Commercial radio has reached its highest ever share of UK radio listening at 55.7%, widening the gap over the BBC which now stands at 42.1%, according to RAJAR figures for Q2 2025.
This means 39.5 million people now tune in to commercial stations each week, 8.4 million more than BBC radio.
Overall, 86% of the population tune in each week – or 50 million adults.
Online listening across the UK continues to grow, with a record 29.3% of all radio listening now happening online – ahead of AM/FM analogue listening at 26.6%.
Smart speaker usage has also hit a new peak. 18.4% of total listening is now via smart speakers, rising to 22.4% for commercial services – overtaking AM/FM listening for commercial stations, which has dropped to 20.9%.
RadioToday’s RAJAR report compared weekly reach, quarter-on-quarter, unless specified. You can also view our graphs with all the information on here.
Key performance headlines:
- Commercial radio reaches 55.7% of UK radio listening – a record high
- BBC share stands at 42.1%, with BBC Radio 2 still the biggest individual station (12.6m)
- Commercial radio listening now leads by 8.4 million weekly listeners
- Online listening at 29.3%, higher than AM/FM (26.6%)
- Smart speaker listening at record 18.4% overall, 22.4% for commercial
- Spin-off and digital-only stations continue to drive much of the growth across commercial radio
Digital and specialist commercial spin-offs: growth and falls
- Boom Radio hits 711,000 weekly listeners – a 14% year-on-year rise – with all Hours increasing to record highs
- Heart Dance surpasses 1 million listeners for the first time
- Heart 70s (now 724k) is up, while Smooth 70s (now 245k) and Absolute Radio 70s (now 354k) declined
- Greatest Hits Radio 70s debuts with 333k
- Smooth 80s (now 664k), Heart 80s (now 1.9m), Virgin Radio 80s Plus (now 319k) have all seen increases
- Absolute 80s (now 1.4m) and Nation 80s (now 348k) declined
- Greatest Hits Radio 80s debuts with half a million weekly reach
- Absolute Radio 90s (now 1m) down, Heart 90s (1.3m) up
- Radio X 90s increases to 158k, but sees one of its lowest ever figures on FM in Manchester (75k). Total is up at 243k
- Hits Radio 90s debuts on 290k
- Absolute Radio 00s stays the same (449k), Heart 00s drops a little (now 925k), whilst Radio X 00s is up 50% (now 157k)
- Hits Radio 00s debuts on 252k
- Planet Rock up 8% to 1.1 million, KISS Xtra up 14.8% to 240,000, Mellow Magic up 6.1% to 470,000
- Heart Musicals (173k) is down 20%, whilst Magic at the Musicals (now 278k) is down 15%
- Virgin Radio Legends (formerly Anthems) (now 454k) and Virgin Radio Chilled (now 363k) are on the up
- Absolute Radio Country, Smooth Country, CountryLine Radio, all up; Downtown Country, down
- Smooth Relax, Classic FM Calm, Classic FM Movies, all up
BBC highlights
- BBC Radio 2 remains the UK’s most listened-to station (12.6m)
- BBC Radio 4 reaches 9.2 million, down from 9.3m
- BBC Radio 5 Live grows from 5.4m to 5.5m
- Greg James’ Radio 1 Breakfast drops from 4.4m to 4.15m listeners (10+)
- Vernon Kay remains host of the UK’s most listened-to show, albeit down slightly from last quarter (6.7m to 6.6m)
- Podcast listening hits a UK record of 16.3 million weekly adults
- BBC Sounds notched up 257 million plays of on-demand and podcast content, whilst eight of the top 10 most-played podcasts on BBC Sounds were Radio 4 titles
- Local Radio – 19 stations are up, 14 are down and three are the same
Global
- Global’s audience is 29 million; market share at 27.7%, a record
- In London, Global has the top three commercial stations for reach, hours and share – Heart, Capital and LBC.
- Heart reaches 13 million – UK’s largest commercial radio brand – down from 13.4 last quarter
- Heart regions – 18 lose audience, four are up, one stays static
- Capital regions – Nine are down, seven are up, one stays static
- Smooth regions – Ten are down, eight are up
- LBC remains around the same at 3.4 million; LBC News at 1.1 million
- Gold Radio grows to over 1.6 million
Bauer Media Audio UK
- Absolute Radio is now UK’s most listened-to digital-only commercial station – 2.2 million reach
- Greatest Hits Radio remains UK’s most listened-to commercial station overall in terms of hours, but lost half a million listeners this quarter (7.1m to 6.6m)
- Greatest Hits Radio regions – 35 stations lost audience, 19 went up, two stayed static
- Hits Radio regions – 28 (including frequencies previously carrying stations such as Viking, Rock, City, Key, Metro, Hallam) are down, whilst ten (including frequencies previously carrying TFM, Signal and Pulse) are up. The network now has 4.36m compared with 4.68m last quarter.
