Beyoncé runs the world

See how much money Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour actually made

As the Renaissance tour heads this weekend to the silver screen, here’s a look at how the diva herself got some respect on her check.

Smart enough to make these millions

Beyoncé is a lot of things: Performer, entrepreneur, fashion icon. And they all have contributed to her fast-growing fortune.

Her net worth has soared 20 percent in the last year to $540 million, according to Forbes. That’s nearly enough to buy every person in her hometown of Houston a bottle of her $160 perfume, plus a couple of official Renaissance T-shirts.

The bulk of Beyoncé’s wealth comes from her 20-year solo career. The “Flawless” singer has sold more than 200 million albums, won a record 32 Grammy Awards and become the most-awarded artist at the MTV Video Music Awards, BET Awards and NAACP Image Awards.

She’s also started multiple companies — including Parkwood Entertainment, the production firm behind the 2008 musical biopic “Cadillac Records” — and signed lucrative endorsement deals with such global brands as PepsiCo, Samsung, L’Oreal and American Express.

Stacking money everywhere she goes

She works for the money and she ain’t sorry.

With 56 shows over five months, Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour cemented the performer as one of the most successful touring artists of all time. Billboard Boxscore lists Renaissance as the seventh highest-grossing tour in history, behind Elton John, U2 and Coldplay. Beyoncé is the only woman and the only Black artist to crack the Top 10.

The Renaissance tour drew more than 2.7 million fans to stadiums around the world, according to Live Nation, boosting tourism in Beyoncé’s tour cities. In Stockholm, the traveling “Beyhive” was even blamed for driving Sweden’s May inflation higher than expected.

Seeing Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’ film? Here is our list of do’s and don’ts.

Over the years, Beyoncé’s tours have grown in scale and earnings. Her first solo tour featured shows in Europe and the United Kingdom. Her next tour, the Beyoncé Experience, was a global production that earned nearly $25 million — or about $35 million in today’s dollars — an impressive showing that amounts to just 6 percent of Queen Bey’s Renaissance haul.

A Mastermind in haute couture

Beyoncé’s expanding business empire includes investment in multiple companies, including flavored water company Lemon Perfect and Parisian fashion brand Destree, according to PitchBook Data.

Her own companies have included the fashion line House of Deréon and production company Parkwood Entertainment, which produced her 2019 concert film “Homecoming,” according to Billboard. Parkwood is also the parent company for athleisure clothing line Ivy Park, which recently ended its partnership with Adidas. Ivy Park posted on Instagram in November that “a new era awaits.”

In addition, she served as a global brand ambassador for Pepsi — a $50 million campaign, the New York Times estimated — and also collaborates with her husband on the music-streaming service Tidal, which sold a majority stake to the payment company Block for roughly $237 million.

Beyoncé knows better than to be reckless in a Givenchy dress and uses the stage to lift her businesses. She and her dancers frequently wear outfits from Ivy Park; the all-black outfit from the final show of the Renaissance tour in October is now sold out.

Beyoncé often sings about her fondness for Houston. And her hometown loves her back. In September, Harris County (where Houston is located) officially renamed itself “Bey County” during the star’s two-night Renaissance tour stop.

Ticket sales for the Renaissance Tour’s Houston shows alone totaled $31.3 million. Meanwhile, visitors spent $18.2 million at Houston-area hotels — up 45 percent from the same weekend in 2022, according to Houston First Corporation.

To drum up excitement, city officials threw a homecoming bash for Queen Bey — complete with fireworks, a drone light show and cover bands playing her biggest hits. Some 5,000 people attended the free downtown celebration.

“It turned out even bigger than we could’ve imagined,” said Michael Heckman, chief executive of Houston First, which organized the event at the urging of Mayor Sylvester Turner. “When you have a hometown hero like Beyoncé coming back for a major concert, we just had to do something big that would be befitting of the star she is.”

She’s building her own foundation

She may be stingy with her love, but Beyoncé is making sure when she leaves this world she’ll have no regrets. For the last 10 years, she has focused on providing economic opportunities to people in underprivileged and marginalized communities through the BeyGood Foundation.

During the Renaissance tour, for example, she gave $2 million to entrepreneurs and college students, doling out $10,000 scholarships and $100,000 small-business grants in cities along the way. The Black Parade Route, created in 2020, brings together Black business owners around the world for networking luncheons and awards grants, funding hundreds of Black entrepreneurs.

The nonprofit has supported families dealing with disasters, including hurricanes in Houston and Orlando, and a lack of clean drinking water in Flint, Mich. Beyoncé has also given millions to Knowles-Temenos Place, a housing complex in Houston that helps the homeless.

If there’s one thing Beyoncé knows how to do, it’s make the most of every opportunity. And the Renaissance tour is no exception. Beyoncé is bringing the Renaissance World Tour to movie theaters around the world starting Nov. 30 — a shining new addition to the larger B universe.

The following songs are referenced in this story:

Additional design and illustrations by Emily Sabens. Editing by Jennifer Liberto and Karly Domb Sadof. Design editing by Betty Chavarria. Photo editing by Haley Hamblin. Copy editing by Briana R. Ellison.

Photo credits: Getty Images, Reuters, AP Images, iStock.