BBC Reveals List Of Highest-Earning Stars; Gary Lineker Tops Ranking For Third Year

The BBC has published a list of its highest-earning TV and radio stars, revealing that sports presenter Gary Lineker remains the UK broadcaster’s most valuable piece of talent.

Match Of The Day presenter Lineker held the top spot for a third year, despite his salary falling £400,000 from £1.75M in 2020 to £1.36 million in the year to March 2021, according to the BBC’s annual report published on Tuesday.

BBC Radio 2 presenter Zoe Ball was the highest-earning female star, taking home £1.13M — though this figure only partially reflects a 28% pay cut she volunteered for last year. Ball, who hosts Radio 2’s flagship breakfast show, now earns £980,000 a year.

Other well-remunerated stars include BBC News anchor Hugh Edwards and Lauren Laverne, who hosts Radio 4’s iconic show Desert Island Discs. See below for the BBC’s top 10 best-paid stars:

  1. Gary Lineker: £1,360,000- £1,364,999
  2. Zoe Ball: £1,130,000-£1,134,999
  3. Steve Wright: £465,000-£469,999
  4. Huw Edwards: £425,000- £429,999
  5. Fiona Bruce: £405,000-£409,999
  6. Stephen Nolan: £405,000-£409,999
  7. Lauren Laverne: £395,000-£399,999
  8. Vanessa Feltz: £390,000-£394,999
  9. Alan Shearer: £390,000-£394,999
  10. Scott Mills: £375,000-£379,999

Overall, the BBC has reduced star salaries by £2M, or 10%, over the past year, as we reported earlier. The broadcaster was helped by canceled sports competitions and events during the pandemic, meaning the likes of Graham Norton did not feature because the Eurovision Song Contest was rested last year.

Furthermore, the BBC star pay list has significant holes. Commerical arm BBC Studios is exempt from the transparency measures, for example, meaning we don’t know how much Claudia Winkleman earns for presenting Strictly Come Dancing. Work through independent producers is also not included, so we are in the dark over how much Norton takes home for hosting BBC One’s The Graham Norton Show.

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