GLOBAL SURGES FORWARD AS THE UK’S NUMBER ONE COMMERCIAL RADIO COMPANY WITH ITS BEST-EVER AUDIENCE RESULTS

GLOBAL CONTINUES TO LEAD THE UK COMMERCIAL RADIO MARKET GROWING ITS AUDIENCE TO A RECORD-BREAKING 25.7m WEEKLY LISTENERS AND ITS SHARE TO 23.5%

GLOBAL HAS THE TOP FOUR COMMERCIAL RADIO BRANDS IN THE UK
HEART, CAPITAL, SMOOTH AND CLASSIC FM

HEART SCORES ITS BIGGEST EVER AUDIENCE OF 10m BREAKING A NEW RECORD

HEART IS UK’S TOP COMMERCIAL RADIO BRAND ADDING A MASSIVE 662,000 NEW LISTENERS

HEART BREAKFAST IS THE BIGGEST COMMERCIAL RADIO SHOW IN THE UK WITH 4.1m LISTENERS

LBC CELEBRATES AN ALL-TIME RECORD 3m WEEKLY LISTENERS
ITS HIGHEST EVER

LBC HOURS AND SHARE HIGHEST IN ITS 48-YEAR HISTORY
NICK FERRARI, JAMES O’BRIEN, SHELAGH FOGARTY AND EDDIE MAIR ALL CELEBRATE RECORD-BREAKING AUDIENCE FIGURES

LBC NEWS – BRITAIN’S FIRST NATIONAL ROLLING NEWS RADIO STATION NOW REACHES 806,000 LISTENERS ALONE

CAPITAL IS ONCE AGAIN THE UK’S NO.1 HIT MUSIC BRAND GROWING ITS REACH TO 7.6m WEEKLY LISTENERS

SMOOTH CELEBRATES ITS HIGHEST EVER AUDIENCE
5.9m WEEKLY LISTENERS
KATE GARRAWAY HAS RECORD-BREAKING 2.5m LISTENERS

RADIO X CELEBRATES ALL-TIME HIGH
1.9m LISTENERS
ADDING ALMOST 300,000
THE CHRIS MOYLES SHOW ON RADIO X SCORES A RECORD HIGH WITH 1.1M LISTENERS ADDING 120,000 NEW LISTENERS IN THE LAST 18 MONTHS

CLASSIC FM CELEBRATES A 14-YEAR HIGH FOR HOURS AND SHARE
NOW REACHING 5.1m WEEKLY LISTENERS

THE OFFICIAL BIG TOP 40
OFFICIALLY REMAINS THE UK’S BIGGEST CHART SHOW
GROWING ITS AUDIENCE TO 1.5m LISTENERS

NATIONALLY AT BREAKFAST…

GLOBAL
HAS THE TOP 2 COMMERCIAL NATIONAL BREAKFAST SHOWS IN THE UK
HEART BREAKFAST – 4.1M
CAPITAL BREAKFAST – 2.8M

HEART BREAKFAST WITH JAMIE THEAKSTON & AMANDA HOLDEN IS THE BIGGEST COMMERCIAL BREAKFAST SHOW IN THE UK WITH A MASSIVE 4.1m WEEKLY LISTENERS

CAPITAL BREAKFAST WITH ROMAN KEMP REACHES A MASSIVE 2.8m LISTENERS

RADIO X’S CHRIS MOYLES GROWS HIS BREAKFAST AUDIENCE TO A RECORD-BREAKING 1.1m WEEKLY LISTENERS

LBC BREAKFAST WITH NICK FERRARI ACHIEVES A RECORD 1.4m WEEKLY LISTENERS

IN LONDON…

GLOBAL HAS THE #1 & #2 COMMERCIAL STATIONS IN LONDON FOR REACH, HOURS AND SHARE

LBC REMAINS THE NO.1 COMMERCIAL RADIO STATION IN LONDON FOR SHARE & HOURS WITH AN 8.1% SHARE OF THE MARKET AND AN INCREDIBLE 17m HOURS

