Revealed: How Kylie Minogue amassed her $100 million fortune
Kylie Minogue’s days as struggling mechanic Charlene on Neighbours are well and truly behind her with the Aussie mega star now worth a cool $100m. This is how the 52-year-old has amassed her fortune.
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It has been more than 30 years since Kylie Minogue launched her hit I Should Be So Lucky. And now three decades later the Aussie super star has 100 million reasons to feel so lucky.
The songstress, who first made her mark as tomboy mechanic Charlene on Neighbours, has a amassed a personal fortune of $100 million – raking in the cash not only from her hit albums but carefully chosen endorsements from lingerie and lip gloss to linen and eyewear.
Her most-recent addition is her very own rose wine stocked in one of the UK’s supermarket chains.
More than half her fortune comes from the sale of more than 80 million albums worldwide. And with the 52-year-old this week releasing her disco-inspired new single Say Something – the first taste of her upcoming 15th album and recorded while in COVID-19 lockdown in London – she can expect to made more gold hits and add coins to her coffers.
Minogue maintains close links to her hometown town of Melbourne, with her accountant father Ron and brother Brendan are both listed on her company records.
Marketing experts say Minogue’s success outside of touring and record sales – which netted her $60 million to date – has been that she’s gone for less rather than more.
And music legend Molly Meldrum said the key to her success has been her ability to remain grounded to her Aussie roots.
“She keeps reinventing herself, she’s one of those artists that just has the ability to tap into the music of the day, which is rare,” Meldrum told News Corp Australia.
“Ron and her mum looked after her very well.”
Meldrum said her former manager, London based Terry Blamey, was also key to her deals.
“I think the way she worked with Terry Blamey was fantastic, they never overused her currency. She’s never become boring,” he said.
Minogue owns a $29 million apartment in One Hyde Park, one of the world’s most expensive buildings developed by Nick Candy, the husband of fellow Neighbours alumni Holly Valance.
She also still owns the two-bedroom terrace home in Armadale, Melbourne, that she bought for $185,000 in 1990 and that was now estimated to be worth $1.8 million.
British marketing and public relations consulting Mark Borkowski said Minogue had been careful and thorough with her business decisions, which paid off.
“She was always careful about the deal they had done and they haven’t done a bad deal,” Mr Borkowski said.
Minogue began spruiking her range of eyewear sold through Specsavers in 2017 – a deal that is believed to have earned her $1.8m a year. Another easy money maker for Minogue was her perfume deal with US company Coty. Between 2006 and 2012, she produced 11 fragrances, including the original Darling.
Other endorsements include her own lingerie, swim wear and linen lines, and her exclusive range of official merchandise including an $800 watch.
Her most recent business foray was the launch of a signature rose on her 52nd birthday in May this year, which is being sold in UK supermarket Tesco for $16. It is estimated that she would pocket up to $1.5 million per year for the use of her name.
While COVID-19 has cancelled concerts across the world this year – it was expected Minogue would go back on the road to tour her new material.
Meng Ru Kuok, chief executive of British music magazine NME and broader music company BandLab Technologies, said Minogue had an amazing career.
“Whether anyone can have the same success as Kylie has had today, it’s hard to say,” Mr Kuok said.
“But given that things have moved online to where people have to differentiate themselves, with different kinds of storytelling, some artists are better suited to diversification like Kylie than ever before.”
Cherie Hu, a leading music critic, said it would be difficult for emerging artists to have the same level of mainstream fame as Minogue has enjoyed as audiences fragmented online.
“Artists are now building loyal following online and they may not be as well known,” she said.
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“Billie Eilish might be one of those artists but she’s backed by a major label.”
She said that the music industry was trying to work out a new model as it battled with coronavirus restrictions.
The Sunday Times Rich List had Minogue at number 37 on its artists lists in 2015 but she has slipped off as other musicians increased their wealth at a faster pace on the back of major tours.
If her next album breaks America, then she may be climbing the rich list ladder again.