Fresh audience data reveals a positive trend for most of the BBC's flagship radio breakfast programmes, with several key shows experiencing a welcome boost in listenership during the final months of 2025. The quarterly figures, published by the research body Rajar, show growth across multiple stations, though one notable programme bucked the trend with a slight decline.
Radio 2 Maintains Top Spot Despite Overall Dip
Radio 2 continues to hold its position as the United Kingdom's most popular radio station, attracting an average weekly audience of 12.71 million listeners between October and December 2025. This represents a marginal decrease from 12.79 million in the previous quarter and a 7 per cent drop compared to the same period in 2024. The station has seen a significant reduction in its audience since autumn 2021, when regular reporting resumed post-pandemic, having lost nearly two million listeners over that timeframe.
Breakfast Show Performances Highlighted
The breakfast slot on Radio 2, now hosted by Scott Mills, achieved an average weekly audience of 6.47 million in the last quarter of 2025. This marks a substantial rise from 6.16 million in the preceding three months and stands as Mills's highest figure since he took over the show earlier in the year. However, this listenership remains slightly below the 6.83 million average recorded during Zoe Ball's final stint in the same period of 2024.
Helen Thomas, head of Radio 2, expressed her delight at the station's ongoing popularity. "I'm thrilled that Radio 2 continues to be the UK's most listened to single radio station," she stated, also highlighting Vernon Kay's show as the most listened to programme on UK radio, with 6.7 million weekly listeners.
Mixed Results Across the BBC Network
Greg James's Radio 1 breakfast show attracted 3.87 million listeners in the three months to December, up from 3.82 million in the prior quarter. Despite this quarterly improvement, the figure falls short of the 4.10 million recorded a year earlier.
In contrast, both Radio 3 and Five Live's breakfast programmes demonstrated consistent and impressive growth. The Radio 3 programme, presented by Tom McKinney, saw its average weekly audience surge to 840,000—a sharp 22 per cent increase from the previous quarter and a 2 per cent rise year-on-year. Five Live's breakfast show reached 1.48 million listeners, up 16 per cent quarterly and 5 per cent annually.
Radio 4's Today Programme Sees Slight Decline
Not all news was positive, however. Radio 4's esteemed Today programme registered a slight downturn, with its average audience standing at 5.47 million at the end of last year. This represents a minor drop from 5.49 million in the previous quarter and a 5 per cent decrease compared to the 5.74 million listeners recorded in the final quarter of 2024.
Overall Station Performance and Commercial Radio
Looking at overall station averages, Radios 3 and 4 both grew their total audiences in the latest quarter. Radio 3 increased by 6 per cent to 1.91 million, while Radio 4 rose by 1 per cent to 8.92 million. Conversely, listeners to Radios 1 and Five Live fell slightly on the quarter, by 3 per cent and 2 per cent respectively.
The Rajar data also shed light on the commercial radio sector. The station Greatest Hits experienced a significant 20 per cent year-on-year decline, dropping from 7.37 million listeners in October-December 2024 to 5.91 million in the same period in 2025—its lowest weekly audience since mid-2023.
Among smaller news-based stations, Times Radio averaged 542,000 listeners across the three months to December, down 4 per cent quarterly and 10 per cent annually. GB News recorded an average of 672,000 listeners in the latest quarter, a slight 2 per cent decrease on the previous quarter but a substantial 44 per cent increase compared to the year before.
The latest figures underscore a dynamic period for UK radio, with BBC breakfast shows largely holding their own in a competitive and evolving media landscape.
