The Beatles legend saw his wealth riseEmilia Randall and Dan Haygarth Liverpool Daily Post Editor and Regeneration Reporter
20:30, 17 May 2025
Sir Paul McCartney(Image: Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images)
Beatles legend Paul McCartney has seen his net wealth rise after he became the first UK billionaire musician last year. According to The Sunday Times Rich List, published on Friday, Paul, 82, saw his estate rise from £1 billion in 2024 to £1.025 billion in 2025, reports the M.E.N.
He saw boosts in 2024 due to his ‘Got Back’ world tour, which came to an end in December following shows in Manchester and London. He also saw a significant boost in 2024 from Beyoncé’s cover of ‘Blackbird’, which he wrote in 1968 about the US Civil Rights movement.
Re-titled ‘Blackbiird’, Beyonce released the song as part of her Grammy award-winning album ‘Cowboy Carter’. The song debuted at 27 on the Billboard 100 and saw 14 million US official streams and 7,000 downloads in its first week.
Paul originally wrote the song as a tribute to the Little Rock Nine, a group of students who had faced racial discrimination after starting at the all-white Little Rock high school in 1957.
The incident was a test case of a supreme court ruling that said segregation in schools was unconstitutional. Arkansas governor Orval Faubus sent in the national guard to stop the students entering the premises. However, after federal troops were then brought in to escort them in, the fledgling civil rights movement had nine heroes.
About the lyrics of ‘Blackbird’, Paul said in a 2002 interview with Californian radio station KCRW: “I was in Scotland playing on my guitar, and I remembered this whole idea of “you were only waiting for this moment to arise” was about, you know, the black people’s struggle in the southern states, and I was using the symbolism of a blackbird.
“It’s not really about a blackbird whose wings are broken, you know, it’s a bit more symbolic.”
In the book ‘Many Years From Now’ with Barry Miles, Paul elaborated on its meaning. He said: “I had in mind a black woman, rather than a bird.
“Those were the days of the civil rights movement, which all of us cared passionately about, so this was really a song from me to a black woman, experiencing these problems in the States: ‘Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is hope.’
“As is often the case with my things, a veiling took place so, rather than say ‘Black woman living in Little Rock’ and be very specific, she became a bird, became symbolic, so you could apply it to your particular problem.”
Paul played two shows at the O2 in December, welcoming former bandmate Ringo Starr to one. Arriving on stage at the December 19 gig, Ringo said: “I’ve had a great night tonight, it’s been a great show.”
Ringo and Paul have reunited a number of times since leaving The Beatles, including on Paul’s 2019 Freshen Up tour, and at Ringo’s 2015 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction.
The performance was the last in Paul’s Got Back Tour, which began in October, with the veteran singer playing dates in Paris, Madrid and Sao Paulo, as well as two dates at Manchester’s Co-Op Live and The O2.
Last week, Paul was among 400 industry leaders urging the Prime Minister to support UK creativity and economic growth by enforcing copyright law on AI.
In an open letter asking Keir Starmer asking to protect copyright, the “lifeblood” of their careers, a host of celebrities, filmmakers and creative titans have made their case for an amendment to the Data (Use and Access) Bill which would require tech companies to be transparent about the creative content they use to train AI.