singer adele adkins, a mother of one, has topped the young music rich list again, earning £5million in the last year, despite releasing no new music  it has been almost four years since her last album but that has not stopped adele from earning £5million over the last year bringing her fortune to a total of £50million, the singer has retained her place at the top of the list of britain’s richest musicians under the age of 30 the mother of one, 26, has double the wealth of her closest rivals – the four members of one direction and their former compatriot zayn malik, 22   who are worth £25million each however, the country’s rising stars are hot on the singer’s heels ed sheeran, 24, has enjoyed the year’s biggest rise, with a £13million boost taking his fortune to £20million and moving him from 23rd to seventh on the list while sam smith, 22, is a new entry with £12million, placing him on par with florence welch, 28, and the pairing of arctic monkey’s guitarist jamie cook, 29, with his model wife katie downes, 30 adele, full name is adele adkins, faces the toughest female competition from the duchess of cambridge’s wedding singer ellie goulding, 28, who, alongside leona lewis, 30, jessie j, 27, and katie melua, 30, is worth £13million having also sung the theme song for the last james bond instalment skyfall, adele’s hotly anticipated but much delayed third album is believed to be set for a release later this year this is the fourth year in a row adele has topped the list of the richest young musicians with such impressive earning power, many of her contemporaries would look to channel their popularity into other lucrative activities however, the singer has previously ruled that out, telling vogue: ‘i have absolutely no intention of going into acting or making perfumes adele has amassed twice the wealth of her nearest competitors, the four remaining members of one direction, plus recently departed zayn malik, who are worth £25million each  'i am a singer i will stick to what i am good at and not spread myself thin and become mediocre at everything i do’ the figures have been compiled for the new edition of the sunday times rich list, released this weekend and are based on the information about the stars’ land and property portfolios, stocks in public companies and known assets such as art the young musicians still have a long way to go to catch their older counterparts sir paul mccartney, 72, and his wife nancy shevell, 55, top the list of the richest musicians overall for another year they have added £20million to their joint fortune this year, bringing their total wealth to £730million lord andrew lloyd webber, 67, and the pop group u2 collectively round off the top three, with £650million and £431million respectively the highest ranked new entry in the overall list is dj calvin harris, who at 31 is just ineligible for the list of young musicians songstress ellie goulding is the nearest female competition for adele, with  wealth of around £13million  also hitting the £13million mark are leona lewis (left) and jessie j (right), according to the sunday times  rumoured to be dating pop star taylor swift, 25, he has debuted at number 30 with a fortune of £70million – joint with mark knopfler, 65, of dire strait’s and the who’s pete townshend, 69 harris, a scottish born dj and producer who has worked with stars including kylie minogue, rihanna and cheryl fernandez versini, is reportedly the world’s highest paid dj, earning $1million (£665,000) for a single performance last year, he was the first solo british album to have his songs played more than one billion times on music streaming service spotify, earning him a pay cheque of £4million in last year’s sunday times list, calvin harris was ranked second richest young musician after adele, with a fortune of £30million graduating to the full rankings, he has more than doubled his wealth over the last 12 months sir paul mccartney has not had a uk number one single in decades but that has not stopped him topping the only chart that counts   the top 40 musical millionaires the former beatle has a personal fortune of £730 million   £20 million up from last year   and is well ahead of his nearest rival andrew lloyd webber, who is estimated to be worth £650 million sir paul's fortune is given a significant boost by his wife nancy shevell, who has a £150 million stake in her family's us trucking business irish rockers u2 share a £431 million fortune, with sir elton john and sir mick jagger said to be worth £270 million and £225 million respectively the sunday times rich list 2015 top 40 music millionaires in the uk and ireland sir paul mccartney, with his wife nancy shevell, is britain's wealthies musician, with £730million  1   sir paul mccartney and nancy shevell £730 million  2   lord lloyd webber £650 million  3   u2 £431 million  4   sir elton john £270 million  5   sir mick jagger £225 million  6   keith richards £210 million  7   michael flatley £195 million  8= ringo starr £180 million  8= sting £180 million  10   roger waters £160 million  11   eric clapton £155 million  12   sir tom jones £150 million  12= sir tim rice £150 million  12= rod stewart £150 million  15= david bowie and iman abdulmajid £135 million  15= robbie williams £135 million  17   ozzy and sharon osbourne £130 million  18= phil collins £110 million  18= brian may £110 million  18= charlie watts £110 million  21= george michael £105 million  21= roger taylor £105 million  23 = jimmy page £100 million  23 = robert plant £100 million  25 = enya £90 million  25 = david gilmour £90 million  27   john deacon £85 million  irish rockers u2 take third spot in the music rich list with £431million, just behind sir andrew lloyd webber  28   noel and liam gallagher £77 million  29   nick mason £75 million  30= calvin harris £70 million  30= mark knopfler £70 million  30= pete townshend £70 million  33= gary barlow £65 million  33= engelbert humperdinck £65 million  35= barry gibb £60 million  35= john paul jones £60 million  37= kylie minogue £55 million  37 = sir cliff richard £55 million  39 = guy berryman £52 million  39 = jonny buckland £52 million  39 = will champion £52 million  39 = chris martin £52 million  calvin harris used to take second place in the young music rich list, but now occupies 50th spot in the adult list, reportedly commanding $1million per performace (pictured at t in the park)
ed sheeran 13million sam smith 12million florence welch paul mccartney nancy shevell
singer has twice the fortune of nearest rivals, boys from one direction . ed sheeran saw biggest rise of £13million, taking him to seventh place . sam smith is new entry with £12million, on a par with florence welch . paul mccartney and wife nancy shevell still top the adult rich list 