The cult song was released by Baddiel, Skinner and The Lightning Seeds before Euro 1996.

The infamous ‘Three Lions’ song by David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and The Lightning Seeds is now 28 years old – but the amount the trio now make in royalties will surprise you.

The song was released ahead of Euro 1996, with England hosting the tournament for the first time that year.

It has stood the test of time, given the lyrics largely represented hope that the Three Lions men’s team would finally end their 30-year international tournament drought – and they are still waiting.

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That and the equally popular ‘World in Motion’ are now the de facto England anthems for every international tournament, with no recent hit truly coming close to emulating their success.

Given that the song is still being downloaded in huge numbers today, Baddiel, Skinner and The Lightning Seeds still receive royalties.

But the amount they earn now is nowhere near what you might think – largely due to the rise in popularity of streaming platforms.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror earlier this year, Baddiel explained: “It brought me, Frank and Ian Broudie of The Lightning Seeds a fair wedge [at the time]. But not since Spotify took over has it brought us much money.

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“In fact, when England played Colombia in the 2018 World Cup, it was downloaded four million times – for which Frank, Ian and I received £1,200 from Spotify.”

The Mirror add that, each time the song is downloaded, the trio earn just 0.003p.

The comedian and Chelsea fan has previously clarified that, in the pre-Spotify era, the song itself was released as a platinum hit, which boosted the trio’s bank balance significantly.

 

It being 25 years since Three Lions was first released, Frank just sent me this pic of this piece of paper. I didn't realise he still had it. Should be in the British Museum, surely… pic.twitter.com/Y4GGHfdWn8

— David Baddiel (@Baddiel) May 20, 2021

 

But speaking to Chris Moyles in 2020, he said: “Whenever England do well and the song suddenly rises up and people love it, I always get a slightly cynical strand of men who start going on about royalties.

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“I want to say to them, ‘Do you know how much you get from Spotify?’

“I saw a newspaper article which said it had been downloaded at England versus Colombia something like 16 million times, which works out between me, Frank and Ian Broudie at something like 900 quid between us.”

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