| Individual preferences in Radio listening are wide and varied – and Radio operators respond by offering a broad range of programming to serve every taste! Here’s a list of the current popularity of formats aired on over 10,800 commercial Radio stations licensed in the U.S. today:
An additional 328 commercial stations were licensed under construction permits for future broadcast; 236 commercial stations are currently dark/off the air. There are almost 2,200 stations broadcasting multiple HD Radio channels. Number of commercial streaming Radio stations: 6,365.
| Radio's Most Popular Formats |
| Rank |
Format | # Stations |
| 1 |
Country | 2014 |
| 2 |
News/Talk | 1497 |
| 3 |
Spanish | 827 |
| 4 |
Sports | 711 |
| 5 |
Classic Hits | 665 |
| 6 |
Adult Contemporary | 603 |
| 7 |
Oldies | 577 |
| 8 |
Contemporary (CHR Top 40) | 575 |
| 9 |
Classic Rock | 484 |
| 10 |
Hot AC | 422 |
| 11 |
Religion (Teaching, Variety) | 345 |
| 12 |
Rock | 298 |
| 13 |
Adult Standards | 235 |
| 14 |
Black Gospel | 210 |
| 15 |
Contemporary Christian | 172 |
| 16 |
Southern Gospel | 170 |
| 17 |
Urban AC | 156 |
| 18 |
Soft Adult Contemporary | 142 |
| 19 |
Ethnic | 140 |
| 20 |
R&B | 127 |
| 21 |
Alternative Rock | 101 |
| 22 |
Modern Rock | 90 |
| 23 |
R&B Adult/Oldies | 52 |
| 24 |
Variety | 44 |
| 25 |
Pre-Teen | 34 |
| 26 |
Jazz | 32 |
| 27 |
Gospel | 23 |
| 28 |
Rhythmic AC | 20 |
| 29 |
Easy Listening | 18 |
| 30 |
Classical | 17 |
| 31 |
Modern AC | 12 |
| 32 |
Other/Format Not Available | 27 |
| |
Total Commercial Stations on Air | 10,867 |
| Source: Inside Radio / M Street Corp., Feb. 2013; No Canadian or Mexican stations are included (HD Radio stat from iBiquity/HD Digital Radio Alliance, Feb. 2013).
|
|
|
