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The numbers of those listening to radio in the U.K. are at an all-time high, but it's not all good news.

THE STATE OF BRITISH RADIO:
Q2 2016

The numbers of those listening to radio in the U.K. are at an all-time high, with 49.7 million tuning in per week at an average of 21.5 hours per person, according to Q2’s Rajar figures. BBC Radio 2 is top of the leaderboard, followed by Radio 1. However, it’s not all good news.

Radio 1 has recorded its lowest reach in 13 years, with 9.4m listeners each week (17% of the population). As a publicly funded national broadcaster, BBC stations boast an audience of 35.1m and account for a 52.2% market share of listening hours.

The Radio 1 decline has left wonderers wondering how long the station can be sustained while Controller Ben Cooper continues trying to lower its average listener age from 35 to better match its target audience of 15-29.

Adult contemporary Radio 2 remains the most popular station in the U.K. with 15.3m listeners, followed by Radio 4 with 11.5m.

Despite being close to closure in 2011, Blighty’s most popular digital station, the alternative 6Music, has scored its highest-ever weekly reach with almost 2.3m listeners. That’s up 10% year-on-year. Overall, digital radio listening is at a new high of 45.3%, up from 39.9% in Q2 2015 and representing 65% of the population.

Commercial radio has an audience of 35.6m and a 45.2% share of listening hours. Global’s Capital brand (that covers London-based XTRA, and regional stations) reaches 8.5m (16% of the population).

XTRA is the #1 most-listened to station in London, reaching 1.3m (up 371k YoY). The station comes third in the list of most popular stations in Blighty’s capital city, and is preceded by Radio 4 and Radio 2, and followed by Bauer brand KISS, fellow Global station Heart, Bauer’s Magic and Radio 1.

Global's Radio X, which rebranded from XFM in September with previous BBC breakfast host Chris Moyles at the helm, has amassed 300k listeners in the last quarter of 2015, boosting its London audience by 39%, and reaching 1.2m nationally.

Over at Bauer, urban network KISS has 5.5m listeners across the U.K., up 500k from 2015. Elsewhere, the newly launched Virgin Radio from Wireless Group has started well, amassing 409k listeners in its first quarter.

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