Key Takeaways
- Paul McCartney joins Forbes’ billionaire ranks with an estimated $1.4 billion fortune, placing him third among musicians behind Jay-Z and Taylor Swift.
- McCartney’s publishing company MPL Communications anchors his wealth with rights to Buddy Holly classics, holiday standards and royalties earned their live productions of stage musical Grease.
- Touring, along with McCartney’s Apple Corps stake and reclaimed U.S. publishing rights to songs he co-wrote with late Beatle John Lennon bolster his fortune alongside real estate and a vast art collection.
Paul McCartney has been named Forbes’ newest billionaire musician among the top-three ranking.
The financial publication’s newsletter The Billie placed the 84-year-old Beatle at $1.4 billion, making him the world's third-richest musician behind Jay-Z at $2.8 billion and Taylor Swift at approximately $2 billion.
McCartney’s most valuable business is MPL Communications, which he launched in 1969, shortly before the disbandment of The Beatles. The company gave McCartney more control over his solo recordings and publishing, and the English musician soon began investing in other songwriters' rights.
The catalog includes Buddy Holly classics, "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Baby, It's Cold Outside." McCartney also holds publishing rights tied to Grease, so he’s paid royalties after every live production of the musical.
His 2cut share of Apple Corps, which brings in more than $50 million a year from streaming, physical sales and merchandise, is worth over $150 million, The estates of late Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison, along with Ringo Starr, also receive a 25 percent cut. Addtionally, McCartney’s U.S. rights to the songs he co-wrote with Lennon gross at least $10 million a year and are valued at about $200 million.
Accounted for in McCartney’s billion-dollar empire of touring are real estate in the UK and the Hamptons, and a vast art collection that includes Picasso and Magritte.
McCartney’s net worth shows that the singer-songwriter has evolved well past humble beginnings. The Beatles’ first record deal reportedly paid less than a penny per single sold, which was divided among members, and publisher Northern Songs held the copyright to the band’s material.
In 1980s, Michael Jackson bought the ATV Music catalog for $47.5 million, outbidding McCartney over the publishing rights for many Lennon-McCartney songs. After the King of Pop merged his deal with Sony in the 1990s, McCartney spent years retaining his U.S. rights under American copyright law, with help from lawyers John and Lee Eastman.
“If I’m wheeling and dealing, life becomes very difficult for me. I’ve got to reserve a portion of my brain for writing songs,” McCartney told Forbes in 2017.
