Gary Lineker has once again landed the top spot on the BBC’s earning on-air talent list for the fifth consecutive year, while fellow presenters Naga Munchetty and Greg James have also enjoyed big salary increases.
Lineker is also the only name to earn over £1 million annually, new figures show.
The 61-year-old pundit and former footballer was paid between £1,350,000 and £1,354,999 in 2021/2022 for work including Match Of The Day and Sports Personality Of The Year – a reduction of £10,000 on the previous year.
Lineker first topped the list for 2017/18 with a pay bracket of £1,750,000 to £1,759,999, and in 2020 it was announced he had taken a voluntary pay cut.
Joining the top 10 list for the first time is Radio 1 DJ Greg James, whose salary has increased by £80,000.
The 36-year-old earns between £390,000 and £394,999 for work including the Radio 1 Breakfast Show, Rewinder on Radio 4, Radio 1’s Big Weekend and Out Out! Live, with Sports Personality Of The Year also listed.
Elsewhere, Zoe Ball remains the broadcaster’s second highest paid talent, with a salary of £980,000 to £984,999, but figures show her salary falling for a second consecutive year.
Her salary has now slipped to below £1million and reflects approximately 210 editions of The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on Radio 2.
Football pundit Alan Shearer has seen a year-on-year increase of £60,000, bringing his salary to £450,000-£454,999, which puts him joint third with radio DJ Steve Wright, whose salary this year reflects a £15,000 decrease.
The corporation’s annual report for 2021/22, which is also marking its 100-year anniversary, shows four out of the top 10 best paid names have seen their salaries fall.
This year’s top 10 also features fewer women that last year, dropping from four to three as radio DJ and model Lauren Laverne doesn’t feature in this year’s top 10, with figures showing her salary has fallen by £15,000 to the bracket of £380,000-£384,999.
Other notable increases on the overall list of top earning on-air talent, as shown in the annual report, include Naga Munchetty with a £110,000 increase and Amol Rajan with an increase of £85,000.
Victoria Derbyshire, who was announced as the new host of Newsnight last week, has seen a £70,000 increase.
Eurovision host Graham Norton is also absent from the list after departing Radio 2 in December 2020 to start a show at Virgin Radio.
In the last year, the BBC has seen a number of high-profile on-air departures, including the likes of Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel, Andrew Marr and Dan Walker all leaving for rival broadcasters.
It comes after Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries announced earlier this year that the BBC’s licence fee will be frozen under inflation for the next two years, saying that this ‘gives the broadcaster certainty while protecting the public from a price hike’.
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