The latest RAJAR figures for Q1 2026 have been released. We’ve been mulling over the spreadsheets and assessing the results whilst consuming a strong jug of coffee!
Here are the headlines:
- 50.6 million adults, or 87% of the adult UK population, tune into radio each week.
- Commercial Radio’s share of UK radio listening is 54.3%, 10.9% bigger than the BBC which now stands at 43.4%.
- Online listening now represents almost a third of all listening hours at 32.9 per cent, up from 32.3 per cent year on year
National Stations and Networks
Global continues to lead as the UK’s largest commercial radio group with 279 million listening hours and a 27.7% share delivering a weekly reach of 29 million listeners.
Heart, Capital and Smooth Radio are the top 3 commercial radio brands in the UK.
Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden have added another 172,000 listeners quarter on quarter and are now reaching 4.3 million weekly listeners.
One of the quarter’s standout performers was the LBC Brand, which posted its highest ever audience with 3.6 million weekly listeners across the UK.
Over at Smooth, most of the network’s stations increased in reach in Q1 2026, showing real growth during the surveyed quarter.
Bauer’s Greatest Hits Network are hitting the numbers – reaching 6.8m listeners each week during Q1 2026. They tune in on average for 9.4 hours per week. But here’s something interesting to note, GHR Network’s average hours were 43% higher than Smooth and 44% higher than Heart’s in this quarter.
News and Talk stations
With international events taking centre stage it’s no surprise that, during Q1 2026, national speech stations performed better than some of the music stations.
LBC News (UK) was leading the charge with a strong quarter. Weekly reach up 11% from 981,000 to 1,084,000 and total hours increasing 20% from 2,502,000 to 2,995,000 during this survey period.
Ahead of this Summer’s FIFA World Cup, News UK’s talkSPORT gained 2% in reach quarter on quarter with 3.3 million listeners. Sister station talkSPORT2 gained 19% in reach, achieving 0.55 million listeners and at the same time gained a healthy 30% in hours with average hours increasing to 3.0 from 2.7. It will be interesting to see how coverage of this Summer’s World Cup will influence audience figures in Q2.
Times Radio are having the best of times – with the fastest quarterly growth among national news stations. During Q1 they gained 11% in audience with reach now at 0.60 million and hours up 12%, compared to Q4 2025.
Meanwhile, GB News remains steady at 0.68 million listeners with average hours per listener at 6.4 reported for Q1 2026.
Digital Listening and Digital Only Stations
Digital listening to all radio has reached a new high of 76% of listening, whilst AM/FM listening is at 24%.
The rise in popularity of Smart Speakers continues to drive listening growth in digital. Across all radio, listening through smart speakers now accounts for 18.8 % of total listening, up year-on-year from 17.6%.
Commercial radio performs even more strongly on Smart Speakers, where it now delivers 21.8% of listening hours, rising from 21.4% last year and overtaking AM/FM listening, which has dropped to 19.1%.
Q1 2026 has delivered some of the biggest audience gains for digital stations.
Global’s Radio X 90s saw significant growth in reach and hours. The station went up in reach by 39% to 146,000 and went up in hours by over 100%, quarter on quarter.
Sister station, Radio X 00s, also went up over 100% in hours in Q1 2026 with reach also up 20% to 143,000, compared to the previous quarter.
On the back of a great Q4 2025 result, Bauer’s Absolute 00s increased its total hours by a total of 27.5%, smashing through the 2 million mark in Q1 2026 – going from 1,595,000 to 2,034,000. Reach on this station remained static, with over half a million listeners tuning in each week to hear their favourite indie/rock artists from the 00s era.
Decade stations are showing they’re the height of fashion. All of the Heart decades stations, bar one, have shown positive growth during this surveyed quarter. Combined they have added 762,000 hours, with increased percentage reach in Q1 2026. As a good example of the growth, Heart 10s saw a 220% growth in total hours, up 375,000 hours and 45% growth in reach taking it to 356,000 weekly listeners.
Capital Chill found it hard to remain calm when it saw a 50.4% increase in its total hours, up from 667,000 to 1,003,000. It also had a slight increase in weekly reach, up 0.5% from 213,000 to 214,000, quarter on quarter.
Another big winner was Capital Anthems, with 39.7% and 11.2% increases in hours and reach respectively. Its total hours increased from 1,236,000 to 1,727,000 and reach jumped from 563,000 to 626,000 during this survey period, compared to the previous quarter.
