Last year, Music Week reported that you need an average of 4.53 people to write the very biggest hits. To make the year-end Top 30, you needed to employ an average of 4.67 people.

This year, Music Week’s new research suggests that figure is now closer to 4.84. It’s not a huge increase, but it suggests the trend of multiple songwriters is growing, not shrinking.

Opinions vary on what this means, or more precisely, whether it’s a good thing. In ...