The most popular radio stations in the UK
What are the most listened-to radio stations in Great Britain, according to the RAJAR audience figures? We take a look at Britain's best radio.
media.info publishes all the RAJAR audience figures for every radio station - here are Radio 2's audience figures for example. You'll find audience figures published here, linked-to from most radio station pages: and linked from some radio station owners too.
The figures below, however, also include radio station brands: we're treating "Heart" or "Kiss" as one station here, rather than each individual local radio service. This gives a clearer view of the popularity of station brands. These figures are based on RAJAR audience research ending June 2019.
The quick answer? The biggest radio station in the UK is BBC Radio 2. But it's a little more complicated than that.
The top 10 radio stations with the most listeners
Normally, when people ask for the most popular radio station, they mean the one with the most amount of listeners. This will always give national or London stations as a result, and ignore smaller, local radio stations - even though, in many areas, the most popular station is a local one.
- BBC Radio 2 (14.5m listeners every week)
- BBC Radio 4 (10.6m)
- BBC Radio 1 (9.6m)
- Heart (8.5m)
- Capital (7.2m)
- Classic FM (5.6m)
- BBC Radio 5 live (5.2m)
- Smooth (5.1m)
- KISS (4.2m)
- Magic (3.3m)
Notes:
- Hits Radio Brand, a group of local radio stations from Bauer which shares some programming and branding elements, reaches 6.5m listeners, which would place it at #6 on this chart.
The top 10 radio owners with the most listeners
It's also important to look at radio owners, since they have the market in commercial terms. Click through to discover the stations they own.
- BBC national radio (31.5m listeners every week)
- Global Radio (24.0m)
- Bauer Media (18m)
- BBC local/regional radio (7.6m)
- Wireless Group (5.1m)
- Communicorp UK (3.4m)
- BBC World Service (1.5m)
- UKRD (0.7m)
- Celador Radio (0.6m)
- Lincs FM Group (0.5m)
- Bauer Media now own the bottom three of this list - UKRD, Celador and Lincs FM - though currently these operate as separate businesses.
The top 10 radio stations with the highest amount of listeners in their area
If you want to look at popularity based on how many people listen in their area (and thus, take on board local radio stations as well as national), then the 'reach percent' is the best figure to examine. This shows you people who've listened for at least five minutes a week, and takes no account of whether they listen any longer than that. Typically, this shows local radio stations in remote areas.
- Island FM (58% of people in their area tune in every week)
- Channel 103 FM (55%)
- Moray Firth Radio (46%)
- Radio Borders (43%)
- Yorkshire Coast Radio (42%)
- 3FM (38%)
- Wessex FM (38%)
- Northsound 1 (38%)
- IOW Radio (35%)
- Tay FM (35%)
The top 10 radio stations with the highest listening share in their area
The share of listening in a station's broadcast area is normally the best way of monitoring how popular a radio station is. This makes it easier to work out how popular the station's entire broadcasting output is, in comparison to others in its area.
- Island FM (40.3% of all radio listening in their area is to this station)
- Channel 103 (35.4%)
- Radio Borders (30.9%)
- West Sound (25.5%)
- Moray Firth Radio (24.4%)
- Yorkshire Coast Radio (21.6%)
- Lincs FM 102.2 (19.4%)
- BBC Radio Ulster (19%)
- Manx Radio (18.3%)
Actually, the biggest radio station in the UK is really...
If you purely count radio stations by the total amount of listeners they have — irrespective of whether they choose to listen — then the in-store station for ASDA supermarkets, ASDA FM, is the most listened-to radio station in the UK. It reaches 18,000,000 shoppers, and a further 167,500 staff, each week.
Comments
Tony Currie6 years, 2 months ago
"Typically, this shows local radio stations in remote parts of the UK." In fact the top three are outside of the UK!!!
Tony Currie6 years, 2 months ago
Not at all. Describing stations in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man as being "in the UK" is quite simply wrong. And it's relevant, because these are not "remote" parts of the UK. (Remote from what or whom? London is a pretty remote place from many places on mainland Great Britain!) What they in fact are, are radio stations in self-governing places where UK media is less relevant. Hence their success.
James Cridland6 years, 2 months ago
I've rewritten the intro for that section, removing the use of 'UK'. I've retained 'remote', since its definition is 'situated far from the main centres of population', which is the point of these numbers: these stations do well because they're unserved by the large broadcasters.
That said, this article isn't a legal definition of 'UK'; and the stations themselves are rather pleased at being featured on it.
Chris Sigsworth6 years, 2 months ago
There's nothing remote about the area that Yorkshire Coast Radio serves. More than 50 stations can be received, so plenty of choice!
