Sir Paul McCartney has officially become billionaire.
On Monday, editors at Forbes reported that the Beatles icon is now worth an estimated $1.4 billion (£1 billion).
This makes him the third-wealthiest musician, following behind JAY-Z, who is worth around $2.8 billion (£2 billion), and Taylor Swift, who has made an estimated $2 billion (£1.4 billion).
However, representatives for McCartney have not yet commented on the report.
According to analysis published by Forbes, the British singer-songwriter generates most of his wealth from MPL Communications, the publishing company he founded in 1969.
It is McCartney’s “biggest business” and is worth “at least a quarter of a billion dollars.”
In addition to handling his solo work, the company owns the rights to many iconic tracks, including Carl Perkins’s 1955 hit Blue Suede Shoes and The Four Seasons’ Big Girls Don’t Cry, as well as Christmas classics like It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas and Baby, It’s Cold Outside.
And after years of negotiating with label bosses, McCartney and Ringo Starr get a quarter each of the earnings from the Beatles’ Apple Corps holding company, with the rest going to the estates of the late John Lennon and George Harrison.
Between streaming, vinyl, and merchandise sales, this could be worth “more than $150 million (£111 million) apiece.”
Meanwhile, the Blackbird has also made money from his music tours, real estate in the U.K. and U.S., and an extensive art collection that includes paintings from Magritte and Picasso.
Paul McCartney has also released his twentieth solo album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, in May, this year.
