Beyoncé, Dr. Dre and James Cameron are among the most famous new entrants to Forbes' 2026 list of billionaires, joining long-established figures like Warren Buffett, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. The 44-year-old pop star reached a net worth of $1 billion in December, following years of music success. She joins her husband Jay-Z, who became a billionaire in 2019 and is now worth $2.8 billion.
Hip-hop legend Dr. Dre, 61, has finally been recognised as a billionaire by Forbes, more than a decade after selling his Beats by Dre headphones to Apple in 2014 for $3.2 billion in cash and stock. At the time, his stake in the business was unclear, leaving his post-sale net worth unknown. Dre now debuts on the list with an estimated net worth of $1 billion. 'I don’t chase money — I try to make the money chase me,' he told Forbes.
Avatar and Titanic director James Cameron, 71, is also a newly-named billionaire, worth an estimated $1.1 billion. His wealth surpassed the milestone in December, just before the release of his third Avatar film. He remains the only director to have made three films that each earned more than $2 billion worldwide: Titanic (1997), Avatar (2009), and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022).
Forbes estimates that the US leads the world in new billionaires, with 106, followed by China (55), Germany (42) and India (30). The world added 390 new billionaires over the past year, the second-best year on record after 2021. Nearly two-thirds are self-made. Other notable newcomers include retired Swiss tennis star Roger Federer, worth $1.1 billion, and AI firm founder Edwin Chen and financial planner Peter Mallouk, with fortunes of $18 billion and $16.1 billion respectively.
