Jay-Z is the world’s richest rapper. Here’s how much he’s worth.

Type a celebrity’s name and “net worth” into Google, and you’ll likely come across a slew of blog sites with lists of estimated net worths. 

But determining net worth is not an exact science: “Rich people don’t know how much money they have, and ‘net worth’ includes appraisals on all sorts of nonliquid assets, from cars to houses to fractions of companies,” The New York Times wrote in 2018. For example, Forbes’ real-time billionaires list uses public holdings information and stakes in private companies to update the world’s richest every day. 

Here’s what the tracker says about the wealthiest rappers:

Who is the richest rapper?

Jay-Z is the richest rapper in the world, according to Forbes’ real-time billionaires list. As of April 2023, Jay-Z’s net worth is estimated at $2.5 billion. The Brooklyn-born artist, whose real name is Shawn Carter, became hip-hop’s first billionaire in 2019.