‘Extraordinary’: History made as Australia’s most listened-to radio station revealed

Smooth FM 95.3 has broken the record for the biggest audience in Australian radio history, seemingly proving Sydney listeners want more music and less talk.

The easy-listening NOVA station drew in a total of 1.471 million listeners a week across all slots in the latest GfK radio ratings released on Tuesday, which is the largest cumulative audience across seven days in Australian radio history.

KISS FM held the previous record in Survey 1 in 2024, amassing a cumulative audience of 1.456 million when Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson were at the helm.

“Smooth has made Australian radio history, delivering the largest audience ever achieved by a station in this country with 1.47 million listeners,” Smooth Network’s Peter Clay said in a statement.

“We couldn’t be more proud of this extraordinary result.”

When it came to the coveted Sydney breakfast slot, Smooth FM’s show with Bogart Torelli came in as the second most popular with a 12.2 per cent share (up 0.2 percentage points) just behind 2GB’s Ben Fordham with a lead of 14.8 per cent.

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Meanwhile, KIIS FM has lost more than half of their audience following The Kyle and Jackie O Show’s demise.

However, this is likely the final survey before ARN announces its new lineup of radio hosts for Sydney and Melbourne – a move that could trigger a major ratings shift in the near future.

The ratings come just weeks after former radio top-dog Kyle Sandilands started his own live show, following his axing from KIIS FM and subsequent lawsuit with their owners, Australian Radio Network (ARN).

Sandilands’ show with Jackie ‘O’ Henderson was on the air for over 20 years.

It soared to the number one breakfast show in the country, despite only broadcasting in Sydney before a disastrous gamble into Melbourne.

Of course, their show was drastically different from the current front-runner, Smooth FM. The pair had been known for their outlandish discussion topics, on-air blow-ups and questionable sense of humour.

The show was axed earlier this year after a now infamous fight between Sandilands and Henderson broke out on air. It led to Henderson leaving the recording studio and never returning.

Both sued ARN, with Sandilands settling for $12 million and the right to start his own subscription-based show, Kyle Sandilands Live.

Henderson is still continuing with her legal battle against ARN.