Paul McCartney Officially the First British Billionaire Musician

Paul McCartney has always been one of the U.K.'s richest musicians, but his wealth has somehow become even greater.

According to the Sunday Times' annual "Rich List," the calculated wealth of Sir Paul and his wife, Nancy Shevell, is now 1 billion pounds, which is the equivalent of $1.27 billion USD. The couple's current worth is an increase of 50 million pounds from the outlet's 2023 list.

Macca has truly had a number of remarkable things happen since the 2023 Sunday Times "Rich List" to help him become the first British billionaire musician. To begin with, there was the release of "Now And Then" in November 2023. The track was billed as "the final Beatles song."

As previously reported, the track's origins stem from a John Lennon demo that was first worked on by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in 1995 as part of The Beatles Anthology. Peter Jackson and his team were able to develop new audio technology while making the 2021 docuseries The Beatles: Get Back. As a result, "Now And Then" could be completed.

Then, in February, news broke that a Beatles biopic movie series was in the works. The biopic movie series will be broken up into four separate feature films. Each film will tell the story of the legendary band from the perspective of each member. Tentatively, these films will receive a global theatrical release in 2027.

The series is the first time Apple Corps Ltd., The Beatles and their families/estates have agreed to such a project. This project has also acquired music rights permissions. The concept of this series was thought of by director Sam Mendes. He will be helming the films in a joint venture with Sony Pictures Entertainment and Neal Street Productions.

Lastly, in March, it was revealed that Beyoncé covered the Beatles classic "Blackbird" on her country-themed album Cowboy Carter. "Blackbird," of course, was featured on The Beatles' 1968 self-titled double album (aka: "The White Album"), and its primary songwriter was McCartney.

Following its release, McCartney issued a statement saying, in part, "I think she does a magnificent version of it, and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place. I think Beyoncé has done a fab version and would urge anyone who has not heard it yet to check it out. You are going to love it!"

Sir Paul added that he spoke with Beyoncé via FaceTime, and she thanked him for allowing her to cover the classic Beatles song. He told her "the pleasure was all mine" and praised her rendition.

He concluded, "When I saw the footage on the television in the early 60s of the black girls being turned away from school, I found it shocking and I can’t believe that still in these days there are places where this kind of thing is happening right now. Anything my song and Beyoncé’s fabulous version can do to ease racial tension would be a great thing and makes me very proud."

If Paul McCartney retired from music after the Beatles broke up, no one would blame him. How do you follow up nearly a decade of being in a band that changed music, changed culture, and maybe changed the world?

But McCartney clearly had a lot of fuel left in the tank. In the decades since, he's been a formidable force in music: he dominated radio in the '70s with Wings, he was ubiquitous on MTV in the early days of the cable channel and has collaborated with Kanye West and Rihanna, the surviving members of Nirvana, Diana Krall, David Gilmour, George Michael, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Elvis Costello, among others. He's delivered classic theme songs for Cameron Crowe and James Bond, and besides recording scores of rock and pop albums, he's also composed classical music and done experimental electronic music under the name The Fireman.

He continues to record and release new music at a surprising pace, as if he still has something to prove. During the pandemic, he returned to true "solo" artist mode, recording all of the instruments by himself (with the exception of one song, "Slidin'," which was started during the sessions for the previous album). But whether he's recording all by himself, with his longtime backing band, or collaborating with other big-name artists, it's always been interesting to follow his career. You never know when he's going to release another classic. He's been cranking them out, after all, for over six decades.

Now in his 80s, Sir Paul is amazingly still steadily touring. He recently announced a slate of tour dates in South America, Europe and his in native U.K. He still loves to perform live, still sounds great and continues to be a massive draw. Why wouldn't he keep it going until the wheels fall off?

It was tough to narrow it down, but here are the ones that we think are Paul's best post-Beatles songs.