For decades, Paul McCartney has made music that has travelled across generations. His success has also extended beyond record sales and sold-out concerts, with careful investments in music publishing, songwriting rights and other assets helping him build a fortune estimated at more than $1.4 billion.
Forbes reported on Monday, November 9, that the 84-year-old musician is now the third-richest musician in the world. He trails only Jay-Z, whose fortune is estimated at $2.8 billion, and Taylor Swift, at $2 billion.
McCartney’s financial journey has been shaped by lessons from his early years with The Beatles. Despite the band’s enormous popularity, McCartney and his bandmates, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison, initially earned relatively little under restrictive recording agreements.
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That experience helped make him more conscious of the business behind music. He later established MPL Communications, his publishing company, and invested in the rights to songs that have remained popular over the years.
Its catalogue includes Christmas favourites such as "Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and "Blue Christmas,” Elvis Presley’s "Blue Suede Shoes” and music from musicals including "Grease.”
These works continue to generate income through their use, performances and other licensing arrangements.
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His own catalogue has proved equally valuable. As a member of The Beatles and through his solo career and band Wings, which he formed in 1971 after the group split, McCartney has built one of the most successful careers in popular music.
The Beatles hold the record for the most No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, with 20. McCartney has secured another nine chart-toppers through his solo work and Wings. On the Billboard 200 albums chart, The Beatles have scored 19 No. 1 albums, while McCartney has achieved eight more individually or with Wings.
He has also spent decades working to secure a greater share of the band's music rights.
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According to Forbes, Apple Corps, the company established by The Beatles, now generates more than $50 million annually from streaming, vinyl sales and merchandise. McCartney, Starr and the estates of Lennon and Harrison each receive a 25% share.
Forbes estimates each share is worth more than $150 million.
McCartney’s songwriting copyrights are another source of wealth. After years of efforts to regain control of his U.S. publishing rights, he now earns at least $10 million annually from his share of The Beatles’ compositions. Forbes estimates those rights are worth at least $200 million.
His fortune also reflects decades of touring, royalties, property investments in the United Kingdom and the Hamptons, and an art collection that includes works by Pablo Picasso and René Magritte.
For McCartney, the relationship between creativity and commercial success has never needed to be an either-or choice. Reflecting on the subject, he once asked whether it was more noble to write only for art and love, before adding: "I think the two can coexist. I’m happy to enjoy both.”
His estimated fortune suggests that, over a career spanning more than six decades, he has managed to do both.