Hey Jude, guess who the richest person in UK music is

It’s that time of the year when The Sunday Times reminds us all how much money we’re definitely never going to make, with the much-anticipated (how much has ol’ Richy Branson banked from his nice planes this year I do wonder?!) release of its annual Rich List.

The full list, which ranks the 1,000 wealthiest people in the whole of the UK, isn’t due for publication until Sunday, but in the meantime the paper has teased us in by revealing the richest people in UK music, as of their recorded wealth in the past year. 

I’ll level with you: there are few great surprises in this list. Traditionally a bit of an old boys’ club, the top spots are occupied by artists who have been in the game for quite a while. 

And by quite a while I mean... 

Paul McCartney – a man whose value seems to appreciate by a few thousand each time he takes a breath – and his wife Nancy Shevell are in first place. With a fortune of £780 million (up £20 million from 2016), Macca is just ahead of musical (over)Lord Lloyd-Webber, at a cool £740 mil.

Making up the rest of the top five are U2, Sir Elton John and Sir Mick Jagger. It really doesn’t matter if you haven’t paid attention to U2 since they generously gave every iTunes subscriber their 2014 record Songs of Innocence (somewhere, someone is still unsuccessfully trying to delete that album) – you can absolutely guarantee that they’ll be omnipresent in this list. 

If there’s one significant takeaway here, it’s that, for the first time, Adele has broken into the top 20. With a net worth of £125 million, she’s the youngest artist in the list (the only one under 30) and the sole female artist to claim a place in the upper echelons. Ridiculous, but sadly not massively shocking. Still, good on Adele. Keep making everyone cry. 

Here’s the full list:

1. Sir Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell: £780m (Up £20m)
2. Lord Lloyd-Webber: £740m (Up £25m)
3. U2: £548m (Up £48m)
4. Sir Elton John: £290m (Up £10m)
5. Sir Mick Jagger: £250m (Up £15m)
6. Keith Richards: £235m (Up £15m)
7. Olivia and Dhani Harrison: £210m (Down £10m
8= Michael Flatley: £200m (Up £2m)
8= Ringo Starr: £200m (No change)
10. Sting: £185m (No change)
11= Eric Clapton: £170m (Up £10m)
11= Sir Rod Stewart: £170m (Up £10m)
13. Roger Waters: £165m (Up £5m)
14. Sir Tom Jones: £160m (Up £5m)
15. Sir Tim Rice: £152m (Up £2m)
16. Robbie Williams: £150m (Up £5m)
17. Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne: £140m (Up £5m)
18. Charlie Watts: £130m (Up £10m)
19= Adele: £125m (Up £40m)
19= Brian May: £125m (Up £5m)

(Images: Rex)