BBC2 remained the most listened to breakfast radio show last year, increasing its weekly reach by 4% during the final quarter 2021, according to the latest Rajar figures.
The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show pulled in 7.5 million weekly listeners in Q4 2021, compared to 7.2 million in Q3 2021, during the popular 6.30am to 9.30am slot.
This is the first time since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic that quarterly comparisons are possible for major radio networks. Q4 covers the period mid-September to mid-December 2021.
The second most-listened to BBC breakfast programme was BBC Radio 4 with its flagship Today programme hosted by Martha Kearney, Mishal Husain, Justin Webb and Nick Robinson. Its weekly listeners remained mostly flat around 6.5 million across the last two quarters of 2021.
BBC Radio 1’s breakfast show with Greg James increased its weekly reach by 4.2% finishing Q4 with an average of 4.5 million weekly listeners.
On the commercial side, Global had the top two breakfast shows with Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden (pictured, below) and Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp.
Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakstone and Amanda Holden was the biggest commercial radio show, although its average weekly listeners declined between Q3 2021 and Q4 2021 by 5.1% from 4.0 million to 3.9 million.
Capital Breakfast decreased its weekly listeners in the same time period from 2.8 million to 2.6 million (-8.8%).
Listeners to News UK’s Times Radio breakfast show, hosted by Stig Abell and Aasmah Mir, declined from 273,000 to 255,000 or 6.6% from Q3 2021 to Q4 2021 from. This is the newest of the radio stations in this category, launched in June 2020.
Bauer’s Absolute Radio, Kiss and Magic breakfast shows’ weekly reach remained steady over this time.
Please note that all Rajar listening figures from Q3 2021 have been calculated using a modified survey methodology and this should be considered when making comparisons against historical data. Read more here.
To see who is dominating the London breakfast show market and to read more findings from Rajar’s Q4 2021 National Stations Breakfast Weekly Reach, log-in to Mediatel Connected to view the tables below.
| Station | Sales House | Q3 2021 | Q4 2021 | QoQ % Change Q3 2021 on Q4 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BBC Radio 2 (06.30-09.30) | BBC | 7,217 | 7,495 | 3.9 |
| BBC Radio 4 (06.00-09.00) | BBC | 6,514 | 6,452 | -1.0 |
| BBC Radio 1 (07.00-10.30) | BBC | 4,284 | 4,464 | 4.2 |
| Heart Network (UK) (6.30 – 10.00) | Global | 4,067 | 3,860 | -5.1 |
| Capital Network (UK) (06.00 – 10.00) | Global | 2,833 | 2,584 | -8.8 |
| Absolute Radio Network (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 2,154 | 2,157 | 0.1 |
| BBC Radio 5 live (06.00-09.00) | BBC | 1,693 | 1,827 | 7.9 |
| Classic FM (06.00-09.00) | Global | 1,688 | 1,651 | -2.2 |
| Greatest Hits Radio (06.00 – 10.00) | Bauer | 1,345 | 1,383 | 2.8 |
| Magic (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 1,228 | 1,228 | n/a |
| Radio X Network (UK) (6.30-10.00) | Global | 1,080 | 1,173 | 8.6 |
| talkSPORT (06.00-10.00) | talkSPORT | 1,190 | 1,086 | -8.7 |
| Virgin Network (6.30-10.00) | talkSPORT | 985 | 1,004 | 1.9 |
| Kiss (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 980 | 985 | 0.5 |
| BBC Radio 3 (06.30-09.00) | BBC | 708 | 700 | -1.1 |
| Planet Rock (06.00 – 10.00) | Bauer | 500 | 576 | 15.2 |
| Hits Radio (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 373 | 361 | -3.2 |
| Times Radio (06.00 – 10.00) | talkSPORT | 273 | 255 | -6.6 |
Source: Rajar
| Station | Sales House | Q3 2021 | Q4 2021 | QoQ % Change Q3 2021 on Q4 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LBC London (07.00-10.00) | Global | 837 | 783 | -6.5 |
| Heart London (06.30-10.00) | Global | 734 | 715 | -2.6 |
| Capital London (06.00-10.00) | Global | 617 | 615 | -0.3 |
| Magic (London) (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 606 | 570 | -5.9 |
| Kiss (London) (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 374 | 411 | 9.9 |
| Smooth Radio London (06.00-10.00) | Global | 290 | 354 | 22.1 |
| Greatest Hits Radio (London) (06.00-10.00) | Bauer | 161 | 333 | 106.8 |
| Radio X London (06.30-10.00) | Global | 259 | 252 | -2.7 |
| BBC Radio London (07.00-10.00) | BBC | 221 | 229 | 3.6 |
| Capital XTRA (London) (06.30-10.00) | Global | 161 | 151 | -6.2 |
| Gold London (06.00-10.00) | Global | 108 | 138 | 27.8 |
| LBC News (London) (07.00-10.00) | Global | 112 | 130 | 16.1 |
| Premier Christian Radio (07.00-09.00) | Premier Christian Radio | 33 | 54 | 63.6 |
Source: Rajar
UPDATE 18/02/2022 – Due to a requested re-allocation of platform data from National services to Local services, the results for a small number of stations have changed. The above reflects the updated figures.
