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Nielsen Ranks Top Formats for 2016

Country grabs number one position by the horns

The latest Nielsen State of the Media report has a lot of good numbers for radio, showing growth in weekly reach, audience size and diversity. It also tallied the top formats of 2016. The ranking reflects the growing multiculturalism of this country. The days when top 40 and easy listening formats dominated the dial are long gone. The fact that country music can snare the number one position with 13.6% of total listening tells the whole story.

If 13.6% seems like a small number, 11.1% is even smaller. And that’s the percentage that earned news/talk the number two position. After that, it’s all single digits. Pop contemporary hit radio, once known as CHR, earned the number three slot with 7.9%. At the tail end, Spanish contemporary and all-news are tied for last place with 1.4% each.

The Nielsen report also posted the most heard song for each format, as captured by Nielsen BDSRadio. For top-rated country, it was “Somewhere on a Beach” by Dierks Bentley. “Don’t Let Me Down” by Chainsmokers Feat.Daya was number one on number two rated pop contemporary hit radio. For number three adult contemporary, the honors went to Adele for “Hello.”

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