Grounded With Louis Theroux was the most listened to podcast, with That Peter Crouch Podcast the only title to feature in the three top ten podcast lists.

New podcast for this quarter, The Battersea Poltergeist, was in the top ten, as was sci-fi drama The Cipher which launched at Christmas.

The Thursday Murder Club with Richard Osman was the most listened to on demand radio show after The Archers.

With new presenters at the helm, Woman’s Hour returned to the top ten, while Radio 1’s hugely popular 24-hour LOL-a-thon with Scott and Chris gained the second largest proportion of under-35 listeners after Radio 1 Dance Anthems.

New music titles launched this quarter, Tearjerker with Jorja Smith and Downtime Symphony with Celeste, both appear in top ten for music.

The latest data reveals that BBC Sounds had its best quarter during the first three months of the year with 342 million plays of all audio and a total of 149 million plays for on-demand radio and podcasts. This compares to 316 million plays of all audio on BBC Sounds last quarter, and a total of 130 million plays for on-demand radio and podcasts.

The average weekly BBC Sounds audience was 3.7 million across the app, website and voice activated devices, with a peak of 3.9 million.

Remaining steady for this quarter, 55 percent of overall plays on BBC Sounds were for live content and 65 percent of all listening hours on BBC Sounds were live.

Jonathan Wall, Controller of BBC Sounds, says: “This quarter reflects a year since lockdown, and it’s clear firm favourite podcasts, live and on-demand radio and new titles from across BBC radio keep providing entertainment and escapism. People have enjoyed the comforts of music in new shows like Downtime Symphony and Tearjerker, and we’ve seen younger listeners turning to podcasts like Life Hacks Lockdown Wellbeing to help them through the challenges of the pandemic.”

On Demand Radio

The Archers continued to top the most played for on demand radio programmes, followed by the hugely popular Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.

With new presenters Emma Barnett and Anita Rani, Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour appeared in the top ten, while Radio 1’s 24-hour LOL-at-thon for Red Nose Day saw the second largest proportion of under-35 listeners after Radio 1’s Dance Anthems - showing they got the nation’s youth laughing.

Podcasts

The second series of Grounded With Louis Theroux with its array of high profile guests was the most played podcast on BBC Sounds. Louis’ candid interviews with Frankie Boyle and FKA Twigs were the most listened to episodes by younger listeners.

The much anticipated return of That Peter Crouch Podcast led the podcast to feature in the top ten podcasts for all adults, under-35s and had the largest proportion of under-35 listeners. The Battersea Poltergeist, which launched in January, also made the top ten, keeping audiences gripped with a mix of documentary style and dramatised storytelling, starring Toby Jones and Dafne Keen.

Meanwhile The YUNGBLUD Podcast attracted the highest proportion of under-35 listeners for the second consecutive quarter, followed by 6 Degrees from Jamie and Spencer and the new series of The Gemma Collins Podcast.

Life Hacks Lockdown Wellbeing from Radio 1 also appears in this top ten, showing younger listeners turned to Radio 1’s wellbeing content to help with the challenges they’ve been facing during the pandemic.

Music

The previous quarter saw a record 4.3 million plays of music and there’s been the same number of plays this quarter too. Audiences turned to the comforting and therapeutic benefits of music on BBC Sounds during lockdown, with The Mindful Mix picking up the most plays and new series launches Tearjerker with Jorja Smith and Downtime Symphony with Celeste also appearing in the top ten for music content.

6 Music’s Artist In Residence was the third most played music mix, with Arlo Parks, Phoebe Bridgers and St Vincent among its guest presenters. The Morning After mix also proved to be popular this quarter, with critically acclaimed guest curators including Serpent With Feet, Caroline Polachek, Westerman, Niyana IZ, Mykki Blanco and more.

BBC podcasts and radio programmes on third party platforms

There were 265 million downloads across the world for the BBC’s on demand audio during the quarter, with the Global News Podcast (BBC World Service), The Documentary (BBC World Service) In Our Time (Radio 4) proving the most popular.