When Paul McCartney’s net worth jumped to one billion pounds in 2024, he became the first billionaire musician in the United Kingdom. The former Beatle Paul McCartney is worth around $1.27 billion.
Sir Paul McCartney is a world-famous English singer, musician, and songwriter who gained fame with the Beatles in the 60s. He’s considered one of the most successful performers and composers of all time, known for his wide tenor vocal range and ability to play a variety of instruments. The Beatles’ song Yesterday is still one of the most covered songs in history.
Even though his first band broke long ago, Paul McCartney’s career didn’t end with the Beatles. After the music group left the public scene, he continued earning a fortune through his solo career and with Wings, as well as through his businesses and other investments.
Keep reading to learn how Paul McCartney reached the status of a billionaire musician.
Paul McCartney’s Net Worth Breakdown:
Paul McCartney is considered the richest member of the Beatles; in the last couple of years, his net worth has increased by hundreds of millions. This recent increase in McCartney’s wealth has come from his back catalog, the final Beatles song Now and Then, as well as from Beyoncé’s Beatles cover on the album Cowboy Carter. Beyoncé’s song is a reimagined version of McCartney’s Blackbird.
However, he has been accumulating millions gradually over the last few decades, starting with his incredible worldwide fame with the Beatles, followed by his solo career, other band collaborations, as well as his businesses and other projects.
McCartney has one of the most versatile careers among artists, so he has varied sources that contribute to his net worth. Based on our research, we’ve created a breakdown of his main assets and sources of income:
Paul McCartney Net Worth: Early Life and Education
James Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool, United Kingdom, on June 18, 1942. His father had the same name, so his parents used his middle name Paul to avoid mix-ups. James Paul McCartney never officially changed his name, but he has always been known by Paul anyway.
McCartney was born at Walton Hospital, where his mother Mary Patricia McCartney worked as a nurse practitioner. His father (also known as Jim) worked as a salesman for A. Hannay and Co., and later as a lathe turner at Napier. He also volunteered for the fire brigade at night and was a pianist and trumpet player.
As a musician, McCartney’s father led Jim Mac’s Jazz Band in the 1920s, encouraging his son to take piano lessons. When Jim saw the potential in his son, he encouraged him to audition for the Liverpool Cathedral choir. He was 11 years old at the time, but the choir didn’t accept him, so he joined the one at St. Barnabas’ Church in Mossley Hill.
For his fourteen birthday, Paul McCartney got a nickel-plated trumpet from his father. However, he decided to trade it for a £15 Framus Zenith acoustic guitar, since he was most interested in rock and roll and wanted to be able to sing and play at the same time.
McCartney’s first song was I Lost My Little Girl. One of his earliest tunes was the one that later became When I’m Sixty-Four, as well. The very first song he performed in public was Long Tall Sally, at the Butlin’s Filey camp talent competition.
Education
During the war, the McCartney family was rehoused in 1944 in a Knowsley flat, followed by their move to a council housing development in Speke two years later.
In Speke, McCartney studied at Stockton Wood Road Primary School, but in 1949, he transferred to Joseph Williams Junior School, where he graduated. In 1953, he was one of three students (out of 90 in total), who passed the 11-Plus exam. This meant that he could attend the Liverpool Institute instead of a local comprehensive school.
Relationships and Personal Life
Paul’s mother Mary earned well at her job as a midwife, so the family was able to move to Allerton, living at 20 Forthlin Road until 1964. In 1956, May passed away from an embolism as a complication of breast cancer surgery.
When he was going back home to his Speke house in 1954, McCartney met George Harrison, who quickly became his friend. In 1957, he met John Lennon at the St. Peter’s Church Hall fair in Woolton, when the latter performed with The Quarrymen. This acquaintance led to his first gig as the band’s rhythm guitarist. The rest is history
Marriages
As for his relationships with women, Paul McCartney had several long-term relationships, his first one being with Dorothy Dot Rhone. After two-and-a-half years, in 1961, he broke up with Rhone.
Two years later, McCartney met the British actress Jane Asher, with whom he spent two years living in her parents’ home in Marylebone. The couple then moved to McCartney’s home in St. John’s Wood in March 1966. Inspired by this relationship, the famous artist wrote You Won’t See Me, I’m Looking Through You, and I Love Her, among other famous songs. The couple broke up after a five-year relationship, at a point where they were engaged to be married.
In 1967, McCartney met his first wife, Linda Eastman. Linda was a Beatles fan and a popular photographer for rock musicians.
“The night Linda and I met, I spotted her across a crowded club, and although I would normally have been nervous chatting her up, I realized I had to… Pushiness worked for me that night!” McCartney later said of this encounter.
Two years later, Paul McCartney married Linda. After the Beatles disbanded, the couple collaborated musically, forming Wings in 1971. They had four children, including Linda’s daughter Heather, who was legally adopted by Paul, as well as Mary, Stella, and James.
