Beyoncé joins Forbes’ billionaire club
Forbes estimated Beyoncé’s income at $148 million, making her the third highest-paid musician in 2025 and officially marking her billionaire status.
TV presenter, actress, writer Philanthropist Oprah Winfrey is America’s greatest self-made individual, according to Forbes magazine. this year.
In addition to its annual World’s Richest List, which highlights the world’s wealthiest people, in April Forbes magazine released a list of the 250 Greatest Self-made Americans, highlighting those who have demonstrated “grit, hard work, and resilience” throughout their careers. Those on the list were ranked by distance traveled, distinguishing between those who started with nothing and those who got off to a great start.
“Born to a teenage mother, Winfrey grew up on a farm in rural Mississippi without indoor plumbing. She was raped by her cousin at age 9, and at 14 she gave birth to a son who died soon after,” Forbes’ description of Winfrey reads. “Thanks to a federal program, she attended a school in an affluent suburb where she discovered a knack for public speaking and debate, which helped her land a part-time radio job and then a scholarship to Tennessee State University. In 1984, she took over a struggling Chicago morning talk show and eventually built it into a national media brand.”
The top five names following Winfrey are oil and gas industrialist Harold Hamm, World Wide Technology founder David Stewart, Interactive Brokers CEO Thomas Peterffy and basketball superstar LeBron James.
Here are the top 50 people who made Forbes’ list of Greatest Self-made Americans.
Take a look at the top 50 self-made Americans
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See the complete list of “The Greatest Self-Made Americans” on the Forbes website.
86% of the best self-made Americans are billionaires. 92% are men.
Only seven of the top 50 people on the list are not billionaires: Dolly Parton (7th), Bill Clinton (8th), J.D. Vance (10th), Clarence Thomas (16th), Sonia Sotomayor (19th), Yvon Chouinard (34th), and Omar M. Yagi (48th).
And only four of the top 50 are women: Oprah Winfrey (No. 1), Dolly Parton (No. 7), Diane Hendricks (No. 9), and Sonia Sotomayor (No. 19).
How did Forbes magazine choose the “Greatest Self-made Americans”?
First, Forbes editors scoured the magazine’s 109-year-old archives for “classic stories of entrepreneurial capitalism.” Then, asking Beat reporters for ideas, the magazine asked for further feedback on AI, specifically ChatGPT and Gemini.
According to Forbes, several judges reviewed the names: Kauffman Foundation CEO DeAngela Burns-Wallace, Innovaron founder Keith Dunleavy, former Forbes publisher Rich Karlgaard, New Mountain Capital founder and CEO Stephen Krinsky, Block co-founder Jim McKelvey, and Nextrudder Ventures CEO Ryan Rippel.
Each individual was then ranked on a score from 1 to 10. Only individuals in 9th or 10th place were eligible to compete.
“While we focused on billionaires ranging from penniless to millionaire, we also included pioneering scientists, Supreme Court justices, and others whose ‘wealth’ is measured in clout and influence, not just dollar signs,” Forbes wrote in a post announcing the list.
Greta Cross is USA TODAY’s national trends reporter. Story ideas? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.