This is the first survey since Bauer rolled out a new brand identity for KISS across broadcast, social, events and marketing. KISSTORY is the star performer of the quarter in terms of total hours growth, seeing a 33% increase from 6,371,000 to 8,480,000, while reach is up 6% from 1,715,000 to 1,819,000 weekly listeners.
With its moustache and flared trousers, Smooth 70s delivered a strong quarter, with reach up 46% from 208,000 to 304,000 and total listening hours up by 24.5% from 752,000 to 936,000, compared to Q4 2025.
Meanwhile, Magic at the Musicals, continues to steal the spotlight delivering the biggest growth across the Magic portfolio. Total hours surged by 7.5%, rising from 1,585,000 to 1,704,000, while reach also increased from 291,000 to 303,000, quarter on quarter. A showstopping performance!
London
Commercial Radio in London is thriving with a strong performance in Q1 2026. Most stations have increased their weekly reach with Heart London, LBC London and Capital London all seeing over, or close to, 1.5 million listeners.
Heart London increased its reach by 11 percent up from 1,585,000 to 1,761,000 weekly listeners. LBC was up 15 percent from 1,328,000 to 1,530,000 and over at Hits Radio London, reach increased by 29% from 554,000 to 717,000 – all significant increases on Q4 2025.
LBC London remains the most listened to station, with a 7.5% share of listening which equates to 9.7 weekly average hours per listener. Stations also saw significant increases in hours. Smooth was up 33%, Hits up 37% and LBC News almost doubled their hours up 97%, quarter on quarter.
Hits London saw the largest percentage growth across Breakfast Shows in the capital, increasing its audience by 54% from 103,000 to 159,000 quarter on quarter, whilst Heart London still has the highest breakfast audience at -715,000.
Reach for Gold Radio London was solid gold with a slight increase for Q1 2026. Gold Radio London’s transmitter delivered reach that was up by 4% compared to Q4 2025. In terms of total listening hours, the station has gone up by 8% from 2,131,000 hours to 2,318,000 hours.
Top 5 London Stations – Weekly Reach
| Station | Q1 Total Reach |
| Heart London | 1,761,000 |
| LBC London | 1,530,000 |
| Capital London | 1,483,000 |
| Magic London | 990,000 |
| Smooth London | 974,000 |
Top 5 London Stations – Total Listening Hours
| Station | Q1 Total Hours |
| LBC London | 14,899,000 |
| Heart London | 8,525,000 |
| Capital London | 7,972,000 |
| Smooth London | 5,339,000 |
| Magic | 4,916,000 |
The Local Picture
It’s not all about the national radio landscape, there have been some solid performances in the regions too, this quarter.
One of the biggest hits was Hits Radio Berkshire & North Hampshire, which saw a massive 330% growth in total listening hours – up from 10,000 to 43,000 quarter on quarter. It also grew its weekly reach by 50% from 12,000 to 18,000 weekly listeners.
It’s hit after hit, as Hits Radio Cambridgeshire also delivered a standout quarter, with listening hours climbing 73.2% from 82,000 to 142,000. Weekly reach also increased 39.1%, rising from 23,000 to 32,000. A year on from its rebrand from Star Radio, the station has seen a 10.3% increase year on year in reach.
According to Liverpudlians, Capital Liverpool is “sound”. This station has seen an amazing 33% increase in total hours listened in Q1 2026 – up from 713,000 to 948,000 quarter on quarter. There was also an 11.9% rise in reach – up from 176,000 to 197,000 weekly listeners.
The Greatest Hits Network star performers in Q1 2026 were GHR Bucks Beds & Herts which added 15.2% more weekly listeners to reach 53,000 people. Also in the GHR stable, GHR Coventry & Warwickshire grew by 27% to now reach 79,000 listeners, GHR Berkshire & North Hampshire added 37% more listeners to a new reach of 86,000, and finally GHR Cambridgeshire which increased its reach by 50% to 48,000 weekly listeners.
Meanwhile, it was Smooth sailing for Smooth Three Counties, which increased its weekly reach by 46% from 26,000 to 38,000, quarter on quarter and Smooth Radio Thames Valley achieving a 156% increase in weekly listening hours – up from 139,000 to 356,000 compared to Q4 2025.
Summary
Q1 2026 was another solid period for Commercial Radio.
What’s keeping listeners engaged is a real diversity of programme genres. From News, talk and sport shows to a massive variety of music genres and eras, Commercial Radio is evolving, reaching new audiences by delivering what the audience wants, whilst developing trust and loyalty.
There’s never been a better time to advertise on radio.
For a quick overview, take a look at our infographic and if you’d like to know more about the Q1 2026 RAJAR results or any other aspects of radio and digital audio advertising, please get in touch.
