Latest listening figures show Zoe Ball’s Breakfast Show on Radio 2 still on top

The latest figures from the radio industry’s research body, Rajar show there wasn’t much change in audiences over the last quarter of 2021 and that The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 is still the most listened to in that slot.

From October to December 2021 the show’s weekly audience was 7.5 million compared to 7.2 in the previous three months. When Zoe took over from Chris Evans in 2019, the show had over 9 million listeners.

Radio 2 is still the biggest station in the UK with 14.87 million listeners, up from 14.6 million in the previous quarter.

Greg James has also seen a slight increase on his Radio 1 Breakfast Show, rising from 4.3 million to 4.5 million.

Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden continues as the UK’s biggest commercial radio show and commercial breakfast show with 3.9 million listeners tuning in every week. The station is the UK’s biggest commercial radio brand with its highest ever listening figures, for the second consecutive quarter with 10.3 million listeners now tuning in each week.

Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp has dipped slightly to 2.6 million from 2.8 million, but the station still has 7.6 million weekly listeners across the UK. Capital Dance, which launched in October 2020, has more than doubled its audience in the past three months, now reaching 592,000 listeners each week.

talkRADIO has achieved its highest ever audience, up over 100k from 450,000 to 542,000. Times Radio hasn’t done so well, dropping by 135,000 first reported last quarter from 637,000 to 502,000. LBC is up nationally with the brand reporting 3.2 million listeners, up from 3.05 million last quarter.

Virgin Radio UK remains static with 1.6 million weekly reach, with Chris Evans gaining more listeners, now with just over 1 million, although still behind Chris Moyles on Radio X who has 1.2 million at breakfast. Radio X has broken through the 2 million mark for the first time, adding 166,000 new listeners.

The Hits Radio Network has 5.67 million, down from 6.15 million the previous quarter, but Greatest Hits Radio has seen an increase, up from 3.21 million to 3.38 million. GHR replaced Absolute Radio on FM in London last May and increased its reach there by almost 50% in the last three months to 818,000, up from 548,000 the previous quarter.