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BBC Radio 2’s breakfast show has lost more than 360,000 listeners following Zoe Ball’s exit last year, according to new figures.
The presenter, 54, left the breakfast programme in December after five years in the slot to “focus on family”. She returned to the station earlier this month for a new Saturday afternoon show.
Since new host Scott Mills, 52, took over hosting duties this year, the show saw a five per cent decrease in listeners between January and March, dropping from 6.45m to 6.83m, according to industry ratings body Rajar.
Despite the loss of listeners, the radio show has managed to retain its position as the most popular breakfast programme in the UK.
The station’s total weekly audience also fell by about half a million during that period compared with its previous total of 13.65m in the final quarter of 2024.
In a big reshuffle following Ball’s departure, Mills was replaced on his afternoon slot by Trevor Nelson, whose evening programme was taken over by DJ Spoony.
Listening figures often drop after schedule shake-ups. Ball lost nearly 800,000 listeners in 2019 after she took over from Chris Evans. The show, which had previously attracted nine million listeners during Evans’ tenure, has not reached that figure since.
Radio 2 chief Helen Thomas, said in a statement to BBC News that she was “thrilled” that BBC Radio 2 is still the UK’s most listened to station.
“In a quarter which saw Radio 2 launch a new daytime schedule in late January, host some of the world’s most loved musicians in the Piano Room throughout February, and celebrate country music in March, I’m thrilled that Radio 2 remains the UK's most popular radio station with 13.11m listeners each week,” said Thomas.
Matt Deegan, host of the Media Podcast and creative director of consultancy firm Folder Media, told BBC News: “In the grand scheme of things, a drop this small for such a big change shows the strength of the Radio 2 brand and Scott’s appeal with listeners.
“However, the challenge for him and his team is to take nothing for granted and keep working to deliver a show that existing and new listeners will like. There’s never been more competition for that audience.”
Elsewhere, Heart’s breakfast show, hosted by Amanda Holden and Jamie Theakston, saw an increase of 250,000 listeners, reaching a record audience of 4.3m in the first quarter of 2025.
Ball’s departure from Radio 2 came after she took time off in April 2024 to care for her mother, Julia Peckham, who was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer earlier that year. She died that same month aged 74, and Ball was absent from the show with Gaby Roslin and Mills stepping in to cover her.
In November 2024, after Ball announced that she would be leaving the radio show, she told fans she had a temporomandibular joint disorder.
She has previously said that she wakes up most days with “awful headaches” due to the health condition, which causes pain in the jaw joint and surrounding muscles, according to the NHS.
Earlier this month, Ball returned to BBC Radio 2 for her Saturday afternoon show, telling listeners: “Hello it’s me, oh it’s lovely to be back on a Saturday.
“This is where it all began for me, back in the day when I used to sweep up and make the teas. I used to do early mornings. And then I used to do the slot where Rylan [Clarke] is [at 3pm].”
The presenter admitted that she has enjoyed “a few lie-ins” since leaving the breakfast programme, noting that people have now learnt “not to phone me before half-past-nine”.
Ball made history as the station’s first full-time female breakfast presenter when she took over from Evans in 2019.
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