedish production duo, Max Martin and Shellback.
To call “The Life of a Showgirl,” which features a duet with rising pop star Sabrina Carpenter, eagerly anticipated is an understatement.
The album is the most pre-saved album ever on the Spotify streaming platform, breaking the record set last year by Swift’s last album.
Accompanying the album, movie theaters in dozens of countries will host special screenings from Friday through Sunday of a music video, a making-of featurette, personal commentary by Swift about her songs, and a karaoke-style singalong.
The one-off movie event is estimated to gross between $30 million and $50 million, according to film industry website Deadline.
Swift, who first announced the album on Kelce’s popular podcast last month, is “really taking ownership of the whole process, in every aspect of her music and her presentation to the public,” said Toby Koenigsberg, a music professor at the University of Oregon.
Swift’s “Eras” tour also spawned its own movie theater event, and underlined “the importance of having fan communities that interact in real life, not just on social media,” he added.
One element that has long connected “Swifties” — the nickname for her die-hard fans — online is the frantic search for “easter eggs,” or clues about Swift’s upcoming projects scattered through her album booklets, music videos, concerts and social media posts.
Swifties noticed that, in a letter to her fans in May, Swift spelled the words “thiiiiiiiiiiiis” with 12 “i”s — taken by some to indicate her 12th album was imminent.
Once the first album images of “The Life of a Showgirl” were released, featuring cabaret-inspired outfits in orange and green tones, thrilled devotees rushed to social media to point out clues supposedly buried in Swift’s 2022 music videos, as well as certain costumes from her latest tour.
“Taylor’s Easter eggs are one of the most brilliant fan engagement tools in modern music,” said Landa. “This strategy creates free marketing through fan theories and social media speculation — essentially turning her audience into her promotional team.”
So, is Swift a musician or a businesswoman?
“Sometimes people talk about her business acumen, which is really remarkable… but at the core of what she does is her songwriting,” said Koenigsberg.
Swift is “able to consistently write good songs, year after year, album after album, in a way that almost nobody else can.” (JapanToday)
American actress and singer Selena Gomez has tied the knot with music producer Benny Blanco in a lavish Southern California wedding.
The Only Murders in the Building star, 33, shared a carousel of photos and videos on Instagram from the Santa Barbara County celebration on Saturday.
In the images, Gomez appears radiant in a wedding gown while Blanco — born Benjamin Joseph Levin — wears a sharp tuxedo. The couple is seen embracing, laughing, and kissing.
Her post was simply captioned, “9.27.25” flanked by two white heart emojis.
Blanco replied beneath: “My wife in real life.”
According to Vogue on Saturday, the ceremony took place at Hope Ranch, a coastal enclave about 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
The guest list was glittering: Taylor Swift, Gomez’s longtime best friend, was joined by Ed Sheeran, Paris Hilton, and Only Murders co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short among the 170 attendees.
The couple’s attire, Vogue noted, came courtesy of Ralph Lauren.
Gomez and Blanco went public with their relationship in December 2023 and announced their engagement a year later.
Blanco, 37, has produced several of Gomez’s chart-topping hits, including Same Old Love and Kill Em with Kindness.
Earlier this year, they released their joint album I Said I Love You First. (Punch)
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