New rich list reveals the world’s highest-earning social media influencers

A NEW rich list has revealed the world’s most influential — and wealthy — social media stars.

And while the ranking is filled with some of the globe’s biggest celebrities, there’s also a huge number of lesser-known influencers who make a very healthy living from posting pretty pictures.

According to the list compiled by Hopper HQ, Instagram has helped some beauty bloggers become household names and launch thriving businesses.

One of those is makeup artist Huda Kattan who has amassed a cult following with an audience of 26.4 million on Instagram since quitting a career in finance in 2010

Ms Kattan, who once famously turned down an offer of $AU240,000 for a single Instagram post from a client, now earns an average of $AU44,000 per image, based on her average engagement and the frequency of her posts.

That figure has earned her the top spot on the beauty rich list, followed by British vlogger and author Zoe “Zoella” Sugg, who earns $12,000 a post.

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Earlier this year, Ms Kattan, who first rose to fame through a blog before launching the lucrative Huda Beauty line in 2013, spoke with Entrepreneur about the secrets of her success.

She explained she had turned down that one astronomical offer because of concerns about “authenticity”.

“Once, I got offered $US185,000 ($A240,000) to do one post, and I was so close to doing it — I genuinely loved the product,” she said. “We were just about to post it, and my team was like, ‘This is the caption,’ with ‘#ad.’ I just couldn’t do it.”

Ms Kattan’s incredible popularity has survived despite a backlash earlier this year when fans slammed the makeup guru for a post which explained how women could lighten their vaginas.

According to the ranking, reality star Kylie Jenner is the world’s highest-paid Instagram influencer, earning a massive $US1 million ($AU1.35 million) for a single post. The 20-year-old will soon also become the world’s youngest self-made billionaire.

Jenner, who has 110 million followers on the popular social media site, was followed by singer Selena Gomez, who makes $US800,000 ($AU1.2 million) for every post.

Portuguese professional footballer Cristiano Ronaldo took out third place, followed by Jenner’s half-sister Kim Kardashian and then Beyoncé Knowles.

The rich list also revealed the richest influencers across a range of other categories including fashion, travel, sport, fitness, health and food.

alexis.carey@news.com.au