Ed Sheeran has been named the richest UK celebrity aged under 30- with an estimate of Ksh.22.3B (roughly £170m).
The 28-year-old singer has nearly doubled his wealth over the past 12 months to take the number one spot from Adele, according to the UK based Heat magazine. Heat magazine’s annual guide looks at the accounts, sales and endorsements of the UK’s most famous celebrities aged 30 or under. So, exactly how did Mr “Thinking Out Loud” make his billions? The Divide tour was his jackpot. The tour which kicked off in March 2017 and ended in August this year was ranked the highest-grossing concert tour of all time which put his 2017 earnings at £94M.
His recent song-writing credits include “2002” for Anne Marie, “Thursday” for Jess Glynne and “Woman Like Me” for Little Mix – all of which reached the top 10 in the UK charts. And as well as royalties from previous hits like “Thinking Out Loud” and “Shape Of You”, Ed has also released new music of his own in the past 12 months.
According to BBC, his most recent singles “I Don’t Care” and “Beautiful People” have both reached number one in the UK and his fourth album, No.6 Collaboration Project, sold more than 125,000 copies in its first week in the UK.
Ranked second is actor Daniel Radcliffe, 30, with an estimated fortune of £90m while Harry Styles, 25, is third with close to £64m on the list. ‘Harry Potter’ actress, Emma Watson, 29, appears fourth on the rich list with £57M
Niall Horan, 26, comes in at fifth with £54.8m while collectively Little Mix is sixth with a combined worth of £50m. The other stars who make up the top 10 are Louis Tomlinson, 27, (£46m), Liam Payne, 26, (£44m), Cara Delevingne, 27, (£39.5m) and One Direction singer Zayn Malik, 26, (£38m).
Perhaps the most interesting entry is that of rapper Stormzy, 26, who is the highest new entry at number 14 with an estimated £12m, which has been boosted in part by headlining Glastonbury this summer. His Stormzy Scholarship currently funds tuition fees for four students at Cambridge University as earlier reported on The Sauce in August this year. The ‘Vossi Bop’ hitmaker’s program was launched last year to encourage people of all backgrounds to strive for the best education possible.
Last year, Adele topped the list with an estimated fortune of £147.5m – but she turned 31 in May so can no longer be included.