The final radio ratings survey of the year has rolled around, with Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) claiming a 75.9 per cent share for the commercial radio sector - the highest in two decades - for the period between Sunday Sept 22 and Saturday Nov 30.

The latest book saw further shifts at the top of the leaderboard in the highly contested Sydney market, with Nova's Smooth outflanking ARN's WSFM to finish the year as the top station overall after leaping to points to a 12.3 per cent share. Nine's 2GB came in second place, after gaining 2 points itself for a 11.8 per cent finish, while WSFM fell 1.3 points to 9.6 per cent, making for a fourth place finish behind sister network KIIS which stayed steady on 10 per cent share.

Sydney breakfast also jumped around, with 2GB's Ben Fordham back on top after gaining back 2.8 per cent, finishing with 15.1 per cent time slot share. The show rose comfortably ahead of KIIS breakfast hosts Kyle & Jackie O's 13.5 per cent share, with WSFM's Jonesy and Amanda remaining in third place despite a 0.8 point loss, leaving the duo to a 10.5 per cent share.

In drive, Smooth's Byron Webb bumped WSFM's Steve Fitton for the top spot, with the shows recording a respective 1.3 point gain and 0.9 point loss.

Over to Melbourne, where things remained a little more stable, with Nine's 3AW holding its crown as the most popular station overall, followed by Smooth and ARN's Gold.

In breakfast, Melbourne's 3AW Breakfast held onto its grip despite falling 0.7 points. The program still finished with 19.3 per cent share, well ahead of its nearest competitor, which was Nova's Jase & Lauren, with 11.5 per cent share. In third place was The Fox's Fifi, Fev & Nick with 9.4 per cent.

In drive, Nova's Ricki-Lee, Tim & Joel gained 1.8 points, leaping five spots up to 1st place with a 10.5 per cent share of the time slot. The Fox's Carrie & Tommy, which took the top spot last book, fell 0.9 points to 9.4 per cent share, behind Smooth's Byron Webb with a 10 per cent share, and Triple M's The Rush Hour with JB & Billy on 9.7 per cent share.

Commenting on the results, Nova Entertainment CEO Peter Charlton said: “Today I am incredibly proud of our teams across the country. We have rounded out 2024 with the most listeners of any metro network in every survey this year, including Survey 8 where 6.4 million Australians tuned in. To have the top three most listened to stations in the country with Nova 100, Smooth FM 95.3 and Smooth 91.5 respectively, is an astounding achievement and a testament to the loyal and growing relationships we foster with our listeners.

"We look ahead to 2025 with excitement and optimism as we continue to innovate on our All of Audio offering, providing market-leading audiences and commercial opportunities.”

Nine Radio’s Head of Content, Greg Byrnes, said: “We finish the year like we started, with the clear number one Breakfast and Morning shows in Sydney and Melbourne!

“3AW has a unique relationship with the city of Melbourne and we thank listeners for embracing our new lineup in 2024 and making the station so strong. The market has never been tougher in Sydney but 2GB has recorded big audience increases right across the day and is the clear number one on weekdays. “I'm also really pleased for the team at 6PR where we’ve had impressive gains and Millsy and Karl are now number two in Breakfast. However, for Nine Radio this week it’s all about Ray Hadley, who will be ending his career on a high when he switches off his mic for the final time tomorrow.”

SCA Chief Content Officer, Dave Cameron, said: “Today SCA celebrates outstanding results, with B105 marking a year of undefeated leadership followed closely by Triple M to deliver an incredible duopoly result in Brisbane. B105's Stav, Abby & Matt have dominated Brisbane Breakfast, having also spent most of 2024 on top...We're excited to see Triple M return as Adelaide's number one station, powered by Roo, Ditts & Loz with an extraordinary run of success - 18 consecutive breakfast wins.

“In Melbourne, The Fox's Fifi Fev and Nick have concluded an amazingly consistent and strong 2024, finishing the year as the number two breakfast show. In what has been a year where Melbourne listeners have rejected interstate blow-ins and screamed that local shows with local content, from locally loved teams like Fifi, Fev & Nick, are what they want. While Triple M's JB & Billy have achieved the highest Drive result since 2006, which puts them in a great position to extend their show to SA and WA next year.

“It's a pleasing day to see a strong final result from Triple M Sydney's Mick & MG, ahead of Mick’s return to Melbourne to take up the challenge of delivering even more locally loved content at breakfast on Triple M."

On average, survey 8 saw 12.3 million Australians tune into radio each week. Time spent listening at work grew by one hour and 20 minutes to 12 hours and 28 minutes, while time spent listening at home saw an increase of 18 minutes, reaching 10 hours and one minute. Car listening in 2024 also saw an uptick, with an additional 267,000 listeners tuning in, a 2.7 per cent increase over 2023.

The younger demographic of listeners aged 10-17 saw an increase of 21,000 or 1.5 percentage points year-on-year, reaching 1.429 million listeners. Meanwhile, streaming radio remained popular, with 3.412 million Australians choosing to consume commercial radio via digital platforms. Time spent listening via digital streaming remained stable across the day.

Among the 18-24s, time spent listening rose to nearly 4 hours per week. Listening among 25-39s remained steady at nearly 3 hours each week. The 40–54-year-olds saw an increase, streaming for nearly 5 hours weekly.

CEO of Commercial Radio & Audio, Lizzie Young, said: “As we finish the year, the strength of radio's audiences is clear...This has been a year where we have seen Australians start to move more back into the office but regardless of where they are – be it home, the car or the office - commercial radio is there and they are listening in record numbers.”