Billionaire Sir Paul McCartney becomes the world’s third-richest musician

Sir Paul McCartney has become a billionaire and is now the world’s third-richest musician.

Rising to fame with the Beatles, Sir Paul went on to forge a hugely successful solo career after they disbanded in 1970.

The 84-year-old is now one of the best-selling music artists of all time and has been awarded an Academy Award, Emmy and 19 Grammys.

He has now also been named a billionaire by Forbes – who have ranked his net worth at approximately 1.4 billion dollars (£1 billion).

Sir Paul McCartney has become a billionaire (Danny Lawson/PA)

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The publication cited Sir Paul’s catalogue, legal manoeuvres, tours and art collection as making up the majority of his fortune.

He is now also the world’s third-richest musician behind Jay-Z with 2.8 billion dollars (£2 billion) and Taylor Swift with two billion dollars (£1.4 billion).

Forbes has reported that the biggest share of McCartney’s fortune derives from MPL Communications, his publishing company launched in 1969 which manages both his catalogue and other artists’ copyrights.

The company owns thousands of songs, with McCartney’s acquisition of catalogues from other artists including Buddy Holly, as well as Broadway musical scores and Christmas standards like It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas or The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire).

These account for nearly a quarter of a billion dollars, according to Forbes.

As one of the four Beatles – which also included Ringo Starr and the late John Lennon and George Harrison – McCartney receives 25% of earnings from the band’s Apple Corps holding company, which generates 50 million dollars (£37 million) annually from streaming, vinyl sales and merch.

The publication also estimated that this income stream was worth more than 150 million dollars (£111 million) for each member or their estate.

Sir Paul McCartney is now the world’s third-richest musician (Danny Lawson/PA)

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The musician also earns 10 million dollars (£7 million) annually based on his share of songwriting copyrights from the Beatles. It is worth at least 200 million dollars (£148 million).

The gross sum of his revenue also includes world tours, including his most recent one Got Back, which ran for 79 shows from 2022 until 2025.

It also encompasses his real estate portfolio – including properties across the UK and the Hamptons – and art collection, which includes paintings from Picasso and Magritte.

The Beatles became the best-selling musical act of all time and one of the most influential groups in the world having achieved 16 UK number one albums and 18 UK number one singles including Help!, Hey Jude and She Loves You.

Following their split in 1970, Sir Paul released his debut solo album McCartney and also formed the band Wings with his late wife Linda along with former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine.

In May this year he released his latest album The Boys of Dungeon Lane, which debuted at number one on the UK official album charts.

This year he also appeared as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live and also performed the Beatles song I Want To Hold Your Hand at Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding at Madison Square Garden in July.