Atlantic Records came out on top in the UK airplay rankings for market share in 2025.
The Warner Music label, which has traditionally had a strong record in radio rankings, also scored the No.1 airplay hit of last year with Alex Warren’s Ordinary. With 216,037 plays across 263 radio stations, the single topped the airplay year-end charts with 1.876 billion impressions (RadioMonitor's figures incorporating plays and audience).
The US artist’s long-running UK No.1 was also the biggest single of the year on the Official Charts Company rankings with consumption of 2,178,738 units.
According to RadioMonitor’s Top 100 market share figures (based on impressions), Atlantic was at No.1 in the year-end rankings with a share of 24.67%.
Atlantic had a commanding lead when the rankings were based on label only (Polydor was No.2 with a share of 16.89% thanks to airplay hits from Sam Fender, Gracie Abrams, Lewis Capaldi and Lady Gaga).
When the Warner company is up against label groups, the nearest rival is Island EMI on 20.97% thanks to hits from Lola Young, Post Malone, Taylor Swift and Huntr/x from K-Pop Demon Hunters.
At a time when UK talent has staged a revival, RCA star Myles Smith made No.2 in the year-end chart with Nice To Meet You and his earlier smash Stargazing was at No.5 (both of them topped the weekly airplay charts).
Island artist Lola Young had the No.3 airplay hit of the year with Messy, which peaked at No.1 on the weekly rankings.
The Top 20 airplay songs of 2025 included seven Atlantic singles (35% of the total), including Ordinary at No.1 and Ed Sheeran at No.8 with Sapphire and Azizam at No.9. Sheeran was also at No.30 with Camera.
Just outside the overall year-end Top 10, Alex Warren has a second airplay hit with Carry You Home at No.11 (along with Eternity at No.55). Atlantic also had a returning year-end airplay hit with Apt by Rosé & Bruno Mars – now No.14 for 2025 after making No.51 in 2024 based on just a few months of airplay.
Teddy Swims – No.1 on airplay in 2024 – finished last year with two Top 20 songs in the overall rankings for 2025 (The Door at No.16 and Bad Dreams at No.17) and a third in the Top 30 (Lose Control at No.25). The US singer-songwriter had five in the Top 100 including David Guetta collaboration Gone Gone Gone.
In addition, Atlantic had Top 100 airplay hits from Ravyn Lenae and another from David Guetta (Sia collaboration Beautiful People).
Atlantic won back the Promotions Team trophy at the Music Week Awards in 2025. The label has won the trophy many times over the years, including three on the trot from 2021-23.
Here, Damian Christian, Atlantic UK MD and president of promotions, breaks down the label’s airplay success and discusses the increasing importance of radio for artist breakthroughs…
What was it about Alex Warren’s Ordinary that made the connection at radio?
“Carry You Home had started, and there was a genuine belief from the promotions department that we were on to something – we didn't realise, of course, how big it was going to be. Carry You Home was doing okay for us, it was getting some good airplay. I'm not sure if people were taking him seriously as an artist then, because it wasn't a traditional start for him – he was doing stuff online and his TikTok stuff, and was fairly popular. So our ambition, our job, was to show he was a real artist. We had real belief in him. We'd seen him play, and we thought there was something there.
“So when Ordinary came along, we were like, this does feel big. It was the biggest song of the year but the support we had was incredible. And to get a new artist to be the highest played record of the year, it's hard going. Ironically, we did it the year before with Teddy Swims. But it's pretty unusual, so you have to have all the stars aligned. What I've been told from all the research that radio stations do, it's still one of the most popular records. So, yeah, it's a great feeling that it's No.1, for sure.”
And it was not just a single hit phenomenon for Alex Warren?
“No, we had three in the airplay Top 10 at one stage with Alex Warren, and in the [OCC] chart as well. He's got the ninth best-selling album of the year, which, again, is incredible and going over platinum. So he’s had four [OCC Top 10] hits. Regarding airplay, he's got three in the top 55 [for the year-end]. Considering one of them is that massive, it's hard to get your others playlisted as well. So to have three in the top 55 is incredible.”
You had seven in the Top 20 for 2025. How important is radio for making hits?
“It was a massive part of it for Alex Warren. So although radio, in some quarters, hasn't got the currency it once had, it's still really important. His manager had a quote saying that he wouldn’t have broken like he did in the UK without the airplay, and it was exactly the same for Teddy Swims. One of the reasons he signed to Atlantic was because he knows we're particularly strong in airplay. So when you go through those seven, you've got Alex Warren, you've got two from Ed Sheeran in the Top 10, which is just still brilliant. There's a Rosé track there. We're well supported by the Americans, they love the UK airplay as well.
“I felt that last year there was a bit of a turnaround and that radio is [again seen as] important, it feels like it's gone up [in significance], which I think is fantastic. Because there's something real about the radio. You can break artists, it's much more of an artist proposition when you start getting two or three records across all the radio stations. The reach is phenomenal.”
There's something real about the radio, it's much more of an artist proposition when you start getting two or three records across all the stations
Damian Christian
What is it that stations love about Ed Sheeran’s music?
“Ed is just a phenomenal songwriter, singer, performer, and he's prepared to change things up. This album had Indian and Persian influences. He travelled around, and he collaborated with some of the best [producers and writers] in those countries. Sapphire and Azizam they're just different. Most artists stay in their lane a bit, and Ed is prepared to step out of that. He's daring. But again, he's had more No.1 airplay records than any other artist since the books have been done. He’s had 17 airplay No.1s, which is a phenomenal amount. He’s on his ninth album, and still to have two in the Top 10 – and he's the only artist with three in the Top 30. Camera is a traditional Ed Sheeran record, but the other two really are not. So good for him. He'll be around forever, the airplay stats for him are just through the roof.”
Apt by Rosé & Bruno Mars was a big airplay hit – how’s it going with his solo comeback?
“That was at No.1 airplay at the time [of release] as well for Rosé and Bruno. They had a massive year. It was a great set-up for us having that before the new Bruno record as well, which in week one has gone straight into No.1 on airplay. It’s in the [OCC] Top 10 too, which is great. So that's his 11th airplay No.1, which is fairly up there as well.”
Finally, are you concerned about the loss of MTV music channels at the end of last year?
“Well, the more music outlets, the better. The MTV [channels] were definitely slowing down, but it's sad to see them go completely because they're an institution. Anywhere you can get your music out there is helpful. Equally, for music on TV there are big TV shows – Graham Norton, Jonathan Ross, Later... So you're still getting your bands exposed on the TV. It can still be incredibly beneficial.”
PHOTO: Jack Dytrych
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