LONDON: Former Beatle Paul McCartney's 680 million pound ($1.04 billion) fortune put him at the top of a list ranking the UK and Ireland's richest musicians that also highlighted Adele as the wealthiest young music millionaire.
McCartney was followed closely by music and stage impresario Andrew Lloyd-Webber at 620 million pounds, Irish rock band U2 and singer Elton John in the Sunday Times Rich List 2013 to be published on April 21, an emailed statement from the paper said.
McCartney, 70, has topped all the charts for the country's wealthiest musicians since the Rich List began in 1989, when the former Beatle was worth just 80 million pounds.
Aside from starring roles at Queen Elizabeth's diamond jubilee as well as the closing and opening ceremonies for the London Olympics, McCartney's “On the Run” tour grossed $57 million from 18 dates in 2012.
His total was also boosted by wife Nancy Shevell's stake in her father's New England Motor Freight trucking operation.
Profits from Lloyd-Webber's hugely successful stage shows, such as “Phantom of the Opera”, “Evita” and “Cats”, helped to boost the composer and theatre owner's fortune to keep him in second place ahead of U2 at 520 million and “Candle in the Wind” singer John in third at 240 million pounds.
Rolling Stone Mick Jagger came in fifth at 200 million pounds alongside former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham and her soccer player husband David Beckham.
Adele topped the 2013 Young Music Rich List of entertainers aged 30 and under with a 30 million pound fortune. With the continued worldwide success of her album “21”, this was a 50 per cent increase on the 20 million pounds which put the Oscar-winning singer-songwriter atop the list in 2012.
New entries to the youngsters' list, each worth five million pounds, included singer-songwriters Emeli Sand, aged 26, Ed Sheeran, 22, and all five members of boy band One Direction, Niall Horan, 19, Zayn Malik, 20, Liam Payne, 19, Harry Styles, 19, and Louis Tomlinson, 21.
One Direction has become Britain's richest boy band, with combined wealth of 25 million pounds. This puts them just 1 million pounds ahead of the combined wealth of the four members of JLS, Jonathan (JB) Gill, 26, Marvin Humes, 28, Aston Merrygold, 25, and Ortis Williams, 26, who now share a total fortune of 24 million pounds.