Nielsen: News/Talk, Top 40 Most Popular Radio Formats in 2015

Top-10 Lists

NIELSEN has announced its year-end honors for most popular radio formats and smartphone apps, among other media platforms. While News/Talk continued to be the most popular format 6+ in the 48 PPM markets, Top 40 captured the 18-34 and 25-54 crowns. Meanwhile, FACEBOOK had two of the top-three smartphone apps.

Overall, radio’s weekly reach increased to a record 245 million Americans (12+) in the second quarter, with 93% of Americans tuning in.

In other news, Urban Contemporary and Sports both experienced record-breaking years, while Classic Hits took home the “Format of the Summer” title slightly beating Hot AC and Country. The harsh winter months drove up listenership for News/Talk and All News, particularly in the Northeast.

The top-10 formats by demos were:

12+
1     News/Talk     8.90%
2     Top 40     8.20%
3     Country*     7.90%
4     AC     7.40%
5     Hot AC     6.70%
6     Classic Hits     5.30%
7     Classic Rock     5.20%
8     Urban AC     4.90%
9     Sports     4.70%
10     Urban Contemporary     3.50%

18-34
1     Top 40     12.40%
2     Country     9.10%
3     Hot AC     7.60%
4     Urban      6.50%
5     AC     6.40%
6     Rhythmic Top 40     5.80%
7     Alternative     5.00%
8     Mexican Regional     4.60%
9     Classic Rock     4.50%
10     News/Talk     3.60%

25-54

1     Top 40     9.00%
2     Country     7.80%
3     AC     7.20%
4     Hot AC     7.20%
5     News/Talk     6.20%
6     Classic Rock     5.70%
7     Sports     5.20%
8     Urban AC    4.80%
9     Classic Hits     4.50%
10     Mexican Regional     4.10%

Digitally, the top-10 smartphone apps were (with percentage increase in parenthesis):

1. FACEBOOK 126.7 million (8)
2. YOUTUBE 97.6 million (5)
3. FACEBOOK MESSENGER 96.4 million (31)
4. GOOGLE SEARCH 95.0 million (3)
5. GOOGLE PLAY 89.7 million (7)
6. GOOGLE MAPS 87.7 million (8)
7. GMAIL 75.1 million (4)
8. INSTAGRAM 55.4 million (23)
9. APPLE MUSIC 54.5 million (26)
10. APPLE MAPS 46.4 million (16)

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