This year’s heat Rich List arrives slap-bang in the middle of the cost of living crisis, where a tub of margarine costs a tenner and rocketing energy bills mean most of us face a winter swaddling underneath heated hoodies and blankets.
And it’s the nation’s under-30s who’ll be hardest hit – locked into student debt and rising rents, their dreams of getting onto the housing ladder as likely as Holly Willoughby winning an MBE for Services to Queuing.
However, for an elite band of twentysomethings, it’s a different story. They think nothing of splashing millions on mega-mansions, importing Dutch ponies for their toddler’s birthday party, or losing £18k on a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. That’s not to say these young superstars aren’t moved by the financial and environmental situation the rest of us find ourselves in. That’s why we’re seeing the rise of celebrity philanthropy, such as Stormzy funding university scholarships, or Cara Delevingne starting her very own climate change charity.
And who knows? These young celebs might not be quite as flush as we think. After all, Rich List high-flyers Kylie Jenner and Maisie Williams are known to have flogged their used clothes on Depop and eBay…
Of course, we jest – they’re just adding to their already bursting coffers, because today’s young celebs are loaded. We know this because we’ve taken a peek into their company accounts to find out. Welcome to 2022’s annual Rich List…
heat's rich list 2022
1 of 3030) Amber Gill, 25, £4.5m
The 2019 Love Island winner sashayed straight out of the villa into a £1m MissPap deal. She’s since partnered with L’Oréal and Maybelline, launched her Amber Flexx weight-loss plan and penned steamy novels for Mills & Boon.
2 of 3029) Maya Jama, 28, £5.3m
Maya’s a millionaire, thanks to her TV and radio work (including Simon Cowell’s Walk The Line) and her fashion collections, plus running her own face mask and booze businesses. More megabucks will follow as she becomes Love Island’s new presenter next year.
3 of 3028) Jodie Comer, 29, £6.2m
Playing Killing Eve’s psychotic assassin Villanelle has landed Jodie huge Hollywood roles in The Last Duel and Big Swiss. Along with reported six-figure sum for promoting Noble Panacea skincare, It’s made Jodie filthy rich – she banked £912k in 2021 alone.
4 of 3027) Jake Bugg, 28, £6.4m
The cagoule-loving singer-songwriter has been warbling indie anthems for ten years now – enough time for him to stockpile a fortune, which he spends on sponsoring Notts County footie team and (presumably) more anoraks.
5 of 3026) Molly-Mae and Tommy Fury, 23, £6.5m
A £1m PrettyLittleThing partnership (she’s also creative director on £400k a year), a self-tan range and haircare company – plus an estimated £65k per Insta post – means Molly-Mae’s the most successful Love Islander in history. Thanks to his boxing, partner Tommy doesn’t do too badly, either.
6 of 3025) Dave, 24, £7.4m
The socially conscious London rapper has enjoyed a stellar 2022, with Brit and Ivor Novello songwriter gongs,
No1 single Starlight and a sell-out arena tour. Expect him to exceed his usual £2m-a-year pay packet in 2023.
7 of 3024) Saoirse Ronan, 28, £8.1m
The Irish actress may star in big-budget Hollywood movies like Little Women, but is modest with her spending – think wearing eco-friendly gowns to the Oscars, plus bike rides and wild swimming with actor boyfriend Jack Lowden
8 of 3023) Maisie Williams, 25, £9m
Playing Game Of Thrones’ Arya Stark saw Maisie collect an estimated £158k an episode. Her wallet has also been fattened by acting (X-Men spin-off The New Mutants; Pistol), starting the Daisie social networking app, and working as a Cartier ambassador.
9 of 3022) Charli XCX, 30, £9.2m
Charli’s income comes from crafting earworms for herself and others – she was behind Icona Pop’s I Love It, Iggy Azalea’s Fancy, and Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello’s Señorita, as well as albums (2022’s Crash hit No1) and touring stadiums with Taylor Swift.
10 of 3021) Sam Fender, 28, £10m
Sam’s second album Seventeen Going Under catapulted the Geordie singer-songwriter into pop’s big league, winning him two Brits and seeing him playing stadium shows and hanging out with Johnny Depp. He also scores with lucrative modelling gigs (you can hang paintings on those cheekbones), plus fronting a Barbour clothing line. All this and he has a coveted Greggs gold card, granting him free sausage rolls for life, too.
11 of 3019) Tommy Mallet, 30, £14.7m
Tommy founded trainers brand Mallet London in 2015, shortly after joining TOWIE, and it made £22.3m last year. His luxe lifestyle is documented in ITVBe’s Georgia & Tommy: Baby Steps, while he’s recently talked about turning Mallet London into a billion-pound business.
