Sunday Times Rich List: Noel, Liam, McCartney, the Eavis'

Noel and Liam Gallagher, Paul McCartney and the Eavis family are among the wealthiest names in British music, according to the Sunday Times rich list. 

The annual list of the 350 richest people in Britain, features a number of muscians. After the huge Oasis reunion tour, Noel and Liam Gallagher feature in the list for the first time, having amassed a projected fortune of £375million, while another new entry is Emily Eavis and her family, the founders and organisers of Glastonbury Festival, who are listed at £400million.

In 1970, when Eavis’s father Michael threw a festival on his farm in Pilton in Somerset, a £1 ticket, about £20 today, bought you free camping, a free pint of milk and a performance by T. Rex. The festival was attended by approximately 1,500 people. More than four decades later, Glastonbury Festival is the biggest music and performing arts festival in the world, attended by more than 200,000 people

In its 2025 financial year, Glastonbury’s profits rose to £7.7 million. It funded £2.7 million in charitable donations to partner charities including Oxfam and Médecins Sans Frontières. The festival is taking a fallow year this year to allow Worthy Farm’s land to recover, and will return in 2027.

Sir Brian May and Roger Taylor also enter the Rich List valued at £360 million each. The rock legends’ wealth is largely due to the sale of the Queen back catalogue. Sony paid £1 billion for the band’s hits in what it is believed to be the largest ever song rights deal. 

The catalogue covers global recorded music rights, publishing rights, merchandising, and audiovisual content. Brian May and Roger Taylor retain the rights to the name, image, likeness, and revenue streams from live performances

For the brothers Gallagher, it certainly adds to the reason as to why the reunion tour happened. In 2019 Noel Gallagher said in an interview. That he’d never reunite with his brother Liam and play another Oasis gig. “I’d rather go busking,” he said. “No way, I can’t do it.” 

Both brothers, Noel, 58, and Liam, 53, are thought to have each enjoyed a seismic payday off the back of the tour, taking home upwards of £50 million from ticket and merchandise sales. The sale for Oasis Live 25 was the biggest in Ticketmaster’s history, with up to ten million people in the virtual queue at peak times. Some paid more than £350 for tickets, and many paid more than expected due to a controversial tiered pricing system that made tickets more expensive than advertised.

All in all, Oasis played 41 dates across 17 cities in Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Australia. The trade magazine Pollstar estimated that the tour made more than £297 million in total

Sir Paul McCartney is the highest-placing popular musician in the UK, holding an estimated net worth of £1.055 billion. While he is the richest performing artist on the list, his wealth sits behind a few industry moguls, positioning him fourth overall on the dedicated Music Rich List.

Sir Elton John (£480 million): Following his massive Farewell Yellow Brick Road retirement tour. Sir Mick Jagger & Keith Richards (£450 million each): The Rolling Stones legends are tied in overall value. Ed Sheeran (£410 million): He maintains his spot as the wealthiest young solo artist of his generation.

Harry Styles, Adele, and Dua Lipa are the primary pop stars who also make the list, appearing on a specific subset of the publication titled “40 richest people under 40 in the U.K. Harry Styles: Ranks at #23 on the list, with an estimated fortune of £235 million. Adele: Ranks at #28 on the list, with an estimated fortune of £172 million. Dua Lipa: Comes in at #32 on the list, with an estimated fortune of £150 million