James Martin6 years, 2 months ago
Nobody's got anything to say on this forum and we're arguing about this?
What happened?!
James Cridland6 years, 2 months ago
There's nothing remote about the area that Yorkshire Coast Radio serves
There bloody is, Chris! Many years stuck on the A64 teaches me that... ;)
Congratulations on the figures, though.
J Peter Wilson6 years, 2 months ago
I now live on the Yorkshire coast and my local radio station is Yorkshire Coast Radio. The station appears to be on in shops & garages wherever I go so what they are doing is appealing to the local audience. Here in Brid they have another 50 stations to compete against but they are the only local station that reports events and news happening in the area as other local stations are broadcasting from Hull (Viking) or Leeds (Capital Yorkshire).
kwad kissiedu5 years, 10 months ago
Thank you for pulling all this data together.
I would be interested to know the relationship between the radio stations and the way the listeners access the station
For example, do most R2 listeners listen via FM/DAB whilst Kiss listen via IP. Also, do the listeners of local stations tend to listen via a certain medium regardless of location.
is this data readily avilable?
Kwad.
James Cridland5 years, 10 months ago
Kwad - thanks. Platform data is available but isn't public, so I can't use it here.
Young stations like Kiss, CapitalXtra and others do well on IP and on TV (probably because younger people are unlikely to have a radio receiver in their bedroom, but will have a TV).
However, internet still is a small percentage of total listening, and - having seen the figures - I am unaware of a single radio station where internet is the majority of time spent listening.
Josh Lincoln5 years, 10 months ago
Nice argueing. (image) By that far, even the article's title is wrong then. (image)
Should we call it this country then, or will there be other objections? (image)
David Henderson5 years, 9 months ago
The opening statement is incorrect "media.info publishes all the RAJAR audience figures for every radio station" - community radio in the UK ISN'T inclulded in the RAJAR research, so therefor ALL stations aren't included. It reports on Commercial and BBC Radio only.
James Cridland5 years, 9 months ago
Hi David - in fact, that sentence is correct. We publish all the RAJAR audience figures for every radio station. If a station isn't in RAJAR, we can't publish their RAJAR audience figures, because they don't have any. But if they are in RAJAR, we publish them.
Contrary to popular belief, community radio is measured by RAJAR, but under the line "other radio" in the research. RAJAR reports on any station that pays the fees to be included. There's nothing stopping community radio doing so if they can afford it.
Using that "Other Radio" figure, I've attempted to calculate community radio's listening figures in an article here.
David Webb5 years, 1 month ago
The RAJAR figures are like GFK ratings in Australia, Community Radio is measured but not put out publicly unless they pay for it. Community Radio cannot afford the cost of surveys on top of the other costs in most areas. Maybe the Government should pay or the Commercial and BBC /ABC should publish the ratings of Community radio to give a true picture to the public, or do they just not want to acknowledge that some Community radio has an appreciable appreciative audience that prefers them to the commercial and public broadcasters.
James Cridland5 years, 1 month ago
Community Radio is measured but not put out publicly unless they pay for it
This isn't true: RAJAR has a box for 'other radio', where respondents are instructed to place all radio without a specific sticker. There are no hidden figures for community radio. I looked, separately, at the likely audience for community radio in the UK, and concluded it's around half a million.
In Australia, where community radio is very different, the CBAA produces some nice research showing the extent of community radio's audience.
David Webb5 years, 1 month ago
Thanks James for that information about RAJAR. I am aware of the CBAA surveys and how they reflect how much Community Radio is enjoyed. In Australia there is not even an other category publicly available so a true picture is never seen in the GFK ratings , at least by the Public.
greg butler3 years, 2 months ago
Interestingly Community radio "The Voice" in North Devon entered Rajar this quarter with a reach of 11,000 in a TSA of 154,000. I believe many other Community radio stations would have similar reach figures in the UK if they were to be measured. We believe our reach to between 8 and 10,000 in our area. Granted not all Community radio stations are as big but given that there is 285 of them in the UK even an average reach of 4,000 per station would give a figure of over a million listeners.
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johnbrille blake2 months ago
I presently live on the Yorkshire coast and my neighborhood radio broadcast is Yorkshire Coast Radio. The station has all the earmarks of being on in shops and carports any place I go so the thing they are doing is interesting to the nearby crowd. Here in Brid they have one more 50 stations to contend with however they are the main neighborhood station that reports occasions and news occurring nearby as other neighborhood stations are communicating from Hull (Viking) or Leeds (Capital Yorkshire). See More
johnbrille blake1 month, 2 weeks ago
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