Rihanna is officially a billionaire! Songstress, 33, racks up $1.7billion fortune

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Rihanna is now officially a billionaire and the richest female musician in the world, thanks to the huge success of her Fenty Beauty line.

The Umbrella hitmaker, 33, is now worth an estimated $1.7billion (£1.2billion), Forbes reports, making her the second wealthiest female entertainer on the planet, behind Oprah Winfrey with $2.7billion (£1.9billion).

It is claimed the bulk of the popstar’s fortune ($1.4billion/£1billion) comes not from music, but from her 50 percent stake in her acclaimed cosmetics line Fenty Beauty – a joint venture with French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH – and worth $2.8billion (£2billion) in total.

Her $270million (£190million) stake in the wildly successful Savage X Fenty lingerie line and her wealth from her 16 year recording career all make up the mogul’s mass wealth.   

Mogul Rihanna founded acclaimed beauty brand Fenty Beauty back in 2017 with a desire to ‘make women everywhere (feel) included’.

It became a leader in providing diversity in the makeup industry when it first launched 40 shades for its foundation line 

The You Da One singer first put out her makeup line at Sephora, racking up sales eclipsing $100 million over the course of its first few weeks 

She said ‘Make-up is there for you to have fun with. It should never feel like pressure. It should never feel like a uniform. Feel free to take chances, and take risks, and dare to do something new or different.’ 

By the end of its first full calendar year in 2018, LVMH said the brand took home $550million (£394million) in annual revenues, trouncing celebrity cosmetics brands such as Kylie Cosmetics and KKW Beauty. 

The high-end brand turned into a billion dollar business in less than four years, and with the launch of Fenty Skin last year, looks set to grow even further.    

Fenty Skin had sales of $30million in under four months on its e-store, WWD reports.   

Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty lingerie line, which she has a 30 per cent stake in, is also worth $1billion (£717million).

A second round of funding for the brand in February secured a whopping $115 million (£82.7 million) for Savage X Fenty, with L Catterton, a private equity firm that fashion house LVMH has a stake in, taking a percentage of the line.  

‘Following the completion of the fundraising round where L Catterton took a stake in Savage X Fenty, LVMH and Rihanna reaffirmed their ambition to concentrate on the growth and the long-term development of Fenty ecosystem focusing on cosmetics, skincare, and lingerie,’ it was shared in a joint statement from LVMH and Rihanna to      

The line was launched in 2018 as a joint venture with TechStyle Fashion Group and is anticipated to be the market’s leader by 2025.  

Last year, Savage X Fenty saw revenue growth of more than 200% and ‘increased its active VIP member base by more than 150%.’   

However, the clothing arm of the Fenty empire was recently put ‘on hold.’

The Diamonds hitmaker launched the luxury fashion line in 2019 with LVMH.

However, after two years, they made the joint decision to close down the fashion business to focus on cosmetics and lingerie.  

In a statement issued that month, LVMH said: ‘Rihanna and LVMH have jointly made the decision to put on hold the RTW activity, based in Europe, pending better conditions.

‘Following the completion of a fundraising round where L Catterton has taken a stake into Savage X Fenty, LVMH and Rihanna reaffirm their ambition to concentrate on the growth and the long-term development of [the] Fenty ecosystem focusing on cosmetics, skincare and lingerie.’

The Fenty clothing label was tailored to the high-end market, whereas Fenty Beauty and Savage X Fenty is more affordable.    

The last collection was in November and saw Rihanna team up with popular designer Amina Muaddi on a range of heels.

Upon the launch of Fenty clothing, the star had insisted: ‘I’m not the face of my brand, but I am the muse, and my DNA has to run all the way through it.

‘I don’t want anyone to pull up my website and think, Rihanna would never wear that.’

Rihanna uses several stars as ‘ambassadors’ of her brand including Nicole Williams of WAGS and Kylie Jenner’s best friend Stassie Baby.

Tale Of Tails actress Blanca Blanco modeled the line for Valentine’s Day.

The star first built her fortune from her career as a musician and actress. Although the Diamonds hitmaker hasn’t released new music since 2016’s Anti, she has amassed millions from her recording career which kicked off back in 2005 with debut single Pon De Replay.

The star has sold more than 250million records worldwide and is one of the most successful recording artists of all time. 

Rihanna has also ventured into acting, appearing in 2018’s Ocean’s 8 and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017).

In March, the superstar also filed a trademark for a line of haircare products and tools, ranging from shampoo to hair glitter, under the name of Fenty Hair. 

Rihanna has also harnessed the power of social media with her 103 million Instagram followers, regularly promoting her businesses on the platform.

Savage x Fenty by Rihanna has 4.3 million followers, Fenty Beauty by Rihanna 10.8million and Fenty Skin has 945,000 followers.