BBC Radio 3 reports highest listener figures since pandemic

Classical radio station BBC Radio 3 has today revealed promising RAJAR results for the first quarter of 2025. The station saw 2.15m listeners tune in, the highest reach for Q1 in more than a decade, and highest overall since the end of the pandemic in Q3 2021. The station also won the Audio and Radio Industry Awards (ARIAS) ‘Station of the Year’ Gold award at a ceremony held yesterday (14 May).

Essential Classics now reaches over a million listeners every week and further programmes which have secured record figures for their respective timeslots Include Radio 3 Breakfast, Classical Live, Through the Night, and Night Tracks.

Radio 3 and BBC Proms controller Sam Jackson said: ‘After a year of significant change for the network, I am thrilled that the Radio Academy has named BBC Radio 3 as the UK Radio Station of the Year… As today’s RAJAR results demonstrate, this is now the fifth consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth for Radio 3, and our new Radio 3 Unwind stream has proved popular on BBC Sounds: proof, if it were needed, that there’s a growing audience for classical music from the BBC. ‘ 

As well as strong listenership figures, BBC Radio 3’s streaming is also proving popular, with new platform Radio 3 Unwind reaching over 150,000 people via BBC Sounds in the first week of 2025 alone.

The BBC’s interim chief content officer Kate Phillips said:  ’BBC Radio 3’s editorial ambition and classical music offer is unrivalled, and this well-deserved win celebrates everything that’s so wonderful about the station – its dedication to live performance, unparalleled support for new artists and focus on championing British music alongside unearthing lesser-known works. All this, brought to life by expert teams and skilled, passionate presenters.’