The fall comes despite overall exam entries rising in line with the 18-year-old population. Overall GCSE entries have increased by 1.1% since last summer, while A-levels are up 2.9%.

But analysis by Campaign for the Arts in 2025 shows the share of total entries in A-levels arts subjects contracted by 0.5%, reaching the lowest level in 15 years.

The uptake of A-level music has fallen by nearly 50% since 2010, the year then Tory Education chief Michael Gove’s EBacc system was introduced, incentivising schools to focus on a set of subjects such as maths, English and science whilst excluding music and all arts subjects.