HEART IS LONDON’S UNDISPUTED NO.1 COMMERCIAL RADIO STATION 1.9m WEEKLY LISTENERS
ADDING A MASSIVE 500,000

SMOOTH HITS A NEW RECORD IN LONDON INCREASING ITS AUDIENCE BY ALMOST A THIRD
NOW REACHES MORE THAN 1 MILLION LISTENERS IN LONDON ALONE

LONDON BREAKFAST…

GLOBAL HAS THE #1 & #2 COMMERCIAL BREAKFAST SHOWS IN LONDON FOR REACH, HOURS AND SHARE

LBC’s NICK FERRARI AT BREAKFAST
WINS COMMERCIAL REACH, HOURS AND SHARE
NICK CELEBRATES HIGHEST EVER REACH WITH 837,000 WEEKLY LISTENERS IN LONDON

HEART BREAKFAST WITH JAMIE THEAKSTON & AMANDA HOLDEN IS LONDON’S BIGGEST COMMERCIAL MUSIC BREAKFAST SHOW 

GLOBAL

• Global grows its audience with its radio brands now reaching a massive 25.7 million people every week through radio alone, with hours up 5% vs. Q1 2020 at 236 million hours, and taking a 23.5% market share.
• Global has the top four commercial radio brands in the UK for reach, hours and share in the UK with Heart, Capital, Smooth and Classic FM.  

HEART

• Heart  scores an all-time audience high, extending its reign as the UK’s biggest commercial radio brand with over 10m people tuning in every week, adding 662,000 new listeners.
• Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden has a massive 4.1 million weekly listeners and remains the UK’s biggest commercial breakfast show. Heart Breakfast is also London’s biggest commercial music breakfast show with 734,000 listeners.
• Digital station Heart 80s adds a massive 244,000 listeners reaching 1.5m weekly listeners. Heart 70s grows its audience to reach over 300,000 listeners.
• Heart Dance hits an audience all-time high with 464,000 listeners growing 84,000 listeners.

 

IN LONDON…

• LBC remains the no.1 commercial radio station for share and hours with 16.6 million hours an 8.1% share of the market.
• In the competitive commercial London market Heart takes the top spot for reach on 1.9m (up 38%) just pipping Capital on 1.8m (up 10.5%).
• Heart gains over 530,000 new listeners in London and grows in reach, hours and share.

 

LBC 

• As the voice of the nation throughout the pandemic, more people are tuning into LBC – and for longer – than ever before, as the station celebrates its highest ever reach, hours and share.
• LBC now reaches a record 3.1 million listeners across the UK each week – the highest in its 48-year history – and an increase of 271,000 people in the past 18 months.
• In its second set of RAJAR results, LBC News – Britain’s first national rolling news radio station – reaches 806,000 weekly listeners.
• Nationally, LBC’s Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, James O’Brien, Shelagh Fogarty and Eddie Mair all achieve record-breaking audience figures. Nick Ferrari and James O’Brien reach 1.4 million and 1.3 million weekly listeners respectively.
• In London, LBC is the no.1 commercial station for hours and share, with a massive 16.6 million hours and an 8.1% share of the market.
• Nick Ferrari at Breakfast is London’s number one commercial breakfast show for reach, hours and share, with 837,000 listeners tuning in each week.

CAPITAL

• Capital remains the UK’s No.1 Hit Music brand with 7.6m weekly listeners, nearly 3m listeners ahead of the Kiss brand nationally.
• In London, Capital grows its reach to 1.8m weekly listeners, also beating Radio 1.
• Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp reaches a massive 2.8m weekly listeners. Capital Breakfast - which was voted the best show on UK radio by the public last month at the TRIC Awards, with Roman Kemp also named the nation’s favourite radio personality – is the UK’s second biggest commercial breakfast show, second only to Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden on Capital’s sister station.

