Irish star tops The Sunday Times Rich List
Just one Irish star has joined the UK most wealthiest people, The Sunday Times Rich List has revealed.
The Sunday Times is unveiling its list of the 40 richest people under 40 in Britain, and it’s packed with familiar faces including Harry Styles, Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran and Tyson Fury, who makes his debut.
Ed Sheeran tops the list as the wealthiest young musician, while Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy is the UK’s richest sportsperson under 40. He is the only Irish star who has earned his place on the coveted list, with a net worth of £325M – an increase of £65M compared to last year.
Robert Watts, compiler of The Sunday Times Rich List said: ‘The diversity of our 40 under 40 list is striking. There are some with PhDs, others who left school with grades they’d rather forget.
Ed Sheeran tops the list as the wealthiest young musician. Pic: Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for Coachella
‘There are overnight success stories who quickly built businesses worth £1 billion, others who quietly toiled away paying themselves minimum wage salaries for years before striking gold.
‘These digital native entrepreneurs grew up in an age when launching a business became easier. Many of their companies were started with limited cash — often little more than a phone, a laptop and a good idea.
‘We know many of our readers find these largely self-made stories inspiring and believe our country needs more of these wealth creators to help power our economy — not less.’
In a strong display of self-made success, 35 of the 40 entries are self-made, while nearly a third built their fortunes through artificial intelligence start-ups.
Rory McIlroy is the only Irish star on the list. Pic: Andrew Redington/Getty Images
The list is topped again by Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, who inherited his title and a vast land and property portfolio aged 25. He oversees holdings spanning 12 countries and is valued at nearly £10 billion.
Artificial intelligence and fashion dominate this year’s ranking of Britain’s most successful young wealth creators.
Nearly a third of those named in the fourth edition of 40 Under 40 owe their places to one of the burgeoning crop of London-based AI start-ups.
For example, ElevenLabs, the synthetic voice developer backed by the Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey, is now worth £8.1 billion — three times as much as 12 months ago — pushing the Polish techies Piotr Dabkowski and Mati Staniszewski, both 31, into joint third.
The list is topped again by Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, who inherited his title and a vast land and property portfolio aged 25. Pic: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Fashion also remains a powerful source of young wealth, with 11 fashion entrepreneurs making this year’s 40 Under 40.
The richest is Ben Francis, 33, who dropped out of Aston University to focus on his sports brand Gymshark, learning to make hoodies after taking sewing lessons from his mother and grandmother. Francis also sits in 191st place on the overall Rich List.
Other stars include Harry Styles (£235M) , Dua Lipa(£150M), Anthony Joshua (£240M), Adele (£172M) and Tyson Fury, the gypsy boxing king and reality star who debuts at No 29 with an estimated wealth of £162 million.
Harry Styles also features on the list. Pic: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Harry Styles
The 2026 Sunday Times Rich List is the definitive guide to wealth in the United Kingdom. It charts the wealth of the 350 richest people in the UK.
The list is based on identifiable wealth, including land, property, other assets such as art and racehorses, or significant shares in publicly quoted companies- but it excludes bank accounts, to which the paper has no access.
