Pop stars and ageing rockers are seldom averse to being seen trying to save the world, but the eight wealthiest bands in the British Isles have along the way amassed a fortune greater than the gross domestic product of Macedonia, research reveals.

Most of the supergroups to have charted highly in the Sunday Times Rich List counted their first royalties in pounds, shillings and pence. Between them they now account for nearly £3 billion.

The Beatles top the list. Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, plus the family of the late George Harrison, are worth more than £1 billion.

The Rolling Stones are in hot pursuit. Sir Mick Jagger, a financially astute former student of the London School of Economics, and the band are painting it black with a combined wealth of £570 million. Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant wrote the rule book on rock debauchery, yet they maintained the presence of mind to squirrel away £70 million.

Coldplay, whose nod to excess is a weakness for hoummos, are the only contemporary band to make the lineup. Chris Martin and bandmates are each £30 million wealthier than when they met at university.

However, a survey of multi-millionaires says that the cost of a luxurious lifestyle has almost doubled in two years. The study by Paul Naden, founder of the events organiser Carbon Black, says that living like a Russian oligarch requires assets of at least £5.8 million, compared with £3 million in 2005.

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