'Ali G', Adele and One Direction among entertainers on Sunday Times Rich List

Actor Sacha Baron Cohen has been named on the latest Sunday Times Rich List for the first time. PHOTO: REUTERS
Singer Adele has been named the richest young musician in the UK and Ireland. PHOTO: REUTERS
One Direction took second place in the richest young musicians list. PHOTO: SONY MUSIC

Entertainers Sacha Baron Cohen, Adele and One Direction are named on the latest Sunday Times Rich List, compiled by the English newspaper. The list also saw an increase in membership to Britain's billionaires club.

Cohen, famed for his satirical character Ali G, and his actress wife Isla Fisher made the list for the first time, with a fortune of £105 million (S$205 million).

Adele, who is estimated to be worth £50 million, was named the richest young musician in the UK and Ireland.

Second place in the young musicians list, made up of acts aged 30 or under, goes to the four members of One Direction and former bandmate Zayn Malik, who are said to be worth £25 million each.

Sir Paul McCartney topped the list of 40 musical millionaires. With a personal fortune of £730 million, the former Beatle is well ahead of his nearest rival Andrew Lloyd Webber, who is worth an estimated £650 million.

Formula One racing star Lewis Hamilton enters the main list for the first time, with £106 million. Other 'rookies' include George and Amal Clooney, the recently-married actor and lawyer, who have a combined wealth of £121 million.

The list includes 117 billionaires, up from 104 last year. They account for a total wealth of £325.131 billion, though only 62 of them are British.

London-based Ukrainian businessman Len Blavatnik, whose empire includes the Warner Music Group, took the coveted No. 1 spot with an estimated fortune of £13.17 billion.

He jumped from fourth last year after seeing his wealth rise by more than £3 billion, according to the list.

Mr Blavatnik claimed top billing from brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja. The duo, who run the global conglomerate Hinduja Group, were nudged into second despite their fortune rising by £1.1 billion to £13 billion.

However, the number of billionaires in London fell this year for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis: 77, down from 80 last year.

Ten people in last year's exclusive ranks of billionaires also dropped out of the top bracket to the level of multi-millionaires.

Queen Elizabeth II was left out of the wealthiest top 300 for the first time, even as her wealth increased by £10 million this year to £340 million.

Every year for the past decade (with the exception of 2009, which was hit by the banking collapse the previous year), the fortune needed to enter the Rich List has risen sharply.

It took £60 million to make the cut in 2006. That had risen to £100 million last year, breaking the three-figure barrier for the first time.

But this year, that figure has gone up by only 3 per cent, to £103 million - the smallest percentage increase since 2012.

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