Popularity ranking · South Africa

The 100 most popular Radio Stations in South Africa

This curated ranking covers the 100 largest radio stations in South Africa, ordered by estimated audience size from Rascasse's anonymized search-behavior signals. Out of 708 radio stations tracked in South Africa, the 100 ranked here account for the largest measured audience reach. Metro FM, Metro FM (Turkey) and sabc lead the list with a combined estimated audience of 2.3M people. Across all 100 entries the average audience size is 67k, and the largest, Metro FM, reaches around 1M people in South Africa. Audience size is the estimated number of unique people in South Africa who actively engage with each radio station, derived from search demand signals. Rankings reflect search-behavior signals collected across South Africa and are refreshed weekly.

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How to read this list

Rank

Position in the Top 100, sorted by audience size from largest to smallest. Updated weekly.

Audience size

Estimated number of unique people in South Africa who actively engage with this audience, derived from anonymized search-behavior signals.

Country share

Share of the global audience that is active in South Africa. A higher value means the audience is more locally concentrated here.

Avg age

Average age in years across the people who engage with this audience in South Africa, derived from anonymized search-behavior signals. A dash means demographic data is not yet available.

Female share

Share of women among the people who engage with this audience in South Africa. 50% is gender-balanced; values above mean female-skewed, below mean male-skewed.

Ranking

Rank Audience Audience size Avg age Female share Subtype
1 Metro FM 1M 35.6 57.5%
2 Metro FM (Turkey) 648k
3 sabc 628k 34.8 49.1%
4 Ukhozi FM 369k 37.3 54.6%
5 Kaya FM 286k 39.7 56.6%
6 East Coast Radio (South Africa) 247k 39.2 62.0%
7 Umhlobo Wenene FM 229k 38.2 58.5%
8 Lesedi FM 215k 42.3 57.7%
9 Click (radio programme) 204k 46.0 39.6%
10 YFM 182k 33.0 50.4%
11 The Rock (radio station) 182k 29.4 21.8%
12 5FM 165k 37.0 50.2%
13 Capital (radio network) 154k 42.3 47.7%
14 Algoa FM 137k 41.5 59.4%
15 Power FM (South Australia) 133k 38.2 52.4%
16 Power Fm 132k 38.1 50.5%
17 XM 110k 36.5 21.7%
18 Radio online 96k 32.4 26.8%
19 Jam! 92k 37.4 33.5%
20 Phalaphala FM 74k 33.0 39.0%
21 Radio station 71k 38.8 53.2%
22 Radio 702 68k 38.2 49.4%
23 NPR 64k 36.4 49.2%
24 Slacker (music service) 60k 23.0 59.0%
25 Nova (radio network) 57k 31.8 75.9%

Want the full picture for any of these audiences?

Open any profile to see psychographics, top regions, peer affinities and demographic splits — all derived from the same anonymized signals.

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Frequently asked questions

How is this list of the most popular radio stations compiled?

Rascasse aggregates anonymized search-behavior signals across South Africa and ranks each radio station by its estimated audience size. Only entries with at least 5 measured entities are listed.

How often is the list updated?

The ranking is refreshed weekly from the latest search-behavior data and re-published as a static page.

What is the largest radio station in South Africa?

Metro FM currently leads with an estimated audience of 1M people in South Africa.

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