Top 10 celebrities making the most money from their brands
New research has revealed that Fenty Beauty by Rihanna is the celebrity brand bringing its founder the most profit, with Rihanna’s own shares being worth $1.7 billion.
The study from Hey Discount analysed a number of celebrity-owned brands based on factors such as revenue, social media searches, and engagement rates, to reveal which are the most profitable and influential.
Meet the 10 celebrities making the most money from their brands:
Rank
Celebrity
Brand
Total earnings from brand (Million $)
1
Rihanna
Fenty Beauty
$1,400
2
Kim Kardashian
KKW Beauty
$700
3
Kylie Jenner
Kylie Cosmetics
$600
4
Dr Dre
Beats Electronics
$500
5
George Clooney
Casamigos
$233
6
Cindy Crawford
Meaningful Beauty
$200
6
Kanye West
Yeezys
$200
8
Jay-Z
Tidal
$149
9
Kate Hudson
Fabletics
$100
10
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
The Row
$89
Officially a billionaire, Rihanna leads the rating as she owns 50% of Fenty Beauty, which is estimated to have a value of $2.8 billion, meaning Rihanna’s shares are worth $1.4 billion.
Kim Kardashian owns a 72% stake in KKW beauty which is worth around $500 million. In addition, she sold 20% of her shares in 2020, making $200 million on this sale.
Kylie Jenner made a gigantic profit of $600 million from selling 51% of her company to Coty Inc in 2019, making her the third highest-earning celebrity when it comes to monetising their brands.
The most influential celebrity brands
Rank
Celebrity
Brand
Brand Instagram Followers (Millions)
Estimated Brand Instagram Earnings ($)
Estimated Engagement Rate (%)
Average Likes
Brand Influence Score/10
1
Kim Kardashian
KKW Beauty
5
$15,569
1.68
52,503
9.15
2
Kylie Jenner
Kylie Cosmetics
26
$85,204
0.22
37,691
8.30
3
Jeffree Star
Jeffree Star Cosmetics
6
$21,163
0.41
17,256
8.12
4
Selena Gomez
Rare Beauty
3
$10,365
0.92
19,197
8.07
5
Kanye West
Yeezys
3
$11,336
0.75
17,154
7.69
The most influential celebrity brand on Instagram is KKW Beauty, owned by Kim Kardashian, with a 9.15 brand influence score. The brand’s Instagram account boasts five million followers, 52,503 average likes, and by far the highest estimated engagement rate of 1.68%.
In runner-up position is Kylie Cosmetics, with a brand influence score of 8.30. The brand enjoys by far the highest number of followers on Instagram, a staggering 26 million. Nevertheless, Kylie Jenner’s brand is second to her older sister’s KKW Beauty due to a much lower engagement rate (0.22%).
Jeffree Star Cosmetics ranks third with a brand influence rating of 8.12. Jeffree Star Cosmetics benefits from a respectable six million followers who engage with the Instagram page with an estimated engagement rate of 0.41%.
Further findings:
Kanye West’s shoe brand Yeezy boasts the highest revenues – an astounding estimated $1.7 billion.
A close runner-up is Beats Electronics, first launched by Dr Dre and sold to Apple in 2014, which generates an estimated $1.5 billion in revenue.
Jessica Simpson’s clothing brand rakes in a massive $1 billion in revenue, making it the third biggest celebrity brand in terms of revenue. After selling the company in 2015, Simpson reclaimed ownership in 2021.
The full research with a breakdown of the methodology can be found here.
This article was sourced from a media release sent by Alexandra Munko of Digitaloft
