Nick Grimshaw may have gained some new fans and listeners since moving to the coveted breakfast slot at the BBC's flagship radio station, but overall, his move to the main slot has seen listener numbers plummet by a massive 1 million people. The drop in numbers gives the high profile spot it's lowest audience numbers in over a decade and has called into question the BBC's commitment to Grimshaw as a DJ.

Nick Grimshaw
Grimmy has lost a substantial amount of listeners

The 29-year-old successor to Chris Moyles, who left the Radio 1 breakfast slot last September after 12 years of holding down the morning fort, has seen audience figures fall to the same number as when Moyles arrived in the slot. The audience numbers for the breakfast show, then presented by Sara Cox, were at an all-time low, but were taken to new heights thanks to the popularity of Moyles. However this may not spell the end of Grimmy, as he was tasked with increasing the number of young listeners tuning in to the station, even if that meant sacrificing some of Moyles' older listeners. According to the new figures, compiled by Rajar, Grimshaw brings in roughly 5.58 million listeners through the week.

"After the biggest set of changes to Radio 1 for a generation, we're really happy that the breakfast show sounds fresher, younger and more vibrant than ever," Ben Cooper, controller of Radio 1, said. "As a result, 833,000 of the show's '30 and over' listeners have moved on to other stations."

Nick Grimshaw Carphone Warehouse
Luckily, his boss doesn't seem too bothered by this

Whilst Nick has suffered, one person who has benefitted greatly from Moyles' departure is Chris Evans. The red-haired host of BBC Radio 2's morning show has seen his listener numbers skyrocket to a weekly average of 9.35 million. Not only has Evans' show increased its listener range, but Radio 2 has seen an overall increase in listeners by up to a million people. Over the course of the last year, the station has maintained a 14.94 million listener average.

On top of BBC Radio 2's success, digital stations Radio 1Xtra and Radio 5 