Rihanna: Shining bright

Those hypnotic green eyes, that caramel skin, a feline charisma… Rihanna is an arresting figure. And then there’s her silky, three-octave-range voice. She has sold over 280 million records to date, more than Céline Dion, Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston. Music has made her rich, but it’s not what brought her billionaire status. For that, we turn to Fenty.

In 2017, on the cusp of her thirtieth birthday, Rihanna signed a partnership with LVHM which has been the definition of win-win for the French luxury goods giant and the Disturbia singer. First came the cosmetics collection Fenty Beauty, then came a fashion brand, followed by a lingerie line. Four years into the deal she’d become a billionaire.

Caribbean childhood
Born in 1988 on the easternmost island of the West Indies, Barbados, Robyn Rihanna Fenty and her two younger brothers grew up in modest circumstances on the outskirts of the capital, Bridgetown. The Fenty siblings’ home life was blighted by their father’s alcohol and drug addiction, her parents eventually divorcing when Rihanna was 14.

Rihanna sought refuge in music. Her love of performing shone through from an early age and she formed a girlband with two of her classmates. Fortune smiled on the Barbadian in 2003, when US record producer Evan Rogers, who was on holidaying in Barbados at the time, caught wind of the trio and held an impromptu audition. Impressed, he invited the 15-year-old Rihanna to audition in New York for Jay-Z at Def Jam Records, who wasted no time in signing her to a multi-album deal.

“In 2023, the Fenty product ecosystem was estimated to be worth $2.8 billion”

Rihanna’s debut album, 2005’s Music of the Sun, was a success, selling two million copies, but it was smash-hit single Umbrella that catapulted her to stardom two years later. Since then, she has had numerous number-one singles (14 in the United States alone), collaborated with the likes of Calvin Harris, Eminem and Shakira, and completed sellout world tours.

IT girl  
At the start of the 2010s Rihanna’s star was in the ascendant and when she made the cover of the April 2011 edition of Vogue magazine, her status as a fashion icon was sealed. Around this time, she launched her own perfume collection, Reb’l Fleur.

In the years that followed, the artist signed ‘creative partnerships’ with cosmetics and fashion brands, such as Mac and Armani. Never one to pass up an opportunity to make a buck, she launched a jewelry line with Chopard, a range of Dior sunglasses and even inked a deal with British umbrella maker Totes, to put her name to a range of brollies.  

Her association with LVMH, in which they split profits 50-50, has given rise to Fenty, a luxury goods brand that bears her surname. These days, the Fenty name can be found on everything from shampoo to slips.  

And in the brand-crossover era, Fenty continues to find new revenue streams. In 2023, the Fenty product ecosystem was estimated to be worth $2.8 billion, according to Forbes. This summer the Beverley Hills resident became the new face of J’Adore perfume.  

With all this entrepreneurial activity, you could be forgiven for thinking Rihanna had left her singing career behind. Her last album came out in 2016, and while a focus on her business endeavors has contributed to the lack of musical output in recent years, the pandemic, followed by the arrival of her first and second children in 2022 and 2023 played a part too. Yet all signs point to album number nine coming out before the end of the year, with a world tour to follow. 2025 is set to be another lucrative year for Rihanna.