The latest RAJAR figures for Q2 2025 were released at midnight; so which brands, networks and stations are leading the way in commercial radio?
Here are the headlines:
- 50 million adults, or 86% of the adult UK population, tune into radio each week.
- Commercial radio has reached its highest ever share of UK radio listening at 55.7%, widening the gap by 13.6% over the BBC which now stands at 42.1%.
- 39.5 million people now tune in to commercial stations each week, 8.4 million more than BBC radio.
Our expert team of radio and audio specialists have been going through the numbers to bring you highlights.
National Stations and Networks
The Heart Brand still beats strongly and now reaches 13 million weekly listeners and remains the UK’s biggest commercial brand. In addition, Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston & Amanda Holden is the biggest commercial breakfast show in the UK with 4.2 million weekly listeners.
There’s good news for other Global owned brands too. In Q2 2025, the Smooth Brand has seen an increase in reach year on year, growing from 7,215,000 to 7,712,000 with listeners tuning in for 6.5 hours per week on average
Meanwhile, the Capital Brand and Network had a relatively steady Q2. The brand saw a slight increase in hours quarter on quarter – up from 48,877,000 to 48,960,000.
The Gold Network is as good as gold, as they increased their overall reach this quarter, growing by 48,000 from 1,599,000 to 1,647,000 weekly listeners. Their total hours have also jumped by 10.9%, up from 10,488,000 in Q1 to 11,628,000 in Q2.
The Absolute Radio Network has had a steady quarter – it reaches over 5.4 million listeners each week who tune in for 6.2 hours per week on average– that’s a total of 34,159,000 hours.
Bauer have also seen their brands deliver solid numbers in Q2 with some notable performances.
The main Absolute Radio station has grown its audience since Q1 2025, with reach up 10% from 1,957,000 to 2,155,000 weekly listeners in Q2.
Playing the hits everyone loves, The Greatest Hits Network has seen an increase in average hours per listener quarter on quarter from 8.9 per week to 9.1 hours.
Over at the Magic Network, they’re still pulling rabbits out of hats, growing their total hours in Q2 2025 by 3.8%, up from 17,854,000 to 18,540,000.
News and Talk stations
News is still pulling in listeners to commercial radio. LBC Brand (UK) had a stable Q2, with weekly reach up by 1%, from 3,343,000 to 3,377,000 and total hours increasing by 2%, rising from 31,098,000 to 31,617,000.
News Broadcasting’s talkSPORT increased its average hours per listener, quarter on quarter, from 6.5 to 6.7, whilst talkSPORT2 increased its reach, year on year, up from 563,000 to 568,000 weekly listeners.
Digital Listening and Digital Only Stations
The growth of digital listening continues in Q2, with 73% of all listening now being via a digital device (DAB, Online & DTV) and smart speaker listening now making up 18% of all radio consumption. A large proportion of the listening occurs via DAB (42%), with a record 29% of all radio listening taking place online (Website & Apps) – this is ahead of AM/FM analogue listening at 27%.
Bauer’s KISS Xtra (formerly KISS Fresh) is the top performer in the KISS brand, seeing a 15% increase in weekly reach in Q2, up from 209,000 to 240,000 weekly listeners and an 11% uplift in total hours from 580,000 to 645,000. Sister station KISS Dance also saw a 13% increase in total hours across the quarter with average hours per listener increasing from 1.8 to 3.1.
The best in Soul and Motown music is keeping listeners happy at Magic Soul, increasing its total hours in Q2 by an impressive 29.5%, up from 1,836,000 to 2,378,000.
Radio X 90’s has been rocking out in Q2, reporting a 29.5% increase in reach (from 122,000 to 158,000) and a 42.9% increase in total hours compared to Q1 (from 387,000 to 553,000). Radio X Classic Rock is the highest reaching Radio X brand spin-off station reaching 221,000 people each week. This station is up 36.4% in weekly reach (162,000 to 221,000) and 23.3% in total hours (1,015,000 to 1,251,000) in Q2.
Greatest Hits 80’s has debuted with an impressive reach of 495,000 weekly listeners, whilst Greatest Hits 70’s has also launched with a strong reach of 333,000, both providing solid additions to the Greatest Hits brand.
Several of the decade’s stations have had an increase in total hours in Q2. The most notable being Absolute Radio 10’s – up an impressive 47.9% from 351,000 to 519,000.
Everyone’s relaxed at Hits Radio Chilled, (formerly Magic Chilled). They’ve seen a successful rebrand with the station’s total listening hours increasing by 46.9% from 811,000 to 1,191,000 in Q2.
Bauer hasn’t got it all their own way though, as Global also have some impressive digital radio brands performing well.
