PRESENTER Stephen Nolan earned more than £405,000 from the BBC over the past year, an increase of around £15,000.
New figures released yesterday revealed that the Radio Ulster host earned between £405,000 and £409,999 from the BBC licence fee in 2020-21, making him one of the corporation's highest-earning on-air presenters.
Mr Nolan's pay rose from £390,000 and £394,999 in 2019-20 and from around £325,000 in the previous year.
The Belfast-born presenter hosts the Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster, the Stephen Nolan Show on BBC Radio 5 Live and Nolan Live on BBC One NI.
However, it the figures do not include earnings through programmes commissioned for the BBC from Mr Nolan's independent production company.
He is now the equal-fifth best paid BBC on-air star, with a salary similar to the Question Time presenter Fiona Bruce.
The figures were revealed in the BBC's latest annual report, which gives the salaries of its top earning stars. It sets out the pay of BBC staff and presenters earning more than £150,000 from the licence fee in the year.
A spokesperson for BBC NI said his published pay varied each year, depending on when payments for work completed were actually made.
"His published pay may vary each year, depending on when payments for work completed are actually made," he said.
"The difference is a payment for a series of Nolan Live broadcast in March 2020, owed from the previous financial year."
Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker was the best-paid BBC star, but his pay from the licence fee fell to £1.36m in 2020-21, down from about £1.75m the previous year.
Zoe Ball was the top paid woman, earning about £1.13m for presenting the Zoe Ball Breakfast show on BBC Radio 2.
The annual report also estimated that £99 million in licence fee income came from Northern Ireland in 2020-21 - up from £93 million in the previous year.
Around £50 million of that income was spent on dedicated Northern Ireland content across the BBC's platforms.
The percentage of BBC's network television budget spent in the north fell last year to 1.7 per cent from 3.5 per cent in 2019.
