Forbes Names Paul McCartney a Billionaire and the World’s Third-Richest Musician

Paul McCartney’s fortune has surpassed $1.4 billion, making him the world’s third-richest musician, according to Forbes.

In its report Monday (Nov. 9), the publication estimated that only Jay-Z and Taylor Swift have higher net worths, at $2.8 billion and $2 billion, respectively. More than six decades earlier, McCartney sang in 1964 that money could not buy love.

McCartney and his Beatles bandmates Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison earned very little under their initial record contract. McCartney reclaimed some ownership of the catalog through lawsuits and renegotiations around 2017. Before then, the Wings frontman built much of his fortune by starting the publishing company MPL Communications and buying rights to songs that continue to generate returns.

Those include the Christmas standards “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and “Blue Christmas,” as well as “Blue Suede Shoes” and scores to musicals such as Grease.

In 2022, Billboard reported that McCartney’s career touring grosses had surpassed $1 billion, according to Billboard Boxscore figures. At the time, he was one of 11 artists to have reached that figure.

The Beatles hold the record for the most Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits, with 20. McCartney has topped the chart nine more times as a solo artist and with Wings, which he formed in 1971 after The Beatles broke up.

On the Billboard 200, McCartney has earned 19 No. 1s with The Beatles and eight as a solo artist or with Wings.

Source: Billboard