Heart Dance sashayed its way over the 1,000,000 listener mark in Q2, that’s growth of 17%, with total reach now at 1,077,000 weekly listeners.
Heart Love is still enjoying its honeymoon period with a huge surge in hours since Q1 with 95% growth in total hours taking it from 365,000 to an impressive 711,000 hours, driven by its average listener hours increasing by 44%. Reach has also grown by 65,000 weekly listeners in Q2 taking the station to 272,000 per week.
Smooth Relax is the standout spin off from the Smooth Brand with a weekly reach increase of 33% in Q2 adding 110,000 listeners per week. Reach is now at 446,000 listeners who tune in for an average of 4.5 hours per week.
Capital Anthems saw a 20.1% increase in reach, quarter on quarter – up from 399,000 to 479,000 listeners per week. It also saw an 18.6% jump in total hours from 859,000 to 1,019,000.
Outside of Global and Bauer there is one independent station that is still booming!
Boom Radio increased reach in Q2 by 2%, up from 697,000 to 711,000 weekly listeners with average hours per listener now at a high of 15.7 hours per week – up from 13.7 in Q1.
Just a note about Fix Radio – a station aimed purely at the building industry.
Fix Radio doesn’t currently subscribe to RAJAR but it has its own audience measurement carried out by Nielsen. Their specific Q2 results show that the station has 725,000 tradespeople now tuning in every week, which is close to one in four of the UK’s estimated 3 million tradespeople.
London
The biggest headlines in the capital come from the Global Radio portfolio.
In Q2, Heart London remains the most listened to commercial radio station with 1,939,000 listeners tuning in each week. Capital stays in second place in terms of reach (1,590,000 listeners), whilst growing 16.7% in total listening hours from 6,690,000 to 7,809,000, quarter on quarter.
The station with the highest total listening hours in the capital is LBC London, at 16,803,000 for Q2 2025. Smooth London increased its total listening hours by 49.8% compared to Q1, breaking through the 5 million mark, up from 3,562,000 to 5,337,000. This increase is driven by a jump in average listener hours from 3.5 to 5.0.
LBC London’s sister brand, LBC News London, has had another positive set of results in Q2 on the back of a strong performance in the previous quarter, adding a further 32.9% to its reach figures, going from 410,000 to 545,000 weekly listeners.
The top 5 London stations are as follows:
Weekly Reach (000s)
| Heart London | 1,939 |
| Capital London | 1,590 |
| LBC London | 1,443 |
| Magic London | 1,123 |
| GHR London | 893 |
Total Listening Hours (000’s)
| LBC London | 16,803 |
| Heart London | 9,443 |
| Capital London | 7,809 |
| GHR London | 5,451 |
| Magic London | 5,351 |
Locally
In the regions, there have been some solid performances this quarter.
Gold Cambridgeshire has had a stunning Q2, increasing its total hours by 48%, up from 256,000 to 379,000. Listeners now tune in for an average of 8.9 hours each per week, up from 6.6 in Q1.
Capital South Wales saw its reach increase 19.3% in Q2 compared to Q1, up from 171,000 to 204,000 weekly listeners and a jump of 37.5% in total hours listened, from 754,000 to 1,037,000.
There’s more good news for the Capital Brand as Capital North West and Wales also had a very positive Q2 with a 21.4% increase in reach and a 20% increase in total hours listened. Its Reach has increased from 117,000 to 142,000 weekly listeners and its total hours have grown from 690,000 to 828,000.
For the second quarter in a row, Capital Brighton saw increases in its reach and total hours. Its reach went up 21.6% compared to Q1 from 37,000 to 45,000 weekly listeners and total hours rose 16.4% quarter on quarter from 201,000 to 234,000.
Gold East Midlands’ listeners now tune in for an impressive 10.7 hours on average per week, up from 7.9 last quarter. This has helped the station’s total hours grow by 46.7% quarter on quarter to 1,259,000.
In the home counties, Heart Hertfordshire has grown its total hours significantly in Q2. They have grown by 95,000 hours (up 39%) from 243,000 to 338,000. Its weekly reach has also increased by an impressive 60% from 42,000 to 67,000.
Summary
Q2 2025 was another solid set of results for Commercial Radio.
The entire radio industry continues to work hard to create great content that informs and entertains whilst providing company to listeners.
Agencies and their advertisers have access to close to 40 million pairs of ears each week to help them communicate both brand and direct response messages.
When the world is facing challenging times on all fronts, people turn to radio to stay in touch, so right now, there’s never been a better time for advertisers to use radio
For a quick overview, take a look at our infographic and if you’d like to know more about the Q2 2025 RAJAR or any other aspects of radio and digital audio advertising, please get in touch.
