GB News Radio recorded the strongest growth year on year among news and current affairs stations in the latest quarterly RAJAR listening figures.
The station saw its weekly reach increase by more than a third (34%) to 731,000 listeners, while its total listening hours also recorded the biggest year-on-year increase, rising 78% to 5.4 million.
RAJAR defines weekly reach as the number of UK adults who listen to a station for at least five minutes during an average week.
Compared to last quarter, GB News Radio grew its listeners by 8% and its listening hours by 24%. The station also saw a boost in its breakfast programme listening figures, with the show’s weekly reach up by 70% year on year and 44% quarter on quarter to 325,000 – overtaking Talk in the slot.
Its average hours per listener also increased the most compared to last quarter, up 16% to 7.4 hours.
News UK’s Talk (previously Talkradio) recorded the second-biggest increase in listeners compared to last year, up 11% to 543,000 and overtaking the London-specific version of LBC News (508,000).
This was followed by the UK-wide LBC News station, up 9% to its biggest ever weekly audience of 1.2 million and overtaking BBC World Service (943,000) during Q2 2026.
On a quarterly basis, LBC News (UK) posted the strongest growth in weekly reach, up 11%.
Next was Times Radio, which increased its listeners by 9% compared to last quarter to its biggest ever audience of 660,000. It remains behind GB News in weekly listeners, which overtook Times Radio in Q3 2025, having previously surpassed it in Q2 and Q3 2024.
Times Radio’s listening hours are, however, ahead of GB News at 5.9 million, up 21% year on year. This was the second-biggest increase among the stations behind GB News Radio.
Scott Taunton, News UK executive vice president and president of broadcasting, said there is “exceptional demand” for Times Radio’s “expert analysis and fearless debate during a turbulent political period”.
During Q2, the station had interviews with former prime minister Tony Blair, Jeremy Clarkson and former footballer John Barnes, who shared his prostate cancer diagnosis with listeners live on air.
LBC’s main UK station overtook the Talksport network during the quarter, with weekly listeners increasing 4% to 3.69 million compared to last quarter. Talksport saw a 1% increase to 3.67 million.
Most BBC stations see decline in listeners
The BBC maintained its hold on the most-listened-to radio stations despite planning extensive cuts across the broadcaster, including the axing of entire radio programmes.
Radio 4, which fell by 3% year on year and 2% quarter on quarter to 8.9 million weekly listeners, is set to close a number of shows next year including The World Tonight, Midnight News and The Law Show. Its news bulletins are being merged with BBC World Service.
Aside from BBC Radio 5 Live, which saw its listener figures remain flat year on year, all BBC news or current affairs stations saw a decline in weekly reach compared to last year and last quarter.
BBC World Service saw its audience decline the most both year on year (down 6%) and quarter on quarter (down 14%) among BBC stations.
However, BBC Radio 2 retained the highest weekly reach of any radio station with 12.4 million listeners.
GB News Radio and Talk lead breakfast show growth in RAJARs Q2 2026
Among breakfast shows, Talk recorded the second-fastest year-on-year growth behind GB News Radio, posting an increase of 28% to 289,000 listeners.
Meanwhile the breakfast show on BBC Radio 5 Live (1.3 million listeners) was overtaken by Talksport (1.4 million) during the quarter, with the former seeing a decline both year on year (down 8%) and quarter on quarter (down 7%) in weekly reach.
The Today programme, BBC Radio 4’s flagship breakfast show, was the only other station to record a decline in audience across both metrics.
Its listenership was down 1% compared to last quarter and 0.5% compared to last year to 5.6 million.
The Today programme is also undergoing change with the exit of presenter Amol Rajan, who will not be replaced as permanent presenters drop from five to four.
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