At 26 years old, Oscar-winning singer Adele has topped the rich list of young musicians, aged 30 and under, with a £45million fortune. The Skyfall singer, who is set to launch her third album later this year called 25, has doubled her bank balance since last year by a rather healthy £15million.
According to this year's The Sunday Times Rich List, Adele is followed by the highest new entry, Scottish hit-maker and DJ, Calvin Harris. In third place is X Factor judge, Cheryl Cole, who is just ahead of the One Direction heartthrobs, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson.
The five-piece boy band are each worth £14million and have a combined wealth of no less than £70million – making 1D the richest boy band in history from Britain and Ireland.Meanwhile, Simon Cowell has been named the eighth wealthiest music millionaire in Britain and Ireland by the rich list, due to be published on Sunday. Thanks to his contracts for ITV's X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, the music mogul's wealth has increased by £50million in the last year, now making him worth a whopping £300m.
Former Take That singer Gary Barlow is also on the leading panel in terms of his worth. In 2009 the singer boasted funds of £30million, while this year his personal fortune has reached a high of £65million – no deductions have been made for the recent court ruling on tax avoidance for which the pop star has recently come under fire.