Gary Barlow's golden year: set to make £10 million in 2017

Things have never looked better for Gary Barlow'sbank balance. He's said to be worth an estimated £65 million, and a report today has suggested that he's set to rake in another £10 million next year alone.

The claim, in The Sun, is based on the fact that there's a Take That tour and album scheduled for 2017 - to mark the band's 25th anniversary. At the same time, Barlow is set to have a number of musicals in the West End. We already know he has written the songs for Finding Neverland (which is currently on Broadway and will come to London next February) and The Girls (a musical based on Calendar Girls, set to launch in January next year).

The report is also based on speculation that 2017 could also see the Take That musical - based on the group's rise to fame - hit the West End. Barlow has already said it would be a great idea, and he wants to see it happen within the next five years, but pencilling it in for next year may be a bit ambitious.

And the final chunk of Barlow's mega year of earnings, could come from a TV talent show. The same newspaper reported last month that Gary Barlow is also set to be a judge on a show replacing The Voice in the Saturday night schedule next year - although the BBC has made it clear that is was one of a number of ideas being considered for Saturday nights, so factoring in a fee for his part on the show is taking a few liberties.

As yet, therefore, it will definitely be a bumper year for Barlow, we just don't know how incredibly busy and lucrative it is going to be.

Busy Barlow

Fans, of course, will not be at all surprised that Barlow is planning a busy year. Since he started performing at the age of 15 he has always had a hectic work schedule - which is one of the reasons he found it so difficult when his career floundered in the late 1990s.

In addition to writing and performing with Take That, he has been a prodigious songwriter for everyone from Shirley Bassey to Olly Murs, organised the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012, ran his own record label, been an X-Factor judge, took a bunch of celebrities to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief, and raised millions for various charities.

So far this year, he has started a Twitter competition for fans to win the chance to have him perform at their birthday party. We are also set to hear his soundtrack for a new Eddie The Eagle film due out next month - and the super-group album he put together of new and existing tracks from 1980s stars he brought together for the soundtrack. There have even been rumours of a tour.

Perhaps the surprise isn't that he's set for such a bumper year in 2017, but the fact he is only worth £65 million, as the 33rd richest British musician. There are those who wonder why the Sunday Times Rich List put him behind Enya, George Michael and Robbie Williams (who is worth a reported £135 million and is at number 15).