After humble beginnings in a post-war terraced house, Sir Paul McCartney’s rise up the wealth charts over the decades has been nothing short of fab.
And now the former Beatle has become the first British billionaire musician as his fortune soared by £50million from £950m, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. The bumper pay rise this year came from touring and the lucrative value of his packed back catalogue of hits, along with covers by Beyonce.
Macca, 81, who grew up in Allerton, Liverpool, is 165th on the list, above the £610m King at 258th. Charles has a £610million personal fortune, up from £600million last year. Top is Indian-born British businessman Gopi Hinduja and his family, with a wealth of almost £37.2billion, up from £35bn in 2023. It is the largest fortune ever recorded in the history of the Rich List.
Chemicals magnate and new Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, second last year, has slipped to fourth, with a £23.5bn fortune. That came after a drop in profits at his Ineos empire. Vacuum tycoon Sir James Dyson and his family come in at 5th with £20.8bn.
Arcelor Mittal group CEO Lakshmi Mittal’s £14.92bn fortune earns him 8th spot. Macca’s fellow pop star Sir Elton John is worth around £470million and sits in 291st place, while David and Victoria Beckham’s fortune is said to have leapt £30million to £455million, putting them at joint 297th. Former Labour PM Tony Blair ’s son Euan appears at 337th on £375m thanks to his apprenticeship firm Multiverse.
The list also includes Graham King, dubbed the “king” of migrant hotels in 221st place. The Essex businessman has an estimated £750million fortune from holiday parks, inheritance and housing asylum seekers as they wait ages to be processed. Self-styled “gypsy billionaire” Alfie Best has amassed £947m building more than 100 mobile-home parks across Britain. His wealth, which soared from £745m last year, puts him on the list at 174th.
Best, who owns non-league side East Thurrock United in Essex, has quit Britain and moved to tax haven Monaco, joining the likes of Sir Lewis Hamilton and disgraced tycoon Sir Philip Green. The Rich List also reveals the largest fall in the number of billionaires in its 36-year history, from a peak of 177 in 2022 to 165 this year.
Compiler Robert Watts said it suggests “Britain’s billionaire boom has come to an end”. He added: “Many of the country’s home-grown entrepreneurs have seen their fortunes fall and some of the global super rich who came here are moving away.” Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson, who lives on the private Caribbean island of Necker, is nevertheless on the list. His wealth has fallen to an estimated £2.4bn, back to what he was worth in 2000. But he could net upwards of £650m from the proposed sale of lender Virgin Money to the Nationwide building society.