Paul McCartney is now a billionaire. Forbes put the former Beatle’s fortune at $1.4 billion in a report published on November 9, making him the world’s third-richest musician, behind Jay-Z at $2.8 billion and Taylor Swift at $2 billion.
The figure comes from Forbes’ new newsletter, The Billie, which will mark a different person who has made 10 figures or more. Paul McCartney, who is 84, declined to comment on the estimates, which Forbes notes are not confirmed balances and can move with catalog values and market conditions.
Paul McCartney and the $1.4 billion fortune
Forbes said Paul McCartney had sung, sued, countersued, toured and worked his way to the fortune over six decades. The estimate counts his publishing company, his share of Beatles earnings, his songwriting copyrights, money from world tours, property in Britain and the Hamptons, and an art collection that includes works by Picasso and Magritte.
The Sunday Times had already named McCartney Britain’s first billionaire musician in 2024, but that assessment combined his wealth with that of his wife, Nancy Shevell. The Forbes figure counts McCartney alone, and it puts him ahead of every other musician except Jay-Z and Swift.
Where the money comes from
The largest share of the fortune sits in MPL Communications, the publishing company Paul McCartney founded in 1969 to manage his own catalog and those of other artists. Forbes values MPL at at least $250 million, and says it owns thousands of songs and likely brings in tens of millions of dollars a year.
The catalog includes the songs of Buddy Holly, Broadway musical scores and Christmas standards. Paul McCartney earns when a school stages Grease, when someone streams Blue Suede Shoes, and when his own songs are used in films, adverts and productions.
The Forbes report traces the fortune back to decisions McCartney made as a young man, when he began buying publishing rights instead of only writing songs. That habit, kept up for more than 50 years, turned a songwriter into a publisher with a catalog that earns whether or not he tours or records.
Paul McCartney and the Beatles catalog
The Beatles still pay. Paul McCartney receives 25 percent of the earnings of Apple Corps, the holding company tied to the band, which Forbes says generates about $50 million a year from streaming, vinyl sales and merchandise. Forbes puts the income stream at more than $150 million for each quarter-owner.
Paul McCartney also earns about $10 million a year from the Beatles’ songwriting copyrights, which Forbes values at about $200 million. McCartney has spent decades working to win the band a bigger share of its own catalog, a fight that ran through courts and negotiations for years.
Touring added hundreds of millions more. Ringo Starr once called McCartney “the workaholic of our band,” and the 84-year-old is still recording: his album The Boys of Dungeon Lane came out on May 29, 2026, his first solo album in more than five years.
McCartney joined the Beatles as a teenager in Liverpool, and the band’s first single came out in 1962. More than 60 years later, the songs he wrote then still earn money every time they are streamed, covered or used in a film, which is why a fortune built on old songs keeps growing without a new hit.
A billionaire at 84
Paul McCartney’s place on the list says something about how music now makes money. The list rewards ownership: the musicians at the top own the rights to songs people keep playing, and those songs earn money in every new version, stream and use.
Forbes’ ranking is a snapshot, and the number will move as catalog values shift and new deals are done. For now, the former Beatle who once sang that he did not care too much for money is worth at least $1.4 billion, and only two musicians in the world are worth more. The ranking puts a songwriter who started out in Liverpool clubs in the 1950s among the richest people in music, on the strength of songs written more than half a century ago.