This year appears to have been a terrible one so far: a range of celebrities from across the arts world have died. And it seems set to continue.

After the death of Prince, as with so many other celebrities in 2016, numerous people posted on social networks that the year appeared to be seeing an unusual amount of deaths.

And that appears to be true. But it isn’t entirely clear why it is happening.

The BBC seems to have proven that 2016 has been a particularly bad year for celebrity deaths. It found that it has published far more obituaries this year than any before.

In 2012, it published just five in the first three months of the year. In 2016, it published 24 in the same period - and that doesn’t include the deaths of Merle Haggard, Victoria Wood and Prince in April.

In the wake of that apparent huge rise in the amount of people dying, two main explanations have surfaced.

World pays tribute to Prince Show all 20 1 /20 World pays tribute to Prince World pays tribute to Prince Messages left by fans outside the Paisley Park residential compound of music legend Prince in Minneapolis, Minnesota Getty Images World pays tribute to Prince Guests dance to Prince music as a slide show flashes images of the artist above the stage during a memorial dance party at the First Avenue nightclub in Minneapolis, Minnesota Getty Images World pays tribute to Prince Nasa released the image of a purple-hued nebula to mark the passing of music icon Prince. They commented: "A purple nebula, in honor of Prince, who passed away today." One online commenter remarked: "Can anyone see #Prince playing his guitar in this #NBULA" Rex World pays tribute to Prince A Hollywood sign is illuminated in purple in memory of the late musician Prince in Los Angeles Getty Images World pays tribute to Prince A view of the Prince tribute at Times Square Hard Rock Cafe in New York Getty Images World pays tribute to Prince Candles lit in remembrance to Prince are seen around his star outside the Warner Theatre in Washington Getty Images World pays tribute to Prince Lorraine Womble reacts during a gathering in Leimert Park in memory of musician Prince Getty Images World pays tribute to Prince A Prince memorial outside the First Avenue club where music legend Prince had his first breakthrough at the start of his musical career in Minneapolis, Minnesota Getty Images World pays tribute to Prince Julya Baer, 30, (R) cries at a vigil to celebrate the life and music of deceased musician Prince in Los Angeles World pays tribute to Prince Atribute to Prince at the Ritzy cinema in Brixton, London PA World pays tribute to Prince A sign in remembrance to Prince is seen outside the Warner Theatre in Washington Getty Images World pays tribute to Prince Fans lay flowers and memorials outside First Avenue, the nightclub where U.S. music superstar Prince got his start in Minneapolis, Minnesota Reuters World pays tribute to Prince The Mercedes-Benz Superdome is lit up in the color purple in New Orleans, to honor pop legend Prince AP World pays tribute to Prince A woman holding a large poster of Prince arrives to a gathering in Leimert Park in memory of musician Prince, in Los Angeles Getty Images World pays tribute to Prince Kenneth Beavers, 49, holds a candle at a vigil to celebrate the life and music of deceased musician Prince in Los Angeles Reuters World pays tribute to Prince Loretta Thomas, 45, (L) and Deshone, 50, listen to a Prince song at a vigil to celebrate the life and music of deceased musician Prince in Los Angeles World pays tribute to Prince A man writes on a makeshift memorial as fans gather at Harlem's Apollo Theater to celebrate the life of deceased musician Prince in the Manhattan borough of New York Reuters World pays tribute to Prince A makeshift memorial is seen as fans gather at Harlem's Apollo Theater to celebrate the life of deceased musician Prince in the Manhattan borough of New York Reuters World pays tribute to Prince Sheila Clayton of St Paul, Minnesota (L) hugs an unidentified friend outside of Paisley Park, the home and studio of US musician Prince, in Chanhassen, Minnesota (EPA) EPA World pays tribute to Prince People watch as City Hall is illuminated in purple in remembrance of the late singer Prince in Downtown Los Angeles Reuters

One says that such a rise in deaths was inevitable, given the fact that many of our celebrities came to fame around the 70s and are so approaching older age. The other says that many more people are famous, now, and we are more likely to hear about them - since the number of potential people is much higher, so will be the number of deaths.

There is also probably a degree of confirmation bias: the narrative about 2016 deaths now appears to have caught on, and so each death becomes a part of it, when previously it might have been little reported or ignored. But as shown through the BBC's study, the numbers genuinely do seem to point to something happening this year.

All are sensible explanations, and likely to account for some of the increase, which as a result will probably continue throughout this year and beyond. But they can’t fully account for the sheer number of celebrity deaths this year.

The number has been gradually rising - but notable deaths in 2016 are more than twice what they were in 2015, after only slowly increasing in the years before.

There’s nothing really linking any of the deaths: the people who died this year were all very different ages, and though cancer seemed especially prevalent they did happen for a range of different reasons. It seems that the two explanations that have been advanced probably account for some of the rise - and sheer bad luck has contributed to the rest.