New Billionaires 2026: Beyoncé, James Cameron, Dr. Dre And 387 Others Join The Ranks This Year
The world added 390 billionaires over the past year, according to Forbes’ annual ranking of the planet’s wealthiest people—more than one newcomer every day. That’s the second-best year ever recorded for new billionaires, after 2021, when the pandemic rebound thrust 493 people into the three-comma club for the first time.
This year’s class of billionaire newbies includes two iconic musicians, one very famous filmmaker, a tennis legend and the younger brother of the world’s richest person. These new billionaires hail from 40 countries and territories and together are worth an estimated $755 billion, or $1.9 billion on average.
The United States leads the world in terms of new billionaires produced, with 106, including the two richest newcomers: Edwin Chen (estimated net worth: $18 billion), founder of artificial intelligence firm Surge AI, and Peter Mallouk ($16.1 billion), the president and CEO and majority owner of financial planning firm Creative Planning.
China has the second-most new billionaires, with 55 (including three from Hong Kong), led by two AI model company founders Liu Debing ($9.1 billion) of Zhipu and Yan Junjie ($7.2 billion) of MiniMax Group. Germany ranks third, with 42 new fresh faces, while India comes in at No. 4, with 30.
Among the most famous newcomers is........