The marriage lasted until Linda’s death from breast cancer in 1998. In 2002, Paul McCartney married former model Heather Mills, with whom he has his fifth child, Beatrice Milly. He and Mills divorced in 2008 and three years later, McCartney married Nancy Shevell.
McCartney’s divorce from Mills was very public and acrimonious, and it resulted in a $50 million settlement that the famous artist paid his now-former wife.
Paul McCartney Net Worth: From a Member of the Beatles to a Successful Solo Career
As we mentioned, Paul McCartney met John Lennon and his band back in 1957, which led him to join them soon afterward. Harrison joined the band as lead guitarist in 1958, followed by Stuart Sutcliffe on Bass two years later.
This marked the start of an incredible team that led every member of the Beatles to world fame.
The Beatles
By 1960, the band had tested several names, including:
Beatles and the Silver Beetles
Johnny and the Moondogs
Beatles (which they adopted in August 1960)
In addition to selecting a name, the Beatles recruited drummer Pete Best to join the band. At this point, the band was complete – and ready to get started.
However, in 1961, Sutcliffe decided to leave the Beatles, so McCartney took on the role of bass player. At around the same time, they started recording professionally and were credited as the Beat Brothers, which garnered the attention of Brian Epstein. In 1962, Epstein became the band’s manager.
Pete Best didn’t remain in the band for long, either. When he left in August, the Beatles replaced him with Ringo Starr. This was when they had their first hit Love Me Do, which almost instantly became popular in the UK.
Early Hits and Albums
McCartney and Lennon worked together on several of the band’s early hits, including:
Can’t Buy Me Love
I Saw Her Standing There
She Loves You
After an initial bout of success, the band became an unstoppable force in the country. By 1964, they had released four studio albums, including:
The Birth of Yesterday
In 1965, the Beatles released Yesterday, one of their most popular songs and one of the most covered songs in modern musical history. They released the composition featuring a string quartet, their first recorded use of classical music elements with a single band member. The song was written by Paul McCartney and released on the album Help! in the UK. In the United States, it was issued as a single in September of the same year, and it reached number one on the US charts.
The hit appeared on the UK EP Yesterday in March of the following year. The Beatles also made its US album debut in June 1966, as part of Yesterday and Today.
Tensions Between Paul McCartney and John Lennon
At this point, Paul McCartney took on many roles in the band, including that of a songwriter, arranger, producer, instrumentalist, and de facto musical director. This led to tensions with John Lennon, which would continue to grow in the following years.
When the Beatles released their sixth studio album Rubber Soul, it was regarded as one of the highest points in the band’s work. However, both John Lennon and Paul McCartney claimed that they wrote the music for In My Life, which led to increasing contention within the band.
“The clash between John and Paul was becoming obvious… and as far as Paul was concerned, George Harrison could do no right — Paul was absolutely finicky,” shared Harry Bill in his book.
Even though tensions were high, the Beatles’ members kept it under control – at least for the time being. They became one of the most popular brands in the world, and they kept surprising their audience with more quality content in the years that followed.
Other Albums and Projects of the Beatles
In 1966, the Beatles released yet another album called Revolver. They also produced a short promotional film for their song Paperback Writer and another for Rain. The films aired on Top of the Pops and The Ed Sullivan Show in June of the same year.
The band’s final commercial concert happened at the end of their US tour in 1966. Paul McCartney then pressed his bandmates to start the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band project, widely considered to be rock’s first concept album.
McCartney’s original ideas didn’t end here. Inspired to demonstrate to fans that the band had matured musically, he invented the fictional band on the album’s title track. Starting in November of the same year, the Beatles had a more experimental attitude during their recording sessions. For instance, A Day in the Life required a forty-piece orchestra, as described in Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles by Geoff Emerick.
These experimental sessions led to the creation of Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane in 1967, with the LP following a few months later.
Taking Over Brian Epstein
Brian Epstein passed in 1967, creating a huge void in the Beatles, one that Paul McCartney stepped in to fill, becoming the de facto business manager of the Beatles.
In this role, Paul McCartney led the team to produce a film for television called Magical Mystery Tour. He largely directed the film, but it didn’t get critical acclaim. The film’s soundtrack, though, was a lot more successful.
In 1968, The Beatles’ animated film Yellow Submarine premiered but at this time, the relations within the band were deteriorating – and fast. This was the same year the band released one of their all-time favorite titles, Hey Jude.
The Band’s Formal Dissolution
When The Beatles’ members were recording their eponymous double record White Album, the tensions grew even further. When a camera crew filmed McCartney lecturing his bandmates a year later during the Let It Be sessions, this worsened even further.
In 1969, the band released their last recorded album Abbey Road. John Lennon privately left The Beatles in September of the same year, at a point when Paul McCartney was dealing with business disagreements with the remaining bandmates. In April 1970, he announced his own departure from the group, and in December, he filed a suit for the band’s formal dissolution.
