RAJAR has reported its quarterly radio listening figures for the Q4 period of 2025.
It was a tricky quarter for BBC music stations with BBC Radio 6 Music, in particular, seeing a big drop in ratings. Weekly audience reach for the country’s biggest digital station was down 14% year-on-year at 2.4 million listeners.
BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 were down, respectively, 6% and 7%. Meanwhile, Asian Network, 1Xtra and Radio 3 were down slightly.
“I’m very proud to have grown our share of young audiences and to remain the number one youth station in the country,” said Aled Haydn Jones, head of BBC Radio 1. “Greg [James] continues to lead with the number one breakfast show for young listeners, and we remain focused on championing new music, new talent and distinctive content across all platforms.”
At 12.7 million listeners, Radio 2 remains the biggest station in the UK. The year-on-year comparison was against a big Q4 in 2024 when Zoe Ball departed her breakfast show with stronger numbers.
Radio 2’s quarter-on-quarter drop was less dramatic at 1%. The station’s listening hours in the quarter – 11.02 – were at a four-year high.
At breakfast, Scott Mills’ (pictured) weekly audience in Q4 was 6.5m, his highest since taking over in late January 2025.
Vernon Kay was on 6.7m, up for his second consecutive quarter, and still the biggest show in the UK. Pulp kicked off a new series of Piano Room on the network this week.
Helen Thomas, head of Radio 2, said: “In a quarter where Sara Cox ran five marathons in five days, with the listeners getting behind her to raise an astonishing £12m for Children in Need, I’m thrilled that Radio 2 continues to be the UK’s most listened to single radio station, with a weekly audience of 12.7m.
“Scott Mills remains the UK’s most listened to breakfast show, increasing his audience to 6.5m listeners, his highest figure since taking over Radio 2 Breakfast. Vernon Kay continues to be the most listened to show on UK radio, growing to 6.7m listeners each week. Many thanks go to the Radio 2 listeners, who are tuning in for just over 11 hours each week, a four year record.”
I’m thrilled that Radio 2 continues to be the UK’s most listened to single radio station
Helen Thomas
In commercial radio, Global highlighted Heart’s impact as the biggest radio brand with 12.7m listeners (the main network was down 6% at 9.48m).
Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston & Amanda Holden is the biggest commercial breakfast show in the UK with 4.1m listeners.
Capital Breakfast with Jordan North, Chris Stark and Siân Welby has 2.8m weekly listeners and increased in reach, hours and share in Q4.
The Capital XTRA brand now reaches 1.9m listeners each week, increasing hours and share on the quarter.
Radio X’s main network was down 7% year-on-year at 1.97m.
At Bauer Media UK, the Greatest Hits Radio Network had a weekly audience of 6.9m, with 1.4m listeners for the spin-off stations of 60s, 70s, and 80s music. However, the main station slumped by 20% year-on-year (5.9m) and 5% on the prior quarter.
The Hits Radio Network was down 5% at 6.78m listeners, while Absolute Radio was off by 9% at 1.94m. The Dave Berry Breakfast Show on Absolute had 2.2m listeners (down 6%).
The KISS station has seen a revival – up nearly 19% year-on-year at 1.29m – though Kisstory was down 21% at 1.7m.
KISS Xtra (formerly KISS Fresh) was up 49% year-on-year at 284,000, while the recently launched Kisstory R&B is on 613,000 (up 12% on the prior quarter).
New KISS Breakfast host Tyler West saw a 39% increase in his drivetime show audience, which he presented until last month.
Gary Stein, director of Audio at Bauer Media Audio UK, said it is “brilliant to see KISS building real momentum, especially with younger audiences, and this week’s launch of the new KISS Breakfast show with Tyler West and Chloe Burrows marks an exciting next step as we look ahead to a new chapter for the brand.”
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