It took another half a songwriter to write the UK’s biggest hits in 2018, new Music Week research can reveal, with an average of 5.34 writers working on last year’s Top 100 biggest singles.

That’s up 0.5 on 2017’s average of 4.84, and up 0.81 on 2016, as songwriting camps, credits for samples and adding writers to avoid plagiarism claims all continue to proliferate.

There were three 100% songs on the Top 100, up from last year’s two, although none ...