Paul McCartney is now a billionaire, with an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion, according to an analysis by the financial magazine Forbes.
Forbes places U.S. rapper Jay-Z at the top spot with a $2.8 billion fortune, followed by U.S. singer-songwriter Taylor Swift with $2 billion.
McCartney, 84, draws the bulk of his wealth from MPL Communications, a company he established in 1969 to manage his own catalog alongside those of other artists.
The firm holds the copyrights to Buddy Holly’s output, various Broadway musicals, and holiday songs such as “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” and “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire),” which pull in nearly a quarter of a billion dollars.
Forbes noted that McCartney collects royalties whenever a high school stages the musical Grease or someone streams the track “Blue Suede Shoes.”
As a founding member of The Beatles, McCartney receives 25 percent of his earnings from the band’s company, Apple Corps, which generates about $50 million annually.
He also earns roughly $10 million each year from Beatles songwriter royalties, following decades of legal battles in courts across the United States and Great Britain. Forbes values those rights at $200 million.
The publication’s estimates also incorporate revenue from McCartney’s extensive touring history, including his 79-concert Got Back tour spanning from 2022 to 2025.
Beyond his musical catalogs and tour receipts, McCartney holds real estate properties around the globe and maintains an art collection featuring works by René Magritte and Pablo Picasso.
His most recent studio album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, was released last May.
