Sheeran adds to UK music’s £4.5bn worth

SINGER ED Sheeran’s third album has helped the UK music industry contribute £4.5bn to the nation’s economy last year, according to a new report. The Halifax-born star’s

Divide was the biggest selling album in 2017, a year when the UK continued to “punch above its weight”, UK Music said. The UK has the fourth biggest music market in the world and more than 145,000 people are now working in the industry, it added.

But industry experts warned that the foundation for financial success is being undermined by declining music education and unfair rewards for artists, who receive only a fraction of the wealth they generate and often earn below the average UK wage.

UK Music’s chief executive Michael Dugher, a former Barnsley East MP, said: “We are a global leader in music and we continue to grow faster than other parts of the British economy and to punch well above our weight. “These figures show what can be achieved when we choose to back the British music industry.” About 34,000 more people are employed in the industry now than in 2013, with the number of workers at a five-year high of 145,000. Musicians make up 91,000 of this total. Meanwhile, Michael Jackson has once again been named the top-earning dead celebrity after his estate raked in £313m over the past year, according to Forbes. He died in 2009 following an overdose.