Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov beats Richard Branson, Paul McCartney and Roman Abramovich to the top of the Sunday Times Rich List

The Russian tycoon was second in last year's list

Alisher Usmanov holds almost 56 per cent of MegaFon and has a 30 per cent stake in Arsenal Football Club (Getty Images)

This year's Sunday Times Rich List has revealed Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov is the wealthiest person in the UK and Ireland.

The tycoon's £13.3bn fortune includes Russia's biggest iron ore producer and a 30 per cent stake in Arsenal football club.

He also has a £48m mansion in north London, a stake in internet business mail.ru and a holding in mobile phone operator MegaFon.

Below Usmanov came Russia-born media mogul Len Blavatnik with £11bn, while last year's list-topper - steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal - sinks to fourth.

In third place are Sri and Gopi Hinduja, of the London-based Hinduja Group, with £10.6bn.

The Duke of Westminster's £7.8bn property fortune makes him the highest British-born person in the list, in eighth place. He is the only person to have made the top 10 of the list in each of the list's 25 years.

Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin brand, is in 19th place with £3.5bn and Chelsea' football club's Russian owner Roman Abramovich is down two places to fifth with £9.3bn.

The list contains a record 88 billionaires - compared to 77 last year and just nine when the rich list started in 1989. Back then, the Queen came top.

The combined wealth of the top 200 people in list is £318.2bn which is more than eight times the figure 25 years ago.

Earlier this month former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney was revealed to have topped the list of the richest musicians. Sir Paul shares his £680m fortune with his American heiress wife Nancy Shevell.

He has topped each music list since 1989, when he was worth an estimated £80m.

Andrew Lloyd Webber was second of the musicians with £620m, with Irish rock band U2 third with £520m.

Rich List top 10

(Last year's positions in brackets)

1. (2) Alisher Usmanov (mining and investment) £13.3bn

2. (5) Len Blavatnik (investment, music and media) £11bn

3. (4) Sri and Gopi Hinduja (industry and finance) £10.6bn

4. (1) Lakshmi Mittal and family (steel) £10bn

5. (3) Roman Abramovich (oil and industry) £9.3bn

6. (9) John Fredriksen and family (shipping and oil services) £8.8bn

7. (8) David and Simon Reuben (property and internet) £8.2bn

8. (7) The Duke of Westminster (property) £7.8bn

9. (6) Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli (pharmaceuticals) £7.4bn

10. (11) Charlene and Michel de Carvalho (inheritance, brewing and banking) £7bn