Radio in the UK overall still commands massive audiences – more than 50 million adults listen for more than a billion hours a week
Global has the top three commercial radio brands in the UK – Heart, Capital & Smooth
Global has the top three commercial radio stations in London – Heart, Capital & LBC
Global’s average weekly listening time is the highest it’s ever been
Heart remains the UK’s biggest radio brand – still ahead of BBC Radio 2
Radio X celebrates a supersonic summer with record-breaking national listenership
Record-breaking listening figures for national stations including Heart 10s, Heart Dance, Heart Love, Radio X, Radio X 90s, Capital Anthems, Classic FM Calm and Capital Chill
Commercial radio extends its lead over BBC Radio – now with a share of 56% vs 41.7%

Global reports another strong set of RAJAR figures and record-breaking results for Q3 2025 (23rd June 2025 – 14th September 2025). The broadcaster has recorded its highest ever share (28.1%) and record hours (286 million), with 29 million people tuning in every week across its radio brands. Commercial radio also celebrates a new milestone, reaching its biggest ever share of 56%, while radio as a whole reaches more than 50 million people listening every week.

Here are some more key headlines:

GLOBAL

  • With 29 million listeners every week, Global is the UK’s number one commercial radio group.
  • Global achieves a record-breaking share and hours.
  • Global holds the top spots with the three biggest commercial radio brands in the UK – Heart, Capital and Smooth.
  • In London, Global has the top three commercial stations for reach – Heart, Capital and LBC.

HEART

  • Heart brand remains the UK’s biggest radio brand with a huge 12.8 million weekly listeners.
  • Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston & Amanda Holden is the biggest commercial breakfast show in the UK with 4.1 million weekly listeners.
  • Heart’s sister stations, Heart Dance (1.1 million), Heart 10s (361,000), and Heart Love (291,000) all celebrate record-breaking figures.

CAPITAL

  • Capital is the UK’s no.1 hit music station with 9.4 million weekly listeners across the Capital brand. This quarter it celebrates its highest ever hours and share.
  • Capital brand beats Radio 1 for reach, hours and share.
  • Capital XTRA brand continues to reach more than 2 million weekly listeners – 1.2 million more than BBC 1Xtra – and up in hours quarter-on-quarter.
  • Capital Dance reaches 1.1 million dance fans every week.
  • Capital Anthems sees record-breaking figures with 639,000 weekly listeners, adding 160,000 weekly listeners in the last quarter.
  • Capital XTRA Breakfast with Robert Bruce & Shayna Marie reaches 606,000 weekly listeners every morning.

LBC

  • Global’s news talk brand LBC continues to lead the news agenda with 3.3 million weekly listeners.
  • LBC’s Nick Ferrari at Breakfast is celebrating 1.4 million weekly listeners, increasing in reach, hours and share on the quarter.
  • LBC News, the UK’s only rolling news radio station, has more than 1 million weekly listeners, and is up in reach, hours and share year-on-year.

RADIO X

  • Radio X is celebrating a record 2.5 million weekly listeners as the station marks its 10th birthday this quarter. The station is up on all metrics year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter. This landmark year also coincides with the long-awaited Oasis reunion, giving Radio X listeners even more to celebrate.
  • Sister station Radio X 90s reaches a new record-breaking 262,000 weekly listeners.
  • The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X reaches over 1 million listeners each morning, 264,000 listeners more than Chris Evans on Virgin Radio.
  • Radio X Classic Rock reaches 248,000 weekly listeners, up on both reach and hours year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter.

MORE FROM GLOBAL

  • Smooth is the UK’s third biggest commercial radio brand with a new weekly audience of 7.6 million listeners, up in hours and share both on the quarter and year.
  • Smooth Relax (483,000) and Smooth 70s (308,000) have added 37,000 and 63,000 listeners respectively on the quarter.
  • Classic FM, the UK’s most popular classical music brand, reaches 4.5 million weekly listeners, with Classic FM Calm celebrating its highest ever audience, with 367,000 listeners.
  • Gold Radio has increased in reach, hours and share in the past quarter, with a new audience of 1.7 million weekly listeners.
  • The EE Official Big Top 40 from Global is the UK’s biggest chart show with 1.8 million listeners tuning in every week.

“I’m so proud to see Global once again delivering record-breaking results, with more people listening for longer than ever before and commercial radio once again extending its lead. Heart remains the UK’s biggest radio brand, in a very competitive landscape, which overall shows an incredibly healthy radio market. As Radio X marks its 10-year anniversary, it has enjoyed a bumper summer, benefitting from the epic Oasis-reunion.

It’s also rewarding to see that Capital Anthems, Classic FM Calm, Smooth Relax and Capital Chill are, amongst others, continuing their growth. The strong listening figures we see are testament to the incredible work of every globaller, and we are so grateful to the millions of listeners who choose our brands every single day.”

Ashley Tabor-King CBE, Founder & Executive President of Global

“It’s fantastic that so many people still love spending time with radio, and to see record hours and share for Global is wonderful recognition for our teams who work so hard to deliver for audiences. During a summer in which we saw the return of Oasis it’s great to see Radio X score its highest ever audiences as it marks ten years on air.”

James Rea, Chief Broadcasting & Content Officer at Global

Source

*RAJAR figures for Q3 2025, 23rd June 2025 – 14th September 2025 (Wks 26-37). All stations and groups results are reported on their specified reporting period and TSA (Total Survey Area).