The Rich List of X Factor; From One Direction's £125m fortune to Matt Cardle's £1.2m

X Factor is the biggest talent contest show on TV that's produced some of the globe's most esteemed and successful performers. Rita Ora and One Direction have earned millions from their stint on the singing show, others haven't fared quite as well. Now lets see just how much they all have in their bank Accounts.

Cher Lloyd to Matt Cardle, FEMAIL charts the highs and lows of X Factor's richest finalists - and how their estimated fortunes compare to the judges who've helped propel them to stardom.  

SIMON COWELL: £300m ($450.7m)

He masterminded the whole concept so it's little surprise that Simon Cowell, 56, tops the X Factor rich list. As well as launching the show, Cowell is also behind American Idol, Britain’s Got Talent, and Pop Idol. He also owns Syco - a TV and music company - with artists like One Direction, Little Mix and Olly Murs on his books. He owns a £13m home in Beverly Hills, a £10m villa in Barbados, a £7.5m house in London and further properties in Malaga and Dubai.

According to Forbes, he was the 42nd richest celebrity of 2014 and took home £59m in one year. 

SHARON OSBOURNE: £146M

Sharon, now 60, shot to fame thanks to her self-styled reality show, The Osbournes, which was rock and roll's answer to The Kardashians. Simon Cowell recruited her for the X Factor, which she worked on between 2004 and 2007, and she also starred on his stateside show, America’s Got Talent. On top of that, she ran The Sharon Osbourne Show, revived her husband’s music career, founded the summer Ozzfest tour, and worked on The Talk and Australia Got Talent.

Her company, Sharon Osbourne Management, has worked with The Smashing Pumpkins, Motorhead and Queen.

According to The Richest, Sharon has an estimated net worth of £146m ($220m). 

ONE DIRECTION: £125m ($187.6m)

They're the world's biggest boy band - and now the richest in history thanks to their stint on X Factor. Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and ex-bandmate Zayn Malik are each worth an estimated £25million, giving them a combined wealth of £125million.  According to Forbes, their payday is more than twice as high as that of the Rolling Stones thanks to their musical talents, as well as the endorsements that have come with it.

GARY BARLOW: £65m ($97.56)

After netting £15m with Take That - who had eight No 1 singles and sold more than 15 million albums worldwide - in the 90s, Gary, now 44, has seen his fortune sky-rocket. He was a judge for three seasons of X Factor and also set up his own record label, Future Records, a branch from Universal Music, which he has since closed.  Gary has also co-written musical theatre, won the Ivor Novello Award six times and was awarded an OBE for his services to music and charity. 

JLS: £24m ($36.02m) 

British boy band JLS certainly had the last laugh since coming second to Alexandra Burke on The X Factor in 2009. Following their time on the show, Simon Cowell turned down the chance to sign them, so they went on to sell over 10million records following their deal with Epic Records. In 2009, both their debut single Beat Again and album went to No.1 in the charts.

Over their nearly four and a half years in the charts, they enjoyed ten Top 10 hits, including five No.1 singles.

MEL B: £21.9m ($33m)

Mel Brown, 40, found fame with hit 90s girl group, The Spice Girls, and went on to launch a solo career, too. She has starred on Dancing With The Stars, Australian X Factor and UK X Factor in 2014. Mel also served as a co-host on Dancing with the Stars Australia, judge on America's Got Talent and coach on The Voice Kids Australia, giving her an estimated net worth of £21.9m ($33m)

CHERYL FERNANDEZ-VERSINI: £20m ($30m)

Cheryl found fame as part of Girls Aloud, who were launched on Popstars: The Rivals.With her four bandmates, Cheryl achieved a string of twenty consecutive top ten singles. She then launched a successful solo career and was snapped up by Simon Cowell in 2008. Simon also invited her to join the US panel but she left immediately, prompting many to speculate that Simon had sacked her.

Cheryl returned to UK's X Factor and re-cemented her status as Simon's golden girl. 

She also has a contract with L'Oreal, a book and her own perfume range.

LOUIS WALSH: £21.7m ($32.57)

The Irish entertainment manager was famous for being Boyzone's manager in the height of their fame, as well as Westlife and then Ronan Keating.

Louis also managed Union J, Samantha Mumba, and G4 and joined the X Factor panel in 2004, leaving last year.

LEONA LEWIS: £13m ($19.5m) 

She was mentored to X Factor victory by Simon Cowell, who declared at the time 'he was the proudest person in the world'. However, this summer the music mogul announced he and his protege had parted company after seven years following a decision made by Syco Records not to renew her contract.

Sources close to Miss Lewis, who is still the richest winner of the TV talent show having acquired a fortune of £13million, claim Cowell no longer understood the direction she wanted to take with her music.

