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: 23 days, up to 08-03-2024
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 5797
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 2303
Variety factor for this station is : 39.7%

50% OF PLAYS is 585 Songs (25.4% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 302 MOST played songs (13.1% of the total)
or 1377 LEAST played songs (59.7% of the total)

Most played airs on average every: 16h 43m
10th most played song airs every: 19h 42m
302nd most played song airs every: 5d 18h
585th most played song airs every: 7d 16h
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 2217 (96.2%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
23 after 20 DAYS

Different songs played in 1 month: 2521
..in 3 months: 3699, in 6 months: 4911
..in 9 months: 5969, in 12 months: 6774

Top 11 Most Played:

1= [33 plays] each for…
+ Robert John and The Wreck – Ballad Of A Broken Hearted Man
+ Shinedown – A Symptom Of Being Human
3= [32 plays] each for…
+ Des Rocs – Never Ending Moment
+ The Black Crowes – Wanting and Waiting
5= [31 plays] each for…
+ Royale Lynn – Six Feet Deep
+ Saxon – There’s Something in Roswell
+ Sheryl Crow – Evolution
8 [29 plays] Judas Priest – Crown of Horns
9= [28 plays] each for…
+ King Herd – The Same
+ Royal Republic – LoveCop
+ Scott Stapp – Deadman’s Trigger

Analysis: 26 days, up to 08-03-2024
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 6425
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 922
Variety factor for this station is : 14.3%

50% OF PLAYS is 222 Songs (24% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 137 MOST played songs (14.8% of the total)
or 578 LEAST played songs (62.6% of the total)

Most played airs on average every: 1d 5h 42m
10th most played song airs every: 1d 10h 40m
137th most played song airs every: 1d 20h 34m
222nd most played song airs every: 2d 8h 43m
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 423 (45.8%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
1 after 20 DAYS

Different songs played in 1 month: 940
..in 3 months: 1110, in 6 months: 1234
..in 9 months: 1296, in 12 months: 1338

Top 12 Most Played:

1= [21 plays] each for…
+ Bachman Turner Overdrive – You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet
+ Tom Petty – American Girl
+ Toto – Hold The Line
4 [20 plays] Steely Dan – Reeling In The Years
5 [19 plays] Ac/dc – Back In Black
6= [18 plays] each for…
+ Blue Oyster Cult – Don’t Fear The Reaper
+ David Bowie – Heroes
+ Nirvana – Come As You Are
+ The Kinks – All Day And All Of The Night
+ The Who – Baba O’Riley
+ Whitesnake – Fool For Your Loving
+ Yes – Owner Of A Lonely Heart

Analysis: 26 days, up to 06-03-2024
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 7568
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 959
Variety factor for this station is : 12.6%

50% OF PLAYS is 148 Songs (15.4% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 91 MOST played songs (9.4% of the total)
or 740 LEAST played songs (77.1% of the total)

Most played airs on average every: 16h 51m
10th most played song airs every: 19h 30m
91st most played song airs every: 1d 2h
148th most played song airs every: 1d 5h 42m
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 599 (62.4%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
3 after 21 DAYS

Different songs played in 1 month: 979
..in 3 months: 1180, in 6 months: 1222
..in 9 months: 1250, in 12 months: 1495

Top 10 Most Played:

1 [37 plays] Squeeze – Tempted
2= [36 plays] each for…
+ Bonnie Tyler – Total Eclipse Of The Heart
+ Boston – More Than A Feeling
4 [35 plays] Reo Speedwagon – Keep On Loving You
5= [34 plays] each for…
+ Buggles – Video Killed The Radio Star
+ Robert Palmer – Bad Case Of Loving You
7= [33 plays] each for…
+ Bachman-turner Overdrive – You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet
+ Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’
9= [32 plays] each for…
+ Mott The Hoople – All The Young Dudes
+ Norman Greenbaum – Spirit In The Sky

Analysis: 25 days, up to 08-03-2024
NUMBER OF PLAYS IDENTIFIED: 8525
Number of DIFFERENT Songs Played: 408
Variety factor for this station is : 4.7%

50% OF PLAYS is 139 Songs (34% of the total)
A THIRD OF PLAYS represents:
The 88 MOST played songs (21.5% of the total)
or 214 LEAST played songs (52.4% of the total)

Most played airs on average every: 13h 57m
10th most played song airs every: 16h 40m
88th most played song airs every: 20h 41m
139th most played song airs every: 22h 13m
No. of songs with 5 or less plays: 47 (11.5%)
Lowest Number of NEW SONGS on any day:
ZERO after 10 DAYS

Different songs played in 1 month: 411
..in 3 months: 454, in 6 months: 510
..in 9 months: 578, in 12 months: 582

Top 10 Most Played:

1 [43 plays] Patti Smith – Because The Night
2 [40 plays] Jefferson Airplane – Somebody To Love
3= [38 plays] each for…
+ Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen In Love
+ Europe – The Final Countdown
5= [37 plays] each for…
+ Joan Jett & The Blackhearts – I Love Rock N Roll
+ Midnight Oil – Beds Are Burning
7= [36 plays] each for…
+ Bachman Turner Overdrive – You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet
+ J. Geils Band – Centerfold
+ Pink Floyd – Another Brick In The Wall
+ The Steve Miller Band – Abracadabra

** 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

We’re monitoring all the most important UK radio stations 24-7, so if you’d like the full “chapter and verse” on what they’ve all been playing, and the full month most played songs lists, then we can provide them – We’ve even got some data going back to 2008!!  Our charges start at just £12 (exc VAT) for one station, so that’s a FULL LISTING of every song or classical piece a station has played, with dates and times, plus a stats package with the full “most played” chart for the month listing EVERY song they’ve played and how many times, ranked from most played to least…  so if they’ve played 3174 different songs, that’ll be a 1 to 3174 chart! 

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If you want an idea of how we can work with your business, don’t forget to tell us what you’re aiming to achieve – For Radio Monitoring, which genres or which particular stations do you want data on? We can provide full lists of songs played and how many times per week or per month etc, they aired.

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