I mean its hardly surprising. But, it’s officially on paper now that Rihanna has become the richest female artist in the U.K landing third on The Sunday Times Rich List after Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sir Paul McCartney.

Rihanna has been residing in the U.K for over a year now, and has reportedly now raked in a fortune of £468 million. Building upon her huge music success over the years, the launch of her Fenty Beauty cosmetics brand has seen her 15% stake skyrocket to a value of £351 million. I haven’t tried the products so am unable to confirm or deny my surprise, but damn the advertising just pops out everywhere. And, the packaging is extremely visually appealing.

The 32 year old from Barbados has always brought the sass, intrigue and feminine flair that is a marketing dream. Born Robyn Rihanna Fenty, she has disrupted the female music industry incorporating club bangers and reggae infused tracks, even collaborating with Sir Paul McCartney. From the controversies that rose from the ill-fated romance with rapper/singer Chris Brown and speculations of a relationship with Drake, she has always risen from the ashes with poise and success.

Given her evolving style (I struggled to keep up), Rihanna then collaborated with Puma, Armani, Dior, Gucci and Fenty, under the exclusive LVMH empire. Fenty is the first fashion house since Christian Lacroix in 1987 to be launched, and she became the first black woman to be a CEO of a luxury brand worth €6.35 billion.

The leather goods line produced with Gucci was a collaboration with UNICEF which Rihanna was appointed as an ambassador for Barbados, and continues her efforts with charities including the Believe foundation, which aims to provide education and medical support to children around the world.

Known as @badgalriri on Instagram, Fenty continues to push the boundaries of “typical” European fashion houses, allowing model Slick Woods to walk the runway for her Fenty x Savage lingerie show whilst pregnant. After launching in May 2018, it is the first inclusive range of lingerie for women of all colours and sizes, often including big names such as Big Sean performing at her shows.

Nine months prior in September 2017, Fenty launched her beauty range under LVMH and was the first ever makeup brand to produce more than 50 shades in foundation colours. Understandably, this cause immediate global success and after fifteen months, the brand had generated US$570 million.

Naturally, a queen like Rihanna has an army of fans worldwide, whom she refers to as “The Navy”. Boasting a cabinet of 9 Grammy awards, 12 Billboard Music Awards, 7 MTV Music Video Awards and 13 American Music Awards stemming from 8 albums over 15 years, it is no wonder she took some time off to dabble in various creative spaces. I’d be pulling a lot of hamstring injuries on stage if that was me. Oh, and on top of this, Rihanna most famously appeared in movie Ocean’s 8, amongst other films.

Rihanna has transformed the European fashion and beauty standards through offering sizes up to 14 for women, which is wildly different from the size 0 often considered ‘beautiful’ amongst the Parisian folk. “It’s going to raise the bar for what it looks like to build a brand that’s inclusive, game changing, global and iconic”, said a spokesperson for LVMH.

It hasn’t always come easily for Rihanna, having had to rebuild her wealth following mismanagement of her funds by her ex-accountant. Following the domestic violence case against her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown in 2009, she reportedly began the year with US$11 million, and finished the year with $2 million. Hardly poor by any means, but she was close to bankruptcy by Hollywood standards.

She received a $10 million settlement against her accountant from Berdon LLP in 2012, after failing to properly file taxes, retaining an unfair profit and incorrectly managing funds. Looking back, this was a minor road bump in her journey, with Fenty Beauty later earning $100 million in 2017 after its first week of sales. Ok wow ok.

To put things in perspective, Rihanna has quietly overtaken Beyonce “Queen Bey” Knowles after she was reportedly worth $861 million in 2019, compared to the “mere” $574 million of Jay-Z’s wife. And after seeing her perform live, she is worth every cent of that fortune.

Since her first single ‘Pon De Replay’ was released in 2006 (ok I feel old now), the bulk of her fortune has been made outside of the music bubble. After the launch of four fragrances in 2010, she created an agency for aspiring makeup artists and stylists in 2015. She mostly remains quiet about her successes and plans, choosing to surprise us. And it works.

This was certainly not the standard career outcome of a young girl from Barbados. Rihanna admitted to growing up in a dysfunctional family, clouded by domestic violence and a drug addicted father, who is now attempting to cash in on her success. The trial with her father Ron Fenty has been delayed due to the Coronavirus, however she sued him in January 2019 alleging he is violating her trademark by using the surname Fenty to associate with her businesses, and does not have the authority to do so. He and his lawyers have denied that any infringement has occurred, and authorisation is not required to use the name ‘Fenty’. Time will tell with this one.

As for her personal life, it has remained a tight secret. She has been snapped out and about with a Saudi businessman over the past few years though, but I think she might keep us guessing with this one.

When questioned about her key to success, RihRih simply puts it down to “work”. I’ll take note.