BBC Radio makes impressive start to 2026 as audiences enjoy unrivalled music and speech offer

New figures across BBC Radio show how listeners consumed the BBC’s audio content in the first quarter of 2026.

According to the latest RAJAR figures for the period (5 January – 5 April 2026), the BBC continues to be the number one radio brand with 31.4m people tuning in each week for live output across BBC’s radio stations, with share up on last quarter at 43.4% and reach at 54%.

This quarter is the first where figures are reported for the new brand extensions on DAB+ – Radio 1 Dance, Radio 1 Anthems and Radio 3 Unwind – which have all performed strongly since their launch in September 2025 with an average of 400K listeners each.

BBC Radio 1 has a total brand reach of 8m 10+ listeners (7.4m 15+) with new brand extension Radio 1 Anthems reaching 433k 10+ (417k 15+) and Radio 1 Dance reaching 505k 10+ (437k 15+). Radio 1 reached 7.66m 10+ (7.03m 15+).

Greg James continues to lead with the number one Breakfast Show for young listeners with 4.23m (10+) tuning in for an epic quarter in which Greg raised over £4M for Comic Relief in his Longest Ride Challenge. BBC Radio 3 enjoyed a strong quarter with a total brand reach of 2.2m, with 388k coming to new brand extension Radio 3 Unwind and 2.1M for Radio 3 (up 7.9% QoQ).

Speech radio performed well in a quarter with a packed news and sports agenda. BBC Radio 4 had a strong quarter and remains the UK’s leading speech radio station reaching 9.15m listeners each week. This is up quarter on quarter with flagship programmes including The Archers celebrating its 75th anniversary, and the Today programme which was up 4% at 5.79m during a busy period for news. Radio 4 Extra also performed well with 1.59m listeners each week, up both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year.

BBC Radio 5 Live reached 5.4m weekly listeners, fuelled by major news stories from the UK and around the world. Following a jam-packed sporting schedule, 5 Live Sports Extra reached 907k listeners last quarter – up 56% from the same period last year.

In addition, almost 7.1m a week listened to our output on BBC Nations radio and local BBC Radio in England (up from 6.8m last quarter) and BBC World Service reached 1.09M up 8% from last quarter.

BBC Radio 2 held steady as the UK’s most listened to single radio station with a weekly reach of 12.6m and Vernon Kay continued to be the most listened to show on UK radio with 6.6m listeners each week.

BBC 6 Music, recently crowned Station of the Year at the Music Week Awards, reached 2.6m listeners, up 11% from last quarter.

As revealed earlier this week, BBC Sounds started 2026 with a record first quarter with 718m plays of radio, podcasts and music between January and March – up 5% on the same period last year.

For audio from across the BBC, including BBC Sport, BBC News, BBC Bitesize and visualised podcasts on iPlayer, there was an average weekly audience of 5.8M with a record peak of 7.2m during the week of The Traitors: Uncloaked finale. Beyond BBC platforms, our podcasts and on demand radio programmes were downloaded 231m times on third-party platforms last quarter.

Kate Phillips, BBC Chief Content Officer, says: “The BBC continues to be the number one radio brand and I’m delighted that 2026 has got off to such an impressive start with audiences across the country enjoying our unrivalled music and speech offer.

This quarter is the first to include data from our new brand extensions on DAB+ for Radio 1 and Radio 3 and it’s great to see how successfully they have performed. As the audio landscape continues to go through rapid change, the strength of live listening alongside the record-breaking growth of on-demand on BBC Sounds, underscores how the BBC is continuing to innovate and give licence fee payers a variety and quality of choice that can’t be found anywhere else.”

RAJARS – live listening in Q1 2026

In this quarter, 31.3m people listened to the BBC’s unrivalled programming across its radio stations, with a share of 54%.

• BBC Radio 1 has 7.66m 10+ listeners and Greg James has 4.23m (10+) listeners for Radio 1’s Breakfast Show.

• BBC Radio 2 has an audience of 12.6m and the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show has 6.4m listeners

• BBC Radio 3 has 2.1m listeners and Radio 3 Breakfast reaches 861k listeners

• BBC Radio 4 has an audience of 9.15m listeners with 5.79m tuning in for the Today programme (Mon-Sat)

• BBC Radio 5 Live reaches 5.4m listeners

• BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra has 907k listeners

• BBC Radio 6 Music has 2.6m listeners and 6 Music Breakfast with Nick Grimshaw has 1.26m listeners

• BBC Radio 1Xtra has 743k listeners, BBC Radio 4 Extra has 1.59m and BBC Asian Network has 513k

• BBC World Service (UK) has 1.09m listeners a week

• BBC Nations radio and Local BBC Radio in England has a combined audience of 7.06m listeners

As revealed earlier this week, BBC Sounds started 2026 with a record first quarter with 718m plays of radio, podcasts and music between January and March – up 5% on the same period last year.

BBC Sounds Q1 Report 2026

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