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Rajar Q2 2026: Heart Breakfast growth stalls but remains most popular commercial breakfast show

Rajar Q2 2026: Heart Breakfast growth stalls but remains most popular commercial breakfast show

Heart Breakfast with Jamie and Amanda (Global) saw its weekly reach decline in Q2, but retains its crown as the UK’s most popular commercial breakfast show, according to the latest Rajar figures.

The show was down 3.1% quarter-on-quarter, and 0.5% year-on-year, reaching 4.1m weekly listeners.

BBC Radio 2’s Breakfast Show continues to lead the breakfast timeslot overall, despite a 0.7% quarterly decline to 6.3m weekly reach. Presenter Scott Mills was sacked at the end of March following allegations around his personal conduct. As a result, the show was presented by Gary Davies until 6 July when Sara Cox took over. The impact of the presenter change will become clearer in Q3.

Greatest Hits Radio Breakfast Show, Bauer’s biggest breakfast show, hosted by Simon ‘Rossie’ Ross, declined 10.6% year-on-year, but was up 2% quarter-on-quarter, to 2.8m.

Meanwhile, Bauer’s KISS Breakfast saw huge growth of 40% year-on-year and 13.6% quarter-on-quarter to a weekly reach of 325,000. The growth can be attributed to presenters Tyler West and Chloe Burrows, who took over in February, alongside Bauer’s major rebrand of KISS which was launched in the spring.

Further year-on-year growth could be seen in GB News’ Breakfast with Stephen and Ellie, up 70.2% to 325,000, and News Broadcasting’s Times Radio Breakfast, hosted by Kate McCann and Stig Abell, up 18.4% to 348,000.

Global’s Classic FM Breakfast with Dan Walker had a strong quarter, up 4% to 1.9m.

Meanwhile, Bauer’s Hits Radio Breakfast, hosted by Fleur East, Will Best and James Barr, saw year-on-year decline of 26.3% to 1.2m.

Examining the London market, most breakfast shows saw year-on-year contractions, with Greatest Hits Radio (London) declining 26% to 269,000, Heart London down 9% to 676,000, and LBC London also down 9% to 744,000.

However, Capital London grew 4% year-on-year and 11% quarter-on-quarter to 669,000.


RAJAR Q2 2026: National Stations Breakfast Weekly Reach (000s)
Quarters ending June 2025, March 2026 and June 2026
Weekly reach (000s) % change
# Station Saleshouse Jun 25 Mar 26 Jun 26 QoQ YoY
1 BBC Radio 2 – 06.30 – 09.30am BBC 6,216 6,417 6,373 -0.7% +2.5%
2 BBC Radio 4 – 06.00 – 09.00am BBC 5,639 5,665 5,611 -1% -0.5%
3 Heart Network (UK) – 06.30 – 10.00am ** Global 4,188 4,299 4,167 -3.1% -0.5%
4 BBC Radio 1 – 07.00 – 10.30am BBC 3,860 3,908 3,764 -3.7% -2.5%
5 Greatest Hits Radio – 06.00 – 10.00am Bauer 3,235 2,836 2,893 +2% -10.6%
6 Capital Network (UK) – 06.00 – 10.00am ** Global 2,722 2,792 2,751 -1.5% +1.1%
7 Smooth Radio Network (UK) – 06.00 – 10.00am Global 2,383 2,315 2,323 +0.3% -2.5%
8 Absolute Radio Network – 06.00 – 10.00am Bauer 2,194 2,212 2,211 0% +0.8%
9 Classic FM – 06.30 – 10.00am Global 1,961 1,857 1,931 +4% -1.5%
10 LBC (UK) – 07.00 – 10.00am Global 1,353 1,436 1,465 +2% +8.3%
11 talkSPORT – 06.00 – 10.00am News Broadcasting 1,318 1,320 1,354 +2.6% +2.7%
12 BBC Radio 5 live – 06.00 – 09.00am BBC 1,449 1,427 1,327 -7% -8.4%
13 BBC 6 Music – 07.00 – 10.00am BBC 1,261 1,263 1,293 +2.4% +2.5%
14 Hits Radio – 06.00 – 10.00am Bauer 1,706 1,360 1,258 -7.5% -26.3%
15 Radio X Network (UK) – 06.30 – 10.00am Global 944 1,054 1,046 -0.8% +10.8%
16 BBC Radio 3 – 06.30 – 09.30am BBC 748 861 822 -4.5% +9.9%
17 Magic – 06.00 – 10.00am Bauer 772 794 794 0% +2.8%
18 Gold Radio UK – 07.00 – 11.00am Global 786 775 741 -4.4% -5.7%
19 KISS – 06.00 – 10.00am Bauer 477 588 668 +13.6% +40%
20 Virgin Radio Network – 06.30 – 10.00am News Broadcasting 779 645 647 +0.3% -16.9%
21 Capital XTRA (UK) – 06.30 – 10.00am Global 666 593 585 -1.3% -12.2%
22 Planet Rock – 06.00 – 10.00am Bauer 522 501 468 -6.6% -10.3%
23 Times Radio – 06.00 – 10.00am News Broadcasting 294 319 348 +9.1% +18.4%
24 GB News Radio – 06.00 – 09.30am GB News 191 225 325 +44.4% +70.2%
25 Talk (was TalkRadio) – 06.00 – 10.00am News Broadcasting 225 312 289 -7.4% +28.4%
Source: RAJAR
Reach figures in 000s for the breakfast show window stated in each station name. Bold indicates the highest reach of the three periods shown per station; “–” denotes not measured/not applicable for that period. ** indicates a schedule/methodology note flagged by RAJAR for that station — see the RAJAR release for details. Stations are ranked by reach for the latest quarter (Jun 26).


RAJAR Q2 2026: London Stations Breakfast Weekly Reach (000s)
Quarters ending June 2025, March 2026 and June 2026
Weekly reach (000s) % change
# Station Saleshouse Jun 25 Mar 26 Jun 26 QoQ YoY
1 LBC London – 07.00 – 10.00am Global 818 808 744 -7.9% -9%
2 Heart London – 06.30 – 10.00am Global 746 715 676 -5.5% -9.4%
3 Capital London – 06.00 – 10.00am Global 641 602 669 +11.1% +4.4%
4 Magic (London) – 06.00 – 10.00am Bauer 368 342 372 +8.8% +1.1%
5 Smooth Radio London – 06.00 – 10.00am Global 370 349 325 -6.9% -12.2%
6 Greatest Hits Radio (London) – 06.00 – 10.00am Bauer 362 238 269 +13% -25.7%
7 Capital XTRA (London) – 06.30 – 10.00am Global 278 210 228 +8.6% -18%
8 LBC News (London) – 06.00 – 10.00am Global 206 204 189 -7.4% -8.3%
9 BBC Radio London – 06.00 – 10.00am BBC 101 150 181 +20.7% +79.2%
10 Hits Radio (London) (was KISS (London)) – 06.00 – 10.00am Bauer 159 159 167 +5% +5%
11 Radio X London – 06.30 – 10.00am Global 191 183 143 -21.9% -25.1%
12 Gold Radio London – 07.00 – 11.00am Global 139 145 124 -14.5% -10.8%
Source: RAJAR
Reach figures in 000s for the breakfast show window stated in each station name. Bold indicates the highest reach of the three periods shown per station; “–” denotes not measured/not applicable for that period. Stations are ranked by reach for the latest quarter (Jun 26).
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