RAJAR released its Q3 results this week containing data for all of the UK's radio stations and its listener numbers. What's noticeable is an appetite for nostalgia coming through, particularly as digital listeners through phones and smart speakers increases. Stations that dedicate their output to the earlier part of this century (and some of the 90s too) have grown in strength this year which is a nice surprise.

 

Whilst generally radio listening figures have stabilised, commerical radio has increased its listener base and the BBC have lost out as a result.

 

Numbers are based on this time last year to now:

Absolute Radio 00s is up from 244,000 to 309,000 listeners

Absolute Radio 10s is up from 116,000 to 147,000 listeners

Capital XTRA Reloaded (also plays 90s) is up from 324,000 to 472,000

Heart 00s has had a huge increase from 212,000 to 778,000

KISSTORY (also plays 90s) is up from 2,299,000 to 2,572,000

 

Full report here.

 

Radio 1 00s is the top programme on BBC Sounds for % of listeners of Under 35s moving up from 2nd in Q2.

Radio 1 Anthems moves up from 2nd to 1st in Top Plays for Under 35s.

Radio 1 10s is in its early days but can imagine listeners of 00s are sticking around afterwards and will see some strong numbers in Q4.

 

I myself often listen to Absolute Radio 00s and Heart 00s. KISSTORY is great every now and then too, particularly during the weekend evenings (their daytime output seems to go up to 2017 at the moment).

 

Could we do with some more stations dedicted to the 00s and 10s that are free to listen to? If you have subscribed to Bauer's premium service you get access to KISSTORY 00s, KISSTORY Dance, KISSTORY Hip-Hop, KISSTORY R&B, KISSTORY Trance, KISSTORY Slow James, Klassic Kerrang! Radio, Alt Rock 00s and Alt Rock 10s so there's plenty to choose from if you don't mind paying.

Edited May 17May 17 by lewistgreen

Strong increases for all of those.

 

Definitely in favour of more stations dedicated to 00's though. Don't really check many of those other stations out but maybe I should attempt to some point!

Forgot to do Q4 Rajar. Results below are comparable from the post above to December 2023.

 

Absolute Radio 00s is down from 309,000 to 289,000 listeners

Absolute Radio 10s is up from 147,000 to 149,000 listeners

Capital XTRA Reloaded (also plays 90s) is up from 472,000 to 496,000 listeners

Heart 00s is up from 778,000 to 825,000 listeners

KISSTORY (also plays 90s) is down from 2,572,000 to 2,368,000 listners but is still the most popular digital station

 

Radio 1 10s posts its first result as the top programme on BBC Sounds for % of listeners Under 35

Radio 1 00s slips back to 2nd place

Radio 1 Anthems moves back down to second in Top Plays for Under 35s.

 

With the announcement that the BBC are looking to launch a BBC Sounds stream later this year of an 'Anthems/00s/10s' station this may draw in some big numbers based on all of those shows being the most popular on the station.

 

Q1 2024 should be out at the end of April

RAJAR Q1 2024 has arrived! Increases almost across the board for our 00s and 10s faves

 

Absolute Radio 00s - 292,000 listeners

Absolute Radio 10s - 174,000 listeners

Capital XTRA Reloaded - 604,000 listeners

Heart 00s - 994,000 listeners (likely to pass 1m next time!)

KISSTORY - 2,089,000 listeners (that's half a million lost over the last 6 months eep)

 

Radio 1 10s retains as the top programme on BBC Sounds for % of listeners Under 35

Radio 1 00s slips to 3rd place

Radio 1 Anthems falls to 5th for both % and plays

Edited May 16, 20241 yr by lewistgreen

Q2 RAJAR out today and the figures are impressive, highs across the board for radio generally

 

Absolute Radio 00s - 352,000

Absolute Radio 10s - 194,000

Capital XTRA Reloaded - 635,000

Heart 00s - 1,020,000

KISSTORY - 2,382,000

 

For a station that's only 2 years old, Heart 00s surpassing 1m listeners is incredible!

 

Radio 1 10s and 00s are in the top two spots on BBC Sounds for the Under 35 skew

Global are about to announce 12 new radio stations, in what looks like a further attempt to rival Bauer's recent Rayo launch. On the cards appears to be Radio X 00s and Heart 10s

Relevant to this forum, Capital Anthems, Heart 10s and Radio X 00s did indeed launch this morning

Edited September 12, 2024Sep 12 by lewistgreen

Q3 RAJAR results are in

 

Absolute Radio 00s posts its best listening figures ever up to 400,000

Absolute Radio 10s is in the same boat, up to 240,000 listeners

Capital XTRA Reloaded is up to 669,000 listeners

Heart 00s is down slightly to 1,001,000 listeners

KISSTORY is down slightly to 2,341,000 listeners

 

Radio 1 10s and 00s are the respective top 2 shows on BBC Sounds once again for the U35 listening population

 

Figures for Heart 10s, Radio X 00s and Capital Anthems should come in Q4

Edited October 24, 2024Oct 24 by lewistgreen

Emil Franchi has brought the 00s strand of Absolute Radio to the main Absolute station this evening 7-10pm to do a bit of showcasing. It does make me hope that they'll start putting some more effort into the decade station itself in 2025. The weekday daytime schedule is fine but it'd be good to see some genre specific shows, classic charts etc like they do with the 80s and 90s stations as the 00s grow more popular in terms of nostalgia.

Edited December 26, 2024Dec 26 by lewis🎄green

Hits Radio 00s launches on 31st March. It'll be nice to have a pop/dance counterpart to Absolute.

Some of the RAJAR highlights from last month:

Absolute Radio 00s up to 432,000 listeners

Absolute Radio 10s up to 265,000 listeners

Heart 00s maintains just above 1 million listeners

KISSTORY down again but still maintaining 2 million listeners

Capital Anthems launches with 440,000 (very impressive straight off the bat!)

Heart 10s launches with 292,000

Radio X 00s launches with 133,000

Hits Radio 00s launched today on the Rayo app. I've had it on for a little bit this afternoon and it's a great offering (similar to Heart 00s).

I fear that it'll fall foul to the usual Bauer issue of a stale playlist after a few listens but hopefully presenters and features will benefit it in the long run. I pay for Rayo so not having adverts (yet) is also a bonus

RAJAR Q1 results landed this week. Nothing majorly changing really but Absolute continues on an upward trajectory.

KISSTORY down to 2,042,000 listeners

Heart 00s down to 967,000 listeners

Capital XTRA Reloaded down to 592,000 listeners (but has had a 28% increase in total hours listened)

KISSTORY R&B up to 552,000 listeners

Absolute Radio 00s up to 447,000 listeners

Capital Anthems down to 399,000 listeners

Heart 10s up to 316,000 listeners

Absolute Radio 10s up to 302,000 listeners

Radio X 00s down to 106,000 listeners

Over on BBC Sounds, Radio 1 10s is the biggest show for the U35 skew, Radio 1 00s is in 2nd, Radio 1 Anthems in 4th, Radio 1 Pop Anthems in 5th and Radio 1's Party Anthems in 8th.

Radio 1's Happy Anthems is the 6th most popular 'Music Mix'

No mention of how the Radio 1 Anthems stream is fairing though ahead of its launch on DAB+ later this year.

With Absolute 00s continued upward trajectory they've added a couple of new presenters into the roster. Starting yesterday, Ben Coley will present Saturday and Sunday 12-4pm and Sophie K will be on Monday-Friday 7-10pm. Glad they're finally putting a little more effort into the station as it grows in popularity.