Janet Jackson Is Now A Billionaire, Here’s How She Did it

Janet Jackson is now officially a billionaire.

A combination of four decades of graft, record and book sales, films, tours and sponsorship deals has bought Jackson admission to the elite billionaire’s club, and joins the rarefied company of Oprah Winfrey, the Koch brothers, Madonna, Steven Spielberg, Warren Buffett and others.

According to a report in Variety, Jackson pulled in a total haul of $260 million in album sales from seminal releases Control (1986), Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989), janet (1993), The Velvet Rope (1997), and lesser selling All For You (2001), Damita Jo (2004), 20 Y.O. (2006) and Discipline (2008).

A further $81 million came from publishing royalties and advances, while her six world tours generated $458 million.

Jackson earned an additional $81.5 million in tour indexed sponsorship deals and syndication of those concerts.

Moving over to her film career, a string of roles in The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Poetic Justice, Why Did I Get Married (1 and 2) and For Colored Girls have netted the sometimes actress a not inconsiderable gross of $304 million.

That old saying ‘”money goes to money” never rang more true than it does for Jackson. The 47-year-old singer married Qatari billionaire Wissam Al Mana in a secret wedding last year.

The couple released a joint statement to Entertainment Weekly in February saying:

“The rumors regarding an extravagant wedding are simply not true. Last year we were married in a quiet, private, and beautiful ceremony.”

The statement continued:

“Our wedding gifts to one another were contributions to our respective favorite children’s charities. We would appreciate that our privacy is respected and that we are allowed this time for celebration and joy.”

After a tumultuous few years, following her de facto industry blacklisting after the 2004 Super Bowl “Nipplegate” debacle, the untimely of her brother Michael Jackson in 2009, as well as ongoing issues between the Jackson family and the Michael Jackson Estate and AEG, it seems Janet is ready to get back to making music.

The songstress recently told Billboard that she was “working on a new project,” and “creating the concept and initial thoughts on the music.”

[Image via Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com ]