Suffolk superstar Ed Sheeran paid more tax than any other UK entertainer during 2019, according to a new survey by a national newspaper.

According to the survey by The Sunday Times, Ed - who lives in the Framlingham area with his family - paid £28.2m to HM Treasury.

That put him at number 32 in the list of UK taxpayers - but at the top of the list for entertainers.

The Sunday Times says that £17.4m was paid in tax following his hugely successful world tour.

That finished with his four homecoming concerts in Chantry Park, in Ipswich, which brought almost 140,000 fans to the town over the August Bank Holiday weekend in 2019.

The rest of his tax bill came from corporation tax paid on royalty earnings, as well a tax bill for a dividend paid to him by his music publishing company.

Gambling seems to be good news for the UK's tax collectors - two of the three top places are occupied by families behind some of the UK's best-known bookmakers.

Bet365 founder Denise Coates was the country’s largest taxpayer for the second year running.

The betting website’s joint chief executive and her family, who are worth £7.166billion, had a tax liability of £573m last year, according to the list.

Fred and Peter Done, the brothers behind bookmakers Betfred, came in third with a tax bill of £191.3m, while inventor Sir James Dyson sat in sixth place having paid £115m.

Vacuum cleaner mogul Sir James, who topped the 2020 rich list with his £16.2bn fortune, contributed £12m more in tax than the year before.

The list, which mostly covers business and personal tax exposure to the end of 2019, shows the amount of tax taken from Britain’s super-rich fell sharply even before the Covid-19 pandemic took hold.

The wealthy needed to contribute £13.1m to make it into the top 50 of this year’s list, down from £20.4m the year before - a 36% drop.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling fell from 19th to 23rd in this year’s rankings, with her tax liabilities dropping from £48.6m to £34.8m.

It comes as the world-famous writer’s earnings dropped from an estimated £100m last year to £72.5m, as theatres and theme parks closed.