Here Are the World’s Richest People in 2026

Elon Musk has amassed a staggering amount of wealth like we’ve never seen before.

That may seem like hyperbole, but it’s true: The tech titan has a mind-boggling US$839 billion net worth, according to Forbes’s annual World Billionaires List, making him the first person to surpass the US$800 billion mark on his way to becoming the first trillionaire.

Musk is perched atop the publication’s ranking for the second year in a row, and now his status has been cemented as the richest person ever recorded. As the founder of Tesla, SpaceX, and A.I. start-up xAI, the CEO saw his net worth get a big push forward by half a trillion dollars last year, thanks to his E.V. company’s rising value and his space company’s potential to go public this year.

And though things can change, Musk’s fellow billionaires have quite a ways to go to catch up. Google cofounder Larry Page sits at No. 2 on the ranking, with a net worth of US$257 billion. His fellow exec Sergey Brin comes in at the No. 3 slot, thanks to his US$237 billion fortune. Rounding out the top five are some familiar names: Jeff Bezos, with US$224 billion to his name, at No. 4, and Mark Zuckerberg following close behind at US$222 billion. So, though those figures rounding out the top seem lightyears away from Musk’s fortune, it’s actually a pretty tight race for slots 2 through 5 on the list. As for LVMH’s Bernard Arnault, he and his family sit at No. 6, at US$190 billion.

There were a couple of newcomers on the list this year, too. Dr. Dre hit the US$1 billion mark, currently placed at 3,331 in the ranking. Fellow music icon Beyoncé also joined the eight-figure fray, with help from her Cowboy Carter tour that ended last year. Other notable names making their debut are tennis star Roger Federer, filmmaker James Cameron, Warren Buffet’s successor Greg Abel, and Musk’s brother Kimbal Musk.

Overall, the world’s billionaires are richer than they’ve ever been before, worth a total of US$20.1 trillion in an increase of US$4 trillion since early 2025. The Forbes list has gained 400 people in the 10-figure club, to a total of 3,428, the most in the ranking’s 40-year history. Twenty individuals around the globe, meanwhile, have net worths climbing into the 12-figure mark, a group now worth US$3.8 trillion; and to show just how fast these folks are accumulating their wealth, no one was a part of the 12-figure club in 2017, according to Forbes. All the unprecedented wealth increases have been fueled by the A.I. boom, fiscal policies that favour the affluent, and other markets, according to Forbes. The U.S. is home to the most billionaires (989) in the world, with China following behind (610) and India (229). And who knows, America could be home to the world’s first trillionaire by 2027.

Lead image: Brendan Smialowski/Getty

This story was originally published on Robb Report USA.