CAPITAL XTRA

• Capital XTRA continues its reign as the home of RnB and Hip-Hop in the UK, now reaching 1.7m people across the UK every week
• Capital XTRA Breakfast with Yinka and Shayna Marie reaches 581,000 weekly listeners.

CAPITAL DANCE

• Capital Dance, the UK’s official dance station which launched in October 2020 with MistaJam at the helm and Rio Fredrika at breakfast, opens with 287,000 listeners tuning in every week.

SMOOTH

• Smooth confirms its position as the UK’s third largest commercial radio brand with a record-breaking 5.9 million people tuning in each week.
• The Smooth Radio network adds 712,000 listeners in the past 18 months, reaching 5.5 million weekly listeners.
• Smooth’s Kate Garraway celebrates a record-breaking 2.5 million listeners to her weekday mid-morning show.

CLASSIC FM 

• Celebrating a 14-year high in hours and share, Classic FM confirms its position as the UK’s most popular classical music station, with 5.1 million listeners each week, tuning in for a total of 44 million hours.
• Alexander Armstrong’s morning programme reaches 2.4 million people every week.

RADIO X

• Radio X celebrates an all-time high, adding a massive 289,000 new listeners to reach 1.9m people and growing in reach, hours and share - its largest ever audience.
• The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X also hits an all-time high of 1.1m listeners for the first time, adding 120,000 new listeners in the 18 months, growing in reach, hours and share and leapfrogging Virgin Radio.
• At drive, Johnny Vaughan also smashes a new record with 854,000 listeners.  
• In London, Radio X increases its reach to 559,000 listeners and grows in reach, hours and share.

GOLD

• Gold reaches an audience of more than 1.3 million listeners every week.

THE OFFICIAL BIG TOP 40

• The Official Big Top 40 officially remains the UK’s biggest chart show growing its audience to 1.5m listeners and ahead of the Radio 1 chart. 

 

Ashley Tabor-King OBE, Founder & Executive President of Global, said:  “Post pandemic, it’s fantastic to have RAJAR back with a bang. I’m delighted that Global, in some of the most challenging times ever, has scored record audience numbers, both overall and also for many of our individual brands and shows.  It’s truly humbling and a testament to the hard work of every Globaller who has strived to keep our audiences informed and entertained with the best music and highest quality news and analysis.  We not only continue to lead the commercial radio market, but have extended our lead with 25.7 million weekly listeners.  To play this role in these times in an honour.”

James Rea, Director of Broadcasting & Content at Global, said: “Nothing beats the connection radio brings and it is fantastic to see its popularity continuing to grow. I’m immensely proud that so much of that increased listening is driven by the great work of our teams in growing Global’s brands. I’m delighted to see so many of our brands achieving record results – from Heart breaking through 10million, LBC truly Leading Britain’s Conversation and going over 3 million for the first time in its long and illustrious history to Chris Moyles smashing though 1 million and Kate Garraway seeing over 2.5 million tuning in over on Smooth.” 

07 Jan 2026

• Streamed and retail entertainment sales grew four times faster than UK economy in 2025 (see News)

• UMG announces collaboration with NVIDIA to pioneer responsible AI for music discovery, creation, and engagement (see News)

06 Jan 2026

• 2026 music industry predictions (see Features)

05 Jan 2026

• New wave of global British breakthrough talent helps UK recorded music grow for 11th consecutive year (see News)

19 Dec 2025

• What’s going to give you the marketing edge in 2026? (see Features)

18 Dec 2025

• The global value of music copyright hits an all-time high (see Reports)

17 Dec 2025

• The 'metamorphosis' of Atlantic Records (see Features)

16 Dec 2025

• Looking ahead to 2026 (see Opinion)

• Boost for artists in AI copyright battle as only 3% back UK active opt-out plan (see News)

15 Dec 2025

• Music discovery: More channels, more problems (see Reports)

12 Dec 2025

• The 10 biggest AI music stories of 2025 (see Features)

11 Dec 2025

• Do pop stars write their own hits—and if not, who does? (see Analysis)