Rajar Q1 2026
Top commercial breakfast show, Heart Breakfast with Jamie and Amanda (Global), grew its weekly reach by 0.9% quarter-on-quarter from Q4 2025 to reach 4.3m listeners, with a marginal decline of 0.1% year-on-year, according to the latest Rajar figures.
The BBC continues to lead the breakfast time slot, despite Radio 2 seeing marginal declines of 0.6% year-on-year and 0.8% from Q4 2025 to 6.4m. Radio 4 also saw a 0.5% year-on-year decline, but grew 3.6% quarter-on-quarter to 5.7m.
Scott Mills was dismissed as Radio 2’s Breakfast show host on 27 March over an allegation of personal conduct. He will be replaced by DJ Sara Cox this summer. Time will tell what effect this might have on the show’s listening figures.
Bauer’s KISS Breakfast saw year-on-year growth of 7.5% and quarter-on-quarter growth of 12.4%, with the show now reaching 588,000 weekly listeners. The growth indicates a positive response to presenters Tyler West and Chloe Burrows, who took over from Jordan Banjo and Perri Kiely in February, following the dancers’ five-and-a-half years on the show.
Bauer also unveiled a major rebrand for KISS last month, aiming to spearhead the brand’s growth.
Meanwhile, Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio Breakfast, hosted by Simon ‘Rossie’ Ross, declined by 14.6% year-on-year, but was up 2.9% quarter-on-quarter to 2.8m.
Bauer’s Hits Radio Breakfast, hosted by Fleur East, Will Best and James Barr, declined by 25.6% year-on-year and 6.5% from last quarter to 1.3m.
The year-on-year decline for both shows could be the result of Bauer standardising the Breakfast shows from regional to national. The quarterly increase from Greatest Hits Radio suggests its listenership is starting to recover.
Bauer’s Magic Radio Breakfast, hosted by Gok Wan and Harriet Scott, saw a year-on-year decline of 7.9% and a quarterly decline of 16.3% to 794,000.
GB News saw a year-on-year decline of 5.1% and a 19.1% decline from Q4 2025, with the show now reaching 225,000 weekly listeners. This follows two quarters of standout growth for the Breakfast show.
Examining the London market, Global’s LBC London retained the top spot to reach 808,000 weekly listeners, growing 9% year-on-year. This is followed by two of Global’s other brands: Heart London (715,000) and Capital London (602,000).
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