Sir Elton John tops list of Sunday Times most generous celebrities donating £26.8 million to charity

JK Rowling, Jamie Oliver and Coldplay are just some of the other prominent figures who were named

The 69-year-old musician predominantly gave money away to his Aids foundations in Britain and America (Getty Images)

Sir Elton John has topped a list of the most generous celebrities, donating a total of £26.8 million in the past year.

The 69-year-old musician predominantly gave money to his Aids foundations in Britain and America, according to the Sunday Times Giving List.

JK Rowling emerged as the second most generous celebrity, with £10.3 million spawned and donated by her own charities the Lumos Foundation, which aims to end the institutionalising of children by 2050, and the Volant Charitable Trust, which funds research into multiple sclerosis, the illness which took her mother’s life.

The newspaper has tracked the charity donations of more than 300 of those who feature in the Sunday Times Rich list which will be published next Sunday.

Nearly a fifth of the 1,000 people included in the Rich List have given away at least £1m to charities in the past 12 months.

The list is ordered by the proportion of wealth donated in the past year. In total, those listed departed with a record amount of £2.577 billion in the past year alone. There are 32 billionaires listed in this year’s top 200 donators.

Here is the list of the most generous celebrities in order:

1. Sir Elton John

2. JK Rowling

3. David Beckham

4. Martin Lewis

5. Coldplay

6. Ringo Starr

7. Jamie Oliver

8. Rory Mcllroy

9. Colin Montgomerie

10= One Direction

11= Brian May / Roger Taylor