Could Ed become our f irst pop billionaire?

ED Sheeran was tipped to become Britain’s first billionaire musician yesterday after a ‘golden year’ that saw his wealth swell by another £40million.

The Suffolk-born singer-songwriter, 31, is currently tenth on The Sunday Times’ Music Rich List, with an estimated fortune of £260million.

Sir Paul McCartney, 79, is top of the pops with £865million – but the list’s compiler believes Sheeran could overtake the former Beatle given his current trajectory. Irish rock group U2 came second, with Andrew Lloyd Webber in third despite Covid chaos in the West End seeing his wealth fall by £30million.

Harry Styles has plenty to celebrate after topping both the music charts and the Young Music Rich List. The 28-year-old, who held off competition from Eurovision star Sam Ryder to remain at No1 in the UK singles chart yesterday, is the wealthiest musician under 30 with a fortune of £100 million. Behind him with £60million are Dua Lipa, 26, and girl group Little Mix. While they boosted earnings by touring, older musicians have found other ways of making money. Sting boosted his fortune by £100million after selling the rights to his back catalogue to Universal Music.

Robert Watts, compiler of the Sunday Times Rich List, said: ‘Selling music rights has proved extremely lucrative... it seems old musicians never retire, they just get richer.’ However, he added: ‘Another golden year for Ed Sheeran leads us to believe he may in time pip [Sir Paul] to become the first British billionaire musician.’