LITTLE MIX: £12m ($18m)

Just like One Direction, Little Mix were put together as a band on 2011's X Factor. 

Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, and Jesy Nelson went on to win the show under the guidance of Tulisa and their album, DNA, landed in the top 5 chart in eight countries and supported Demi Lovato on a US tour.

The band have since gone on to sell have sold over 5 million singles and 2.5 million albums and launch a make-up range with Collection, clothing range with Primark, nail range with Elegant Touch as well as a perfume. 

OLLY MURS : £10m ($15m)

He was runner-up in 2009's X Factor and has had plenty of number one singles and hit albums since finding fame on the show. Olly returned to X Factor as a presenter alongside Caroline Flack on the Xtra Factor in 2011 and now co-presents the show with his pal. He has also penned an autobiography and toured the UK.

ALEXANDRA BURKE: £8m ($12m)

Alexandra's big breakthrough came on X Factor in 2008, and her debut single, Hallelujah, sold 105,000 copies in a day. Thanks to this, she secured her position as European record holder for single sales in a 24-hour period. She had five more number one singles, starred as a judge on the show to cover for an unwell Kelly Rowland, as well as on So You Think You Can Dance.Alexandra also curated a clothing range with JLS, was the face of Dolce & Gabbana, and created her own lip gloss.She also recently replaced Beverley Knight in the lead role of Rachel Marron in West End musical, The Bodyguard.

RITA ORA: £5.8m ($8.71m)

She's a best-selling singer, actress, fashion designer, beauty buff and one of the world's best connected stars. And now, she's occupying a coveted seat on the X Factor panel.  After hiding away in a recording studio in New York to perfect her vocals, Rita was unveiled to the world in 2012 singing on R.I.P featuring Tinie Tempah; the song immediately went to number one. More smash hits followed, including How We Do, Shine Ya Light and Radioactive, as well as festival appearances and UK tours. Accounts from Ora Multi Services Ltd – the company set up to manage her earnings – reveal new X Factor judge Rita pocketed £1,853,055 by the end of the financial year in 2014, a significant increase on the £612,045 earned in 2012-13.

JEDWARD: £5.5m ($8)

Jedward - aka John and Edward Grimes - are twins who starred on X Factor in 2009.

They have gone on to release three albums, two of which went double platinum in Ireland. They represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011 and 2012 and presented children's TV shows, as well as starred on Celebrity Big brother.

CHLOE MAFIA: £4m ($6m)

Chloe Khan aka Chloe Mafia, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was ridiculed after appearing on The X Factor in 2010, but has since gone on to make a fortune by setting up a profitable webcam business and working as a model.

The 23-year-old now travels the world, flying in private jets, driving fast cars and wearing designer clothes - and was - until recently - dating Spearmint Rhino founder John Gray, with whom she lived in their mansion in Newport Beach, California.

Chloe, whose webcam business turns over £1million-a-year, is also the face of the strip club chain after being offered the job by John, 58 – who is one of the richest men in the adult entertainment industry.

The company's success has allowed Chloe - who employs about 50 women and also models for Playboy – to completely reinvent herself with cosmetic surgery and designer clothes. 

CHER LLOYD: £3m ($4.5m)

Cher, 22, finished fourth on the show in 2010 being mentored by Cheryl and immediately cracked America - something the contestants find tricky.

Her most popular song, Swagger Jagger, stayed in the charts for weeks and she went on to release plenty more hits, including With Ur Love featuring Mike Posner.

She mainly stays out of the limelight and instead focuses on her music and husband. 

RAY QUINN: £1.5m ($2.25)

Ray, 27, starred on Brookside back in 2000 and came second to Leona Lewis on the X Factor in 2006. He went on to win Dancing on Ice in 2009 and All Stars in 2014.

Ray has starred in lots of West End productions, most notably Greece, Jack in the Beanstalk and Aladdin.

In January 2015, he was a contestant on the celebrity talent show, Get Your Act Together, which he won.

Ray has remained largely out of the limelight in recent times following his well-documented split from his wife, Emma Stephens, in February this year. 

In the past few weeks, however, he has debuted a muscly new look, which comes as he prepares to re-launch his music career next year with a new album.

MATT CARDLE: £1.2m ($1.8m)

He beat One Direction to the winner's crown in 2010 and won a £1m contract with Syco - but he didn't fare as well as the boy band. 

His winner's singer, When We Collide, was the second biggest-selling single of 2010 with 815,000 copies sold within two weeks. He has also teamed up with Mel C on a single and has toured the UK but fell off the radar after that.

Things are finally starting to look up for Matt after the troubled star voluntarily entered The Priory clinic in December 2013 to deal with a prescription drug problem.