Due to ties at the top \u2014 one of those a three-way tie \u2014 in three of the 20 non-embedded PPM markets reporting on Days 1 and 2 in Nielsen\u2019s May survey (covering April 30-May 27), there are 24 stations representing 12 different formats, the most for any Nielsen book so far this year.<\/p>\n
As a result, two formats make their first appearance at number one in these markets in 2026: country, with iHeartMedia\u2019s \u201cK102\u201d KEEY Minneapolis part of that three-way tie; and Spanish AC, with iHeartMedia\u2019s \u201cMagic 93.9\u201d WMIA-FM Miami celebrating its first survey on top.<\/p>\n
For Days 1 and 2 in these 20 markets, the leaderboard shows AC with five wins, news\/talk and classic hits with four each, sports with three, and once each for adult alternative, hot AC, soft AC, Spanish AC, urban AC, rock, classic rock and country.<\/p>\n
Please note that rankings do not include stations owned by Cumulus Media, which is in the midst of a re-negotiation of its contract with Nielsen, which expired Dec. 31, 2025.<\/p>\n
For the first time since June 2025, American University news\/talk WAMU is on top in DC, 1.4 share points ahead of the champ for the prior 11 surveys, Hubbard \u2013 Media That Connects all-news WTOP, which still leads in weekly cume (842,500). iHeartMedia modern\/alternative rock \u201cDC101\u201d WWDC-FM moves from sixth-ranked to third, its best showing since April 2025.<\/p>\n
Boston University news\/talk WBUR stays at number one, although now tied with Beasley Media Group classic hits WROR, up from fifth in April. Audacy AC \u201cMagic 106.7\u201d WMJX, which boasts the highest weekly cume (858,700), claims third, while iHeartMedia\u2019s CHR \u201cKiss 108\u201d WXKS-FM and classic rock WZKX tie for fourth.<\/p>\n
iHeartMedia \u201cMagic 93.9\u201d WMIA-FM gets its first number-one showing in Miami since its flip to bilingual AC in November 2023, up from fifth in April\u2019s survey with a 0.9-point gain. It does the trick with the slimmest of leads over the April champ, Audacy AC \u201c101.5 Lite FM\u201d WLYF, which is still ahead in weekly cume (740,300). Univision Spanish AC \u201cAmor 107.5\u201d WAMR, meanwhile, moves from a tie for sixth to one for third with Cox Media Group soft AC \u201cEasy 93.1\u201d WFEZ, while SBS Spanish classic hits \u201cZeta 92.3\u201d WCMQ and CMG urban AC sister \u201cHot 105\u201d WHQT tie for fifth.<\/p>\n
University of Washington news\/talk KUOW-FM makes it a fifth straight win, staying 3.3 share points ahead of Bonneville \u201cSeattle Sports 710\u201d KIRO-AM. iHeartMedia classic hits \u201c95.7 The Jet\u201d KJEB, with the highest weekly cume (682,000), takes third, followed by classic rock sister KZOK which makes its first appearance in the top five since June 2025, up 1.3 share points to move from eighth-ranked to fourth.<\/p>\n
For the first time since last October, Hubbard classic rock KSLX is Phoenix\u2019s top station, with just 0.2 separating it from the November 2025-April 2026 champ, iHeartMedia AC \u201c99.9 K-EZ\u201d KESZ, which still leads in cume with 964,200. iHeartMedia also places talk KFYI and country KNIX at third and fourth.<\/p>\n
For a fifth consecutive survey, Audacy sports \u201c97.1 The Ticket\u201d WXYT-FM leads in Detroit, 2.9 share points up on classic hits sister WOMC. Audacy also claims fourth place with country WYCD, while iHeartMedia takes the rest with AC WNIC (with the highest weekly cume at 997,300) and urban AC \u201cMix 92.3\u201d WMXD at third and fifth, respectively.<\/p>\n
Never mind twins, it\u2019s an iHeartMedia three-way tie for first, as sports \u201cK-FAN\u201d KFXN now has company at the top, sharing the crown with country and classic hits sisters \u201cK102\u201d KEEY and \u201cKool 108\u201d KQQL, the latter delivering the highest weekly cume (754,500). As for the rest of the top five, news\/talk pubcaster KNOW comes in fourth, while at fifth, Audacy adult hits \u201c104.1 Jack FM\u201d KZJK makes its first appearance in the region since May 2025.<\/p>\n
The top three stay in the same order for a fourth straight survey, as CMG soft AC \u201c105.5 The Dove\u201d WDUV (with the top weekly cume at 643,600) stays 1.7 ahead of Radio Training Network contemporary Christian \u201cThe Joy FM\u201d WCIE, while CMG classic rock sister \u201cThe Eagle 107.3\u201d WXGL remains at third. CMG AC sister \u201cMagic 94.9\u201d WWRM and Beasley classic hits \u201cQ105\u201d WRBQ swap spots to place fourth and fifth.<\/p>\n
After three surveys in the runner-up position, Bonneville AC KOSI \u2013 number one in weekly cume with 481,800 \u2013 returns to the top with a 0.8 edge over Audacy classic rock \u201c99.5 The Mountain\u201d KQMT, which led from February to April. iHeartMedia modern\/alternative rock sister \u201cChannel 93.3\u201d KTCL ties for third with Bonneville country sister KYGO, while KSE Radio Ventures classic hits \u201cKool 105\u201d KXKL moves back into the top five at fifth.<\/p>\n
Audacy classic hits \u201cSunny 98.1\u201d KXSN is still San Diego\u2019s top-ranked station, also top-ranked in weekly cume (608,100), while still ahead of San Diego State University news\/talk KPBS by only a tenth of a share point. The Padres\u2019 flagship, Audacy sports \u201c97.3 The Fan\u201d KWFN, moves up from fifth to third.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s now a fifth consecutive victory for Urban One urban AC \u201cMagic 95.9\u201d WWIN-FM, with a 1.9-point lead over Audacy AC \u201cToday’s 101.9\u201d WLIF, while leads in weekly cume with 452,500. Audacy hot AC sister \u201cMix 106.5\u201d WWMX, iHeartMedia country WPOC Peter and John Radio Fellowship contemporary Christian \u201cBright FM\u201d WRBS-FM line up at 3-4-5.<\/p>\n
Hubbard heritage rocker KSHE moves back into its usual place at the top, keeping 0.7 ahead of April\u2019s leader and still tops in weekly cume (661,000), iHeartMedia classic hits KLOU. Growth-wise, the hottest station in the market is the flagship for one of baseball\u2019s hottest teams, the Cardinals, as Audacy news\/talk KMOX-FM, with steady share gains from February, is up 69%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Due to ties at the top \u2014 one of those a three-way tie \u2014 in three of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,7056,216,3],"class_list":["post-709484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-free","tag-music","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}