(FORTUNE Magazine) – THEM that's got, shall get, Billie Holiday crooned, and that pretty much says it for the world's richest folk. The most prosperous, unlike the rest of us in these difficult economic times, have more money than they had last year. The median trove of our 101 wealthiest rose 10%, to $3.3 billion, though the average pelf increased only from $4.4 billion to $4.5 billion. The gains came mainly from buoyant world equity markets. For example, the stash belonging to Warren Buffett, 62, rose 33%, to $6.4 billion, with the surge in the price of Berkshire Hathaway stock. Halfway around the world on the Hong Kong exchange, the 35% of Cheung Kong Holdings that Li Ka-shing, 64, owns increased in value by $2 billion, bringing his net worth to $5.8 billion. Through the years the list of the world's billionaires has grown, from 98 individuals and families on our first list in 1987 to 233 individuals and families last year. Frankly, the club was getting less exclusive. Today's $1 billion would have been a mere $795 million in 1987 dollars. So rather than produce something akin to a swanky telephone book, we have chosen to focus our seventh annual list on the world's top 101 fortunes. They aggregate $455 billion, a sum just under the gross domestic product of Spain, and you could pack all the owners into a plush suite at the Ritz in Madrid. At the head of the list, as usual, is the Sultan of Brunei, 46, whose $37 billion accounts for 8% of the top 101 fortunes. His wealth came originally from the production of his nation's oil fields, but today most of it is socked away in foreign investments, which provide the bulk of his income. To celebrate his 25th anniversary on the throne last October, he rode a gilded chariot pulled by 40 men through his capital city of Bandar Seri Begawan. But when time is of the essence, this oil-rich ruler travels the way other energy barons do: aboard his own plane, in this case a customized Boeing 747. The world's second-largest stake, $23.5 billion, belongs to the Waltons. Maybe it was those early trips with Dad, who piled all the kids in the family station wagon to visit the stores, but today these Wal-Mart heirs and their mother, Helen, 73, remain close to the business. One son is chairman, another sits with him on the board, a third runs the family holding company, and daughter Alice is committed to the development of northwest Arkansas, where Wal-Mart is headquartered. The Mars family is in third place, M&Ms and Milky Ways having helped fatten their coffers by another $1 billion since last year. Y.C. Wang, 76, occupies the 101st slot. How did this Taiwanese industrialist get there? Plastics, reader, plastics. His $2.1 billion is a respectable sum by the reckoning of ordinary mortals, but rather insignificant by the standards of this crowd. There's got to be something right with the U.S. economy, because four of the ten largest fortunes are American, and the country provides 25% of the list overall. The nation with the second-greatest number of plutocrats is Japan with 13, followed by England with ten. Germany and Switzerland, that snow- capped tax haven, are tied with nine each. For wanna-be pashas there are two paths to ultrawealth: entrepreneurship and inheritance. Three of the four newcomers to our list illustrate the wisdom of picking the right family to be born into. Masakuni Osano, 64, got a good start on his $4.3 billion by inheriting Kokusai Kogyo, a group of hotel, resort, and transportation companies, from his uncle Kenji in 1986. The Esau of his family, Seiji Tsutsumi, 66, received the lesser part of Dad's Tsutsumi Group -- a chain of department stores. He developed them into a huge retail conglomerate, which includes the Seibu Department Store, and into a personal fortune of $3.5 billion. Net worth-wise, this newcomer is fast catching up to his younger, illegitimate half brother, Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, 59, who received the more lucrative land and railway part of the inheritance and is worth $3.9 billion. Across the world, Danes Godtfred, 73, and Kjeld Kristiansen, 46, share in $2.2 billion as the son and grandson, respectively, of the founder of Lego toys. GREAT WEALTH always seems more legitimate, however, when it is the result of hard work. Nearly half the fortunes on our list are first generation, among them the $2.3 billion compiled by newcomer Chan Ting-Wah, 70, the son of a textile merchant. In 1945, having fled China for Hong Kong, Chan founded Nan Fung Textiles with $38,000. Though the company started by making fabrics, as it grew, it provided the money for Chan's substantial property investments in ; Hong Kong.

In the late 20th century, riches still come from real estate and media companies, though not so abundantly as in the past. Buy land, said Will Rogers many years ago, they're not making any more. He forgot about landfill, but his advice has remained sound. True, the Kwoks -- Walter, 42, Thomas, 41, and Raymond, 40 -- in Hong Kong saw the values of their land and stock holdings shrink by 10% to a mere $3.3 billion last year, but Lee Shau-kee, 65, watched his bank account rise by $900 million, to $3.1 billion, as shares of his Henderson Land Development Co. rose on the Hong Kong exchange. Here's a tip for would-be billionaires: Invest in a little plot on the Chinese mainland. Emilio Azcarraga Milmo, 63, of Mexico made a nice round $1.1 billion over the last year on his mixed media -- TV, magazines, radio -- while the wealth of the Cox sisters, Anne Cox Chambers, 73, and Barbara Cox Anthony, 70, declined by $2.4 billion. Computer magazine king Bill Ziff, 63, has increased his wealth by 15%. Set against a poor advertising climate, his success glows that much byter. In the end, it is probably true that billions can't buy happiness, although the story that follows says you can buy an awful lot of everything else. But how important is happiness? Just ask any of our 101 how they would feel without their money.