Adele is Britain's richest young musician

Adele has topped this year's (13) countdown of Britain's richest young musicians with an estimated $48 million fortune.

The Rolling In The Deep hitmaker, who turns 25 next month (May13), is number one on the Sunday Times' annual under 30 rich list for the second year running - despite taking an extended break to recover from a throat operation and to give birth to her first child last year (12).

Adele's bank balance has swelled by $16 million in the last 12 months, thanks to continued sales of her albums and the success of her Oscar-winning James Bond theme tune, Skyfall.

The new figure means Adele is way ahead of her fellow British musicians under 30 - pop star Cheryl Cole, 29, is a distant runner-up with $22.4 million, Leona Lewis, 28, and Katie Melua, 28, lag behind in joint third with $19.2 million, while 26-year-old rocker Florence Welch has earned $14.4 million.

Boyband One Direction has also made an entry on the list after amassing a joint fortune of $40 million.

But the chart-topping youngsters will have to start saving their pennies to topple the industry veterans - Sir Paul McCartney leads the way with more than $1.04 billion in the bank, boosted by his heiress wife Nancy Shevell, who is worth an estimated $240 million.

The full rich list will be released by the newspaper on 21 April (13).