The Sunday Times Rich List is the definitive guide to the nation’s wealth.  The 23rd edition of the high profile and much anticipated list will hit the newsstand on Sunday May 8, with further exclusive bonus content being rolled out online over four weeks.

As well as the perennially popular main supplement, this year’s Rich List will have greater accessibility, a dedicated iPad edition as well as exclusive content online for digital subscribers.  This year for the first time the information will be fully interactive, creating a uniquely personal and even more useful experience for The Sunday Times customers.

On May 8 a 104-page supplement will list the 1,000 richest people in the UK as well as Ireland’s 250 richest.  A perpetual favourite with customers and advertisers, each of the entries are profiled and there are specific tables for the music millionaires, the richest in fashion, the wealthiest hedge fund managers and the top political donors.  

The list will appear simultaneously on www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/richlist2011as part of the online subscription - available to new users for just £1 for the first 30 days, subscribers get access to both The Times and The Sunday Times websites, award-winning iPad editions, as well as Times+ membership benefits. 

As in previous years, publication of the List will be supported by paid-for spots in press, online, television and radio.  The television campaign (by CHI & Partners) dramatises the vicissitudes in the fortunes of the rich and famous.  The ten second spots will air from Monday 2nd May with a 60 second placement in Channel 4’s “The Secret Millionaire”.

The print campaign plots the financial back stories of various rich listers against iconic portrait shots. Additionally there will be a concerted multimedia campaign encompassing PR, eCRM, digital and search.

May 15 sees the publication of The Sport Rich List.  This innovation first appeared with great success last year.  The 2011 version will include the 100 richest sportsmen in Britain and Ireland, the 40 richest young sportsmen, the world’s richest tennis players and golfers plus interactive tables of the richest owners and managers in British football.

There will also be a table of the highest paid football players, graphics of Britain’s richest football team by position based on current players and a listing of the wealthiest British F1 drivers over the years.  This will appear as a stand-alone supplement within The Sunday Times as well as online at www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/richlist2011  and through iPads.

On May 19 The Sunday Times will launch its very own Social List - a definitive and ever-evolving list of who's who in the world of social networking. 

Drawing information from the four biggest social networks - Foursquare, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook - The Social List  adds up people's social networking activity and measures how much interest they generate amongst their friends and colleagues in order to work out how well they score.

Free to join, participants simply need to link up whichever social networks they use and wish to be measured.  Every morning The Sunday Times Social List will make its calculations.  Each individual's results will change daily as new people join and scores are updated. 

Try it now by visiting www.the-social-list.com 

On May 22 digital subscribers will be able to access the 2,000 wealthiest in the UK (the 1,000 listed on May 8 and the 1,000 below them in riches).  This fully interactive database allows searching of all entries by region.  There will also be live tables for the richest women in the top 2,000 plus extended data from The Giving Index.

A first for the list, May 29 sees online publication of The World’s Richest 200 as well as Europe’s Richest 100. Available to all digital subscribers these international listings include biographies for every entry and fully interactive tables.   In week four there will also be a facility to search the UK online list for the richest people by country of origin.

The lists are based on identifiable wealth (land, property, other assets such as art and racehorses, or significant shares in publicly quoted companies), and excludes bank accounts (to which the paper has no access).

Will Handley, Head of Marketing for The Sunday Times says: “The popularity of The Sunday Times Rich List never wanes.  It is now deemed the definitive guide to wealth in the country and we are always delighted with the amount of attention it generates. 

"Year on year the List goes from strength to strength and the introduction of the global list for our online subscribers is the latest innovation to the franchise.  Publication of The Sunday Times Rich List is a key milestone in our editorial calendar and we’ll be supporting the edition with a heavyweight multi-media campaign”.

The Sunday Times Rich List 2011 is compiled by Philip Beresford, the leading authority on British wealth, and Colm Murphy, the leading expert on wealth in Ireland. It is edited by Ian Coxon.