Classic Rock Stations


A comparatively recent genre of stations for the UK, the elder statesman of this motley crew (can you see what we did there!) being Planet Rock, which started in 1999 within the GWR group (which went on to be part of Global, if you didn’t know), but has ended up one of Bauer’s (the opposition) since 2013. The Absolute family’s Classic Rock Station, launched not much later in 2000, as Virgin Classic Rock. Virgin became Absolute in 2008, of course, so Virgin Classic Rock became Absolute Classic Rock, before a NEW Virgin Brand launched a new version of Virgin in 2016 (this time owned by Wireless), spawning it’s own classics station as Virgin Anthems as recently as 2018. I hope you’re keeping up as I’ll be asking questions later. Union Jack Rock was the baby of the bunch, launched only in December 2020, but even though it was on national DAB, playing only BRITISH Rock artists, it closed along with the rest of the Union Jack Brands in early 2022.
So, although Absolute Classic Rock and Planet Rock are both part of the Bauer family, you can instantly see from the graphics that they have totally different ideas on playlist size and variety, and this is a great example of what makes our radio monitoring work so interesting! You can see from the yellow line on the graph that Planet Rock’s massive playlist means the variety stays up well into the 2nd week of listening and beyond, while all the others are basically in repeatsville after between just a couple of days and a week. Global launched it’s Radio X Classic Rock station on 16th February 2023.
(Analysis of Virgin Anthems does NOT include the Chris Evans Breakfast Show music which is just his main “Virgin Radio” show simulcast on Anthems, and not the usual “Anthems” playlist Songs which play the rest of the day)

Analysis: 25 days, up to 24-01-2025
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 4916
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 2188
Variety factor for this station is : 44.5%
50% OF PLAYS is 541 Songs (24.7% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 277 MOST played songs (12.6% of the total)
or 1299 LEAST played songs (59.3% of the total)
Most played airs on average every: 17h 38m
10th most played song airs every: 1d 4h 34m
277th most played song airs every: 6d 6h
541st most played song airs every: 8d 8h
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 2126 (97.1%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
40 after 20 DAYS
Different songs played in 1 month: 2438
..in 3 months: 3772, in 6 months: 4894
..in 9 months: 5703, in 12 months: 6448
Top 10 Most Played:
1 [34 plays] Beaux Gris Gris and The Apocalypse – I Told My Baby
2 [30 plays] Hillbilly Vegas – Let It Ride
3 [29 plays] Sheepdogs – Let Me In
4 [27 plays] Marko Hietala – Impatient Zero
5 [26 plays] Crossbone Skully – High On You
6 [25 plays] Those Damn Crows – Glass Heart
7= [24 plays] each for…
+ Smith/Kotzen – White Noise
+ Zac Schulze Gang – Woman
9 [23 plays] Gun – Falling
10 [21 plays] Ricky Warwick – Don’t Leave Me in the Dark

Analysis: 28 days, up to 24-01-2025
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 5285
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 914
Variety factor for this station is : 17.2%
50% OF PLAYS is 214 Songs (23.4% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 129 MOST played songs (14.1% of the total)
or 581 LEAST played songs (63.5% of the total)
Most played airs on average every: 1d 11h 22m
10th most played song airs every: 1d 15h 31m
129th most played song airs every: 2d 8h
214th most played song airs every: 3d 2h 40m
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 522 (57.1%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
2 after 27 DAYS
Different songs played in 1 month: 916
..in 3 months: 1102, in 6 months: 1171
..in 9 months: 1237, in 12 months: 1344
Top 12 Most Played:
1= [19 plays] each for…
+ Climax Blues Band – Couldn’t Get It Right
+ Electic Light Orchestra – Turn To Stone
3= [18 plays] each for…
+ Journey – Any Way You Want It
+ Rush – Spirit Of Radio
5= [17 plays] each for…
+ Bachman Turner Overdrive – You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet
+ Cars – Just What I Needed
+ Genesis – Invisible Touch
+ Iggy Pop – The Passenger
+ Kinks – You Really Got Me
+ Neil Young – Rocking In The Free World
+ Status Quo – Down Down
+ Yes – Owner Of A Lonely Heart