12 of 3019) Sophie Turner, 26, £14.7m
Sophie shot to fame as a 15 year old, playing Sansa Stark in Game Of Thrones. She’s since earned a superhero-sized pay packet in two X-Men movies, plus a more controversial gig voicing Princess Charlotte in adult cartoon The Prince. Sophie, along with pop star husband Joe Jonas, 33, and their two daughters,lead a glam US lifestyle, attending swanky Met Ball galas and living in a £10m oceanfront Miami mansion.
13 of 3018) George Ezra, 29, £15.5m
Gold Rush Kid became George’s third No1 album in June. He leads a private life, shunning showbiz parties in favour of traipsing from Land’s End to John O’Groats, living in a van, or riding mowers. The star donated royalties to the NHS during COVID and £85k to the National Trust, which helped plant 17,000 trees.
14 of 3017) Tom Holland, 26, £15.7m
Bullied at school for playing pirouetting Billy Elliot in the West End, Tom’s had the last laugh. Starring as the webbed superhero in three Spider-Man films and four Marvel films (and Percy Pig in the M&S ads) has netted him a fortune. Tom owns a £3m London home and a £1.3m luxury car collection, which he shares with actress partner Zendaya (net worth £11m).
15 of 3015) Perrie Edwards, 29, £17.5m
How she made it: By the time Little Mix played their farewell Confetti tour last spring, they were one of the most successful girl bands of all time – worth £60m, thanks to 60m records sold and 12bn tracks streamed worldwide (plus a zillion partnerships with everybody from Schwarzkopf to Primark). Perrie’s a pop-preneur in her own right, collaborating with Superga and launching her Disora clothing line last year. She’s also predicted to earn £27k for branded Insta posts to her 16.2m followers.
How she spends it: Perrie shares a £3.5m Cheshire mansion with her footballer fiancé Alex Oxlade- Chamberlain (worth £20m) and son Axel. As her selfie backdrops show, she’s fond of luxury hols in Dubai, the Caribbean and the Maldives, too.
16 of 3015) Jade Thirlwall, 29, £17.5m
Spending a decade as one quarter of the UK’s biggest-selling girl band has raked in serious moolah for Jade. Her South Shields cocktail bar sadly lost £220k during the pandemic, but her bank balance remains healthy thanks to partnerships with Skinnydip and Ellesse, and judging duties on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. Home is a £1m London flat, while Jade might be launching a solo career, reportedly signing with Harry Styles’ management company.
17 of 3014) Milly Bobby Brown, 18, £19m
At 14, Millie earned £265k per Stranger Things episode, when most other kids her age were getting pocket money for washing their parents’ car. Roles in the Godzilla MonsterVerse followed, along with promoting Louis Vuitton and sales from vegan beauty line Florence by Mills. With Netflix recently coughing up £8.8m for Millie to reappear as Sherlock’s younger sis Enola Holmes, expect the star’s wealth to soar.
18 of 3013) Lewis Capaldi, 26, £20.3m
He’s returned to the charts with Forget Me, but it’s the royalties from his first album and heartbreak anthem Someone You Loved that are the biggest source of Lewis’ wealth – he made £2m last year without any releases or touring. Endorsements with Tinder and Peperami (the latter sponsored him to find a girlfriend), plus his new Big Sexy frozen pizza range, also pull in the pennies
19 of 3012) KSI, 29, £26.4m
He started as a YouTuber, and now earns eye-watering sums boxing social stars Logan Paul and Swarmz. KSI’s also got a successful rap career, while business ventures include the Prime Hydration drink, Sides fast-food restaurant chain and a £10m property empire. He can be careless with his cash, though, losing £2.4m in one day during a crypto crash and gambling £18k in a rock, paper, scissors game (KSI lost, but thankfully, the £18k funded university fees for his student opponent.
20 of 3011) Stormzy, 29, £27.8m
It’s been three years since Stormzy’s last album, but the rapper has kept his coffers topped up thanks to a sell-out UK arena tour and money-spinning gig at the Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix. The kind-hearted star has ploughed much of his earnings into philanthropic ventures (see page 47), while Netflix and Amazon Prime have both approached him to make adaptations from his #Merky Books publishing imprint.
21 of 3010) John Boyega, 30, £28.8m
The bulk of John’s fortune comes from his acting career with leading roles in the Star Wars sequel trilogy – the three films grossed £3.8bn – as well as Pacific Rim: Uprising and Detroit. Now so famous, he has his own Madame Tussauds waxwork, John’s only extravagance appears to be helping his loved ones: one of his first big buys was a house and Jaguar car for his parents
22 of 309) Daisy Ridley, 30, £36.1m
As you’d expect from the daughter of a top banker, Daisy’s canny with her cash. After pocketing an estimated £12m playing Rey in Star Wars, she’s also struck it rich from movies Murder On The Orient Express and Peter Rabbit. Clever investments made Daisy £1.3m last year, and she’s on her way to becoming a property mogul – buying derelict bedsits for £1.8m to turn into a fancy family home
23 of 308) Sam Smith, 30, £37.8m
Sam’s wealth increased by £1m in the last year – mainly royalties from their previous three albums. Recently, Sam has been enjoying their earnings, converting a barn at their Buckinghamshire home into a pub called The Fat Fairy (Sam calls it “my own private queer club in the countryside”) and throwing themselves a 30th birthday party in Italy, where they “drank wine and swam in the river”.
