Paul McCartney’s net worth is $1.3 billion, making him the wealthiest musician in British history and the first UK artist to reach billionaire status. The former Beatle built his fortune through songwriting royalties, his MPL Communications publishing empire, relentless touring, and a series of strategic music catalog acquisitions spanning five decades.
Updated March 2026: According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2025, McCartney’s estate grew from £1 billion in 2024 to £1.025 billion in 2025, reflecting gains from touring revenue, his music catalog, and the continued strength of Lennon-McCartney publishing royalties. His Got Back Tour grossed over $410 million, per Billboard Boxscore.
Sir James Paul McCartney was born on June 18, 1942, at Walton Hospital in Liverpool, England. His father, Jim McCartney, was a jazz musician and cotton salesman who nurtured Paul’s musical interests from a young age. His mother, Mary McCartney, was a midwife who died of breast cancer in 1956 when Paul was 14 — a loss that would later inspire some of his most emotionally resonant compositions.
McCartney attended the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys, where he met future Wings guitarist Denny Laine and, critically, schoolmate George Harrison. A largely self-taught musician, McCartney began playing piano and guitar as a teenager without formal training, teaching himself to play by ear. He later received an honorary doctorate from the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, an institution he co-founded in 1996. On July 6, 1957, at age 15, McCartney met John Lennon at a church fête in Woolton, and joined Lennon’s skiffle group, the Quarrymen — the act that would evolve into the Beatles by 1960.
McCartney’s tenure with the Beatles from 1960 to 1970 produced one of the most valuable song catalogs in music history. He co-wrote the Lennon-McCartney songbook — including “Yesterday,” “Hey Jude,” “Let It Be,” “Blackbird,” and “Eleanor Rigby” — and served as the band’s bassist, keyboardist, and de facto leader from 1967 onward. The Beatles sold over 600 million records worldwide and are the best-selling music act of all time.
After the Beatles disbanded in 1970, McCartney launched his solo career with the self-titled McCartney album and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda Eastman, in 1971. Wings became one of the most commercially successful acts of the 1970s, producing US and UK number-one hits including “My Love,” “Band on the Run,” “Listen to What the Man Said,” and “Silly Love Songs.” McCartney’s solo and Wings catalog includes 18 number-one UK singles and 28 number-one US singles.
His Got Back Tour, which launched in April 2022 and ran through 2025 with legs in the fall of 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, grossed over $410 million and sold 2.4 million tickets, making it his highest-grossing tour ever and one of only approximately 20 tours in Boxscore history to surpass $1 billion in career gross, according to Billboard. The November 2025 leg alone grossed $51.7 million from 11 shows. In late 2025, McCartney confirmed a new studio album is expected in 2026.
McCartney has been married three times. His first wife, Linda Eastman, was a photographer whom he married in March 1969. Linda died of breast cancer in April 1998 after 29 years together. McCartney married Heather Mills, a model and activist, in June 2002; the couple divorced in March 2008, with Mills receiving a £24.3 million settlement. McCartney married his current wife, Nancy Shevell — an American businesswoman and heiress to the Shevell Group trucking company — in October 2011.
McCartney has five children: Heather McCartney (b. 1962, Linda’s daughter from a prior relationship, adopted by Paul), Mary McCartney (b. 1969), Stella McCartney (b. 1971), James McCartney (b. 1977), and Beatrice Milly McCartney (b. 2003, with Heather Mills). Stella McCartney has become an internationally recognized fashion designer with her eponymous label. McCartney was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997 and is a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Academy Award for Best Original Score (for the film The Music of the Night). He is a long-standing vegetarian and animal rights advocate.
Paul McCartney’s net worth is $1.3 billion, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2025, which valued his estate at £1.025 billion as of May 2025. His wealth comes primarily from his music publishing empire through MPL Communications (which holds rights to over 25,000 songs), Lennon-McCartney catalog royalties, touring revenue exceeding $1.3 billion in career gross, and extensive global real estate holdings.
McCartney’s Got Back Tour, which ran from April 2022 through 2025, grossed over $410 million and sold 2.4 million tickets across its multi-year run, making it his highest-grossing tour ever, according to Billboard Boxscore. The November 2025 leg alone generated $51.7 million from 11 shows, making it the highest-grossing tour of that month.
McCartney recovered the US publishing rights to his Lennon-McCartney compositions in 2018 under US copyright termination law, 35 years after the original assignments. Michael Jackson purchased the Northern Songs catalog for $47.5 million in 1985, and Sony later acquired the catalog through its merger with Jackson’s ATV Music. McCartney’s MPL Communications, however, controls its own extensive catalog of over 25,000 songs separate from the Beatles’ Northern Songs catalog.
As of March 2026, Paul McCartney is 83 years old. Paul McCartney was born on June 18, 1942 in Liverpool, England.
Paul McCartney stands 5’11” tall (181 cm).
Paul McCartney married Nancy Shevell in 2011. He was previously married to Linda McCartney from 1969 until her death in 1998, and to Heather Mills from 2002 to 2008. McCartney and Linda had three children together, and he adopted Linda’s daughter Heather.
Yes, Paul McCartney has five children. With first wife Linda, he had Mary, Stella McCartney, and James, and he adopted Linda’s daughter Heather. He also has a daughter Beatrice (~23) with Heather Mills.
Paul McCartney lives in London’s St. John’s Wood neighborhood, near Abbey Road Studios. He also maintains a country estate in Peasmarsh, East Sussex.
Paul McCartney’s annual music income exceeds $50 million from touring, royalties, and his extensive song catalog. He is one of the wealthiest musicians in history with an estimated fortune exceeding $1.2 billion.