Analysis: 32 days, up to 24-01-2025
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 9592
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 1152
Variety factor for this station is : 12%
50% OF PLAYS is 215 Songs (18.6% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 133 MOST played songs (11.5% of the total)
or 836 LEAST played songs (72.5% of the total)
Most played airs on average every: 1d 0h
10th most played song airs every: 1d 3h 25m
133rd most played song airs every: 1d 12h 34m
215th most played song airs every: 1d 18h 40m
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 649 (56.3%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
ZERO after 27 DAYS
Different songs played in 1 month: 1098
..in 3 months: 1315, in 6 months: 1428
..in 9 months: 1536, in 12 months: 1595
Top 10 Most Played:
1 [32 plays] Chicago – If You Leave Me Now
2= [29 plays] each for…
+ Creedence Clearwater Revival – Fortunate Son
+ Madness – My Girl
+ Peter Gabriel – Solsbury Hill
+ Rainbow – Since You’ve Been Gone
6= [28 plays] each for…
+ Doobie Brothers – Long Train Running
+ Jam – A Town Called Malice
+ Norman Greenbaum – Spirit In The Sky
+ Redbone – Come And Get Your Love
+ Stranglers – Golden Brown

Analysis: 27 days, up to 23-01-2025
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 8920
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 532
Variety factor for this station is : 5.9%
50% OF PLAYS is 188 Songs (35.3% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 120 MOST played songs (22.5% of the total)
or 270 LEAST played songs (50.7% of the total)
Most played airs on average every: 19h 38m
10th most played song airs every: 23h 8m
120th most played song airs every: 1d 4h 10m
188th most played song airs every: 1d 6h 51m
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 53 (9.9%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
ZERO after 8 DAYS
Different songs played in 1 month: 565
..in 3 months: 602, in 6 months: 644
..in 9 months: 661, in 12 months: 674
Top 12 Most Played:
1 [33 plays] Metallica – Nothing Else Matters
2 [30 plays] J. Geils Band – Centerfold
3= [29 plays] each for…
+ Jefferson Airplane – Somebody To Love
+ Judas Preist – Breaking The Law
+ Pink Floyd – Another Brick In The Wall
+ Them – Baby Please Don’t Go
7= [28 plays] each for…
+ Bachman Turner Overdrive – You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet
+ Band – The Weight
+ Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen In Love
+ Manfred Mann’s Earthband – Blinded By The Light
+ Rainbow – Since You Been Gone
+ Slade – Cum On Feel The Noize

** Station no longer broadcasting! **
Historic Analysis: 25 days, up to 23-02-2022
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 5595
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 624
Variety factor for this station is : 11.1%
50% OF PLAYS is 161 Songs (25.8% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 98 MOST played songs (15.7% of the total)
or 387 LEAST played songs (62% of the total)
Most played airs on average every: 22h 13m
10th most played song airs every: 1d 1h
98th most played song airs every: 1d 13h 30m
161st most played song airs every: 1d 18h 51m
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 234 (37.5%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
1 after 19 DAYS
Different songs played in 1 month: 629
..in 3 months: 773, in 6 months: 830
..in 9 months: 861
Top 10 Most Played:
1 [27 plays] Jake Bugg – Trouble Town
2= [26 plays] each for…
+ Alex Clare – Too Close
+ Libertines – Don’t Look Back Into The Sun
4= [25 plays] each for…
+ Mumford And Sons – Believe
+ Mumford And Sons – The Cave
+ Stereophonics – Mr Writer
7= [24 plays] each for…
+ Arctic Monkeys – Arabella
+ Kaiser Chiefs – Hole In My Soul
+ Keane – Is It Any Wonder
+ The 1975 – Give Yourself A Try
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