24 of 307) Zayn Malik, 29, £38m
The majority of Zayn’s wealth comes from his years in the 1D cash machine. Last album Nobody Is Listening proved to be prophetic – it’s been very quiet on the music front for Zayn since then, aside from his partnership with glasses brand Arnette and posting the occasional moody selfie on Instagram since splitting with Gigi Hadid.
25 of 306) Liam Payne, 29, £47.4m
Liam’s 1D riches are topped up by his Hugo Boss brand ambassador work, performing well-paid private gigs (he was flown to Brazil last year to sing at a fan’s 15th birthday party), and selling his mammoth Surrey mansion for £6.5m. Reportedly dropped by his management after concerns about his partying, Liam seems to have changed his ways, doing the school run for five-year old son Bear.
26 of 305) Louis Tomlinson, 30, £48.3m
One Direction may have split seven years ago, but the boy band still conjures up cash from nowhere, with former members sharing £3.2m last year. It means Louis is sorted for life, with his bank balance also plumped up by his X Factor judging duties and 2022 world tour. His next venture? A clothing range called 28, inspired by his lucky number – Louis has the digits tattooed on his fingers.
27 of 304) Niall Horan, 29, £58.4m
Why is Niall the second-wealthiest 1D-er? Well, his two albums of mum-friendly tunes – which go down well on Radio 2 and over in the US – has much to do with it. Niall recently sold his Irish home for £675k, but he’s still got palatial pads in London and LA, plus enough Euros in the bank to fund his hobby of hanging out with famous golfers on various global fairways around the world.
28 of 303) Cara Delevinge, 30, £63.8m
Cara’s iconic looks have seen her chalk up millions modelling for Burberry, Rimmel, Chanel and Puma, while her Cara & Co company made £7.2m last year. Several acting roles and the Della Vite prosecco brand, founded with her sisters, bring in more cash, and her family’s property firm is valued at £46.9m. Cara’s quirky £2m LA home has a stripper’s pole and a “vagina tunnel” where she can crawl between rooms.
29 of 302) Dua Lipa, 27, £69.1m
How she made it: It was Dua’s second album Future Nostalgia – released in early 2020, as the world went into lockdown and desperately needed distracting dance-floor pop – that made her a global superstar. Back then, she couldn’t play concerts, although five million people still shelled out for a pay-per-view livestreamed gig. Dua’s 2022 world tour has made up for it, grossing £35m after only two months. Then there’s endorsements with Versace, Evian and Puma, an investment in beauty startup Dizziak, starring in the new Barbie film... we could go on.
How she spends it: Dua owns a Grand Designs-esque £7m London mansion, where she’s adding a swimming pool, recording studio and cinema. Other than that, she’s got a busy holiday schedule, thinking nothing of jetting to St Barts, Ibiza or her parents’ native Albania.
30 of 301) Harry Styles, 28, £116m
How he made it: Harry debuted on heat’s Rich List in 2016, with £37m made from One Direction. By 2020, he’d leapfrogged his fellow boy banders by doubling his wealth to £74m. He’s now smashed through the £100m barrier, thanks to 2022 enormo-album Harry’s House, which topped UK charts for six weeks – single As It Was was US No1 for 15 weeks. Harry’s two-year Love On Tour has added to his fortune, as has acting in movies Don’t Worry Darling, My Policeman and Dunkirk. Hazza’s rumoured to have recently signed a £88m deal with Marvel Studios, too. He also makes cash channelling his gender-fluid image – see his bankable Gucci ads or his Pleasing range of skincare products/nail varnishes launched last year to "dispel the myth of a binary existence". One Texas university even offers a course in Harry Styles Studies. It's enough to make us drool on somebody's lap with envy.
How he spends it: Unlike other 28 year olds, Harry owns property: a £6.5m Hollywood home, £6.9m NYC apartment, plus three houses in London that he apparently wants to knock into a giant mansion. There’s also his classic car collection (including a £175K CC Ferrari), a California lifestyle of wheatgrass juice and naughty mushrooms, charity (donating £880k to a US gun safety fund), not to mention all the sequinned catsuits, feathered boas and pearl earrings money can buy.