In March 1971, the court appointed a receiver that would oversee the finances of Apple Corps, the Beatles’ company. On January 9, 1975, a UK court legally dissolved the Beatles’ partnership, but several lawsuits persisted until 1989, including those against their record company EMI.
Paul McCartney after The Beatles
McCartney’s solo career unofficially started in 1966 when he was still with the Beatles. He completed a film score for the UK production The Family Way, his first musical project independent of the Beatles. The soundtrack won him an Ivor Novello Award for Best Instrumental Theme but failed to chart.
When the Beatles were nearing their break up in 1969, Paul McCartney was depressed. He would later share that his wife helped him by encouraging him to continue recording, which is when he wrote Maybe I’m Amazed.
In 1970, he was ready for a new challenge. He continued his career in music, this time starting his official solo career by releasing McCartney, a US number 1 album. McCartney was a one-man album apart from some vocal contributions from his late wife Linda, with him providing instrumentation, compositions, and vocals.
A year later, McCartney collaborated with drummer Denny Seiwell and his late wife on a second album he titled Ram. His second album as a solo artist was a UK number one and the US top five, and it included the hit single Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.
Forming a New Group
In 1971, ex-Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine was invited to join Paul McCartney and his wife. The three of them, as well as Seiwell, formed a new band called Wings. They would later add the guitarist Henry McCullough to the band.
In 1972, Wings’ first concert tour started with a debut performance at the University of Nottingham. They then traveled across the UK in a van, doing ten more gigs in an unannounced tour of universities.
Then, during the 25-show, seven-week-long Wings Over Europe Tour, the band Wings covered songs and solo material McCartney had created. The only song that the Beatles had previously recorded was the Little Richard cover Long Tall Sally.
In 1973, the band Wings had their first US number-one single titled My Love. This single was included in their second LP Red Rose Speedway, which peaked at number one in the US and was top five in the UK.
Paul McCartney also collaborated with the former Beatles producer Martin, to create Live and Let Die, the theme song for the James Bond film of the same name. The song reached number nine in the UK and number two in the US, and was nominated for an Academy Award.
Growing Success with Wings
In 1973, Seiwell and McCullough decided to leave Wings. When this happened, the McCartneys and Laine recorded a new album titled Band on the Run, the first of seven platinum Wings LPs. This was McCartney’s first album to reach Billboard magazine’s charts on three separate occasions, and it remained on the UK charts for a total of 124 weeks.
A year later, Paul McCartney hired Jimmy McCulloch, a guitarist, and Geoff Britton, a drummer, to replace McCullough and Seiwell. However, Britton quit during their recording sessions in 1975 with Joe English talking over.
In 1975, Paul McCartney and his band Wings won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance for the song Band of the Run. Geoff Emerick won the Grammy for Best Engineered Recording for the album, too.
After the success of Band on the Run, Wings followed with two other chart-topping albums:
Venus and Mars in 1975
Wings at the Speed of Sound in 1976
The band’s Wings Over the World Tour was the first time McCartney performed Beatles songs live with his Wings band, including Yesterday, Blackbird, I’ve Just Seen a Face, and more.
In 1978, the Wings’ London Town album spawned yet another US number-one single for Paul McCartney, With a Little Luck.
Wings had their final concert tour in 1979. They toured for twenty shows in the UK.
Paul McCartney’s Career between 1980 and 2000
In 1980, Paul McCartney released his second solo LP, the one he produced on his own, called McCartney II. The LP peaked at number one in the UK and number three in the US. In it, he included the song Coming Up. The live version of this song was recorded in Glasgow a year before by Wings and was the group’s last number-one hit.
In 1981, McCartney decided that he needed a change from Wings, so in April of the same year, Wings discontinued after Laine quit.
At this point, he was ready to focus on his solo career. McCartney composed and created many hits since, as well as collaborated with major artists over the years. Let’s take a look at some of his milestones since:
Collaboration with Stevie Wonder on Ebony and Ivory (1982)
Third studio album Tug of War
Collaboration with Michael Jackson on The Girl is Mine (1982) and Say Say Say (1983)
Fourth studio album Pipes of Peace (1983)
Fifth studio album Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984)
Sixth studio album Press to Play (1986)
Collaboration with Eric Stewart on Press to Play (1986)
Release of album Снова в СССР (1988)
In 1989, Paul McCartney decided to form a new band with his wife Linda, Hamish Stuart, Robbie McIntosh, Paul Wickens, and Chris Whitten. In September, they launched his first tour in over a decade, the Paul McCartney World Tour. This is when he performed for the largest paying stadium audience in history in 1990 with 184,000 attending his concert in Rio de Janeiro.
After his unforgettable performance in Rio de Janeiro, McCartney achieved the following milestones:
