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Madonna tops music rich list
By John Bynorth, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 01.11.02Madonna is Britain's highest-earning musician, a survey reveals today.
The pop star's £36 million this year saw her beat Sir Paul McCartney (£35 million), Mick Jagger (£24.4 million) and Keith Richards (£24 million) in the 2002 Sunday Times Pay List.
With a string of No1 hits and albums, Madonna topped the chart thanks to a deal with Microsoft chief Bill Gates.
Madonna, 44, who lives with film producer husband Guy Ritchie in a £6 million London home, was paid more than £10 million by Gates to use her hit, Ray of Light, on his Windows XP software and TV adverts last year. She soared to 15th overall among the top 500 earners in this country.
The singer, who is expecting another hit with her theme for the new James Bond movie, Die Another Day, raked in millions more after renegotiating her contract with record company Warner Brothers and her successful Drowned World tour. The survey revealed she earned a further £4 million in publishing royalties.
She has an estimated £30 million, one third stake in her record label, Maverick, a joint venture with Time Warner, after the company was valued at £100 million last year.
Madonna's financial muscle outclassed the youngest musician on the list, Robbie Williams, who according to the survey earned £10 million this year after his album, Swing When You're Winning, sold 5.4 million copies in Britain, lifting him to joint No9.
Others such as Dido (£6 million), Kylie Minogue (£5.5 million) and Welsh singer Charlotte Church (£2 million) trail behind Madonna's success.
Her close friend Sting, a guest at her wedding two years ago at Skibo Castle in Scotland, is also left trailing. He was fifth after earning £21.8 million, ahead of so called "wrinkly rockers" Rod Stewart ( £ 12 million) and another Stone, Charlie Watts (£12 million). Music's most wealthiest people earned a total of £3,446 billion this year, compared with £3.323 billion in 2001.
Britain's No1 film earner was Sir Anthony Hopkins, who again stars as Hannibal Lecter in Red Dragon. He made £21.5million, followed by Catherine Zeta-Jones on £20 million.
Hopkins was paid £13.5million for Red Dragon and played Pope Pius IX in Edgardo Mortara, which is out in 2002. Zeta-Jones was helped in her rise up the chart by her marriage to Michael Douglas. She won a pay rise of £12.5million on the previous year.
Scottish star Ewan McGregor's appearance in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, was panned by critics but still provided most of his £8.5 million earnings which propelled him to fifth in the Top 10 film earners and 73rd overall in the list.
Classically- trained actor, Patrick Stewart was eighth making at least £7 million from his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the latest Star Trek movie and X-Men 2, where he played Professor Xavier. Former Spice Girls manager, Simon Fuller was rated 19th in Britain after earning £30 million last year mainly from the success of Pop Idols and the US spin-off series.