News UK and Times Radio
- News Broadcasting’s total audience across all brands is 6.7 million, up from 6.6m
- Times Radio now reaches 616,000 weekly – up 29% year-on-year – but static quarterly
- talkSPORT weekly reach stays at 3.7m
- Virgin Radio UK up to 2.2 million; Virgin Radio Legends up 38% to 454,000
- U105 in Northern Ireland down to 211k from 223k listeners, but has highest average hours locally
Nation Broadcasting
- Group stays above 1m weekly reach, but down from a record 1.3m last quarter – with over six million weekly listening hours for the first time
- Nation Radio South investment is paying off – increases across the board and highest ever hours on the FM frequencies
- Nation Radio North East doubles hours, increases weekly reach
- Nation Radio London drops 34%
- Nation 80s declines from 519k to 348k after a good start
- All other services are down slightly or static
Other commercial radio highlights
- Original 106 gets its biggest results yet – over 100k local listeners, whilst Original Gold debuts with 12,000
- Sunrise Radio confirmed as the UK’s number one Asian commercial radio station nationally and in London
- Sunrise Smooth continues to grow in London, up 33% to 39k
- Panjab Radio maintains consistent weekly reach and strong listening hours
- Lyca Radio hits highest weekly reach in recent years, just 5k behind Sunrise
- Lyca Group now has total weekly reach of 190k
- MiSoul is down 30% is London to 129k
- Centreforce 883 sees a 60% increase in London – now at 153k – having switched to yearly reporting
QUOTES
Matt Payton, Radiocentre: “Commercial broadcasters focus relentlessly on ensuring listeners can easily access their favourite stations on any platform, whether that’s via apps or smart speakers. This new record is testament to the continued innovation and investment from our sector.”
Aled Haydn Jones, Head of BBC Radio 1: “These are great figures for Radio 1 in a competitive and constantly evolving market. Greg continues to lead with the number 1 Breakfast Show for young audiences.”
Jonathan Wall, Director of BBC Sounds: “It’s been another standout quarter for BBC Sounds, with record plays driven by trusted news coverage and trending moments. Listening habits continue to evolve.”
Ashley Tabor-King CBE, Founder & Executive President of Global: “I’m delighted to see Heart extend its lead even further. For Global to continue to grow and extend its lead is a considerable achievement.”
James Rea, Chief Broadcasting & Content Officer at Global: “It’s incredible to see the audience growth across Global, another record share, and record hours. The market is hugely competitive, so to be leading the pack is not something we take for granted.”
Simon, CEO of Bauer Media Audio UK, said, “In the month that we launched our digital audio advertising platform, audioXi, here in the UK, it’s exciting to see Bauer Media Audio UK leading the way in connected listening.”
He added, “A third of our listening is now online, in app or via smart speakers. As our audio brands continue to entertain millions of listeners every week, our commitment to excellence and innovation remains as strong as ever in our 150th year.”
Gary, Director of Audio for Bauer Media Audio UK, said, “As the UK is enjoying a summer of live music, it’s great to see Absolute Radio at the centre of the Britpop Summer and taking the crown as the UK’s biggest digital station for the first time ever.”
“With strong growth as well for Planet Rock, Kerrang! and Absolute Radio Country it’s proof in the power of radio and its ability to be there 24/7 for fans, super serving our listening communities with their unique output.”
Tony Lit MBE, Managing Director, Sunrise Radio: “I’m proud to announce that Sunrise Radio is the number one Asian commercial station nationally and in London. Our listening hours remain robust and Sunrise Smooth continues to grow.”
Surjit Singh Ghuman MBE, Managing Director, Panjab Radio: “We’re deeply grateful to our commercial partners and listeners for their continued support. Our listening hours surpass those of our competitors.”
Raj Baddhan, CEO, Lyca Radio Network: “Lyca Radio has recorded its highest weekly reach in recent times. Lyca Gold Radio also achieved its highest ever weekly reach at 92,000 listeners.”
Nation’s Founder Jason Bryant said; ”Nation is enjoying a good run. This is a very strong audience performance, given we are showing increases against what was a strongly performing quarter this time last year. I am looking forward to seeing continued growth in the business as we see the fruits of our investment in our local and national brands.”
Phil Riley, Boom Radio: “We’re so proud and thankful to our incredible army of listeners. Their amazing loyalty, tuning in for almost 16 hours per week each, is down to the brilliant work of our presenters.”
Robin Galloway, Group Head of Presentation at DC Thomson, said: “These figures are nothing short of phenomenal. It proves there’s a huge appetite for bold, creative, locally made radio. Our team continues to punch well above its weight, delivering personality-led shows that truly connect with the communities we serve. To be number one at breakfast and market leader overall is testament to the hard work and passion that goes into every single show.”
This story first appeared on radiotoday.co.uk