Chart star Dido has rocketed into pop's rich list just over a year after finding fame.

In only 12 months, the singer raked in about £12m to make her Britain's highest earning female singer, an analysis by Heat magazine shows.

She is now earning more than established acts such as the Rolling Stones and Robbie Williams.

The singer was virtually unheard of in the UK until she featured on rapper Eminem's chart-topping single Stan.

Since then she has marched from strength to strength with hit singles in her own right and the biggest selling album of 2001 in the UK with No Angel.

Her debut album was also the most popular of the year globally, with 8.6 million copies shipped out to retailers to meet demand, according to US music industry bible Billboard.

She had formerly worked for a literary agency but got her musical break playing with her brother Rollo's band Faithless.

Her solo debut was released in the US in 1999, where she came to the attention of Eminem, and a British release followed the following year.

Dido was the highest new entry in the annual list of pop's rich list, which was again topped by The Beatles, whose back catalogue earned an estimated £65m in 2001.

The band's sales were buoyed by the huge success of the greatest hits collection, called simply 1.

Second and third places remained unchanged this year. U2 were runners-up with £60m, thanks to a high-profile tour and the success of the album All That You Can't Leave Behind, while Sir Elton John was a place below with £27.5m.

Like Dido, musician David Gray has gone from virtually nothing to earn millions in the past 12 months.

His album White Ladder has now sold more than 10 million copies and helped to boost sales of earlier material, making him an £8m moneyspinner in 2001.

The Top 20

Last year in brackets

1 (1) The Beatles - £65m

2 (2) U2 - £60m

3 (3) Sir Elton John - £27.5m

4 (16) Pink Floyd - £16m

5 (-) Dido - £12m

6 (13) Enya - £9m

7 (4) Rolling Stones - £8.5m

8 (5) David Bowie - £8.3m

9 (-) David Gray - £8m

10= (-) Bee Gees - £4.7m

10= (-) Sting - £4.7m

12 (11) Charlotte Church - £4.5m

13 (17) Robbie Williams - £4.5m

14 (-) Damon Albarn - £4m

15 (-) Jamiroquai - £3m

16 (-) Craig David - £2m

17 (-) Steps - £1.9m

18 (-) Gabrielle - £1.6m

19= (-) Atomic Kitten - £1.5m

19= (-) Hear'Say - £1.5m

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