Paul McCartney Is a Billionaire — and the World’s Third-Richest Musician — According to Forbes
Billboard ·
The former Beatle made his fortune by investing in other artists' music.
Paul McCartney sang in 1964, “I don’t care too much for money — money can’t buy me love.” More than six decades later, the former Beatle is officially a billionaire, according to Forbes .
The financial publication declared Monday (Nov. 9) that McCartney’s fortune has surpassed $1.4 billion, making him the third-richest musician in the world. Only Jay-Z and Taylor Swift, whose net worths are $2.8 billion and $2 billion, respectively, are above him, Forbes estimates.
McCartney is famously savvy with his investments, having learned the hard way how to navigate finances after he and ex-bandmates Ringo Starr, John Legend and George Harrison famously earned very little within the restrictive confines of their initial record contract. The Wings frontman was eventually able to reclaim some ownership of the catalog through lawsuits and renegotiations circa 2017, but before that, he built much of his fortune by starting his publishing company, MPL Communications, and buying the rights to enduring hits that still see returns to this day.
These include Christmas standards such as “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and “Blue Christmas,” as well as other classics including “Blue Suede Shoes” and the scores to musicals such as Grease .
Of course, the Liverpool legend is also a touring powerhouse. In 2022, Billboard reported that McCartney’s career touring grosses had surpassed $1 billion, per Billboard Boxscore figures; at the time, he was one of just 11 artists to ever hit that figure.
Both as one-fourth of The Beatles and as a solo artist, McCartney has forged one of the most commercially successful careers in music of all time. His band still holds the record for most Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits of all time with a total of 20, and McCartney has also topped the chart nine other times through his independent work and with Wings, which he formed in 1971 after The Beatles broke up.
He’s been similarly successful on the Billboard 20 0 , scoring 19 No. 1s with The Beatles and eight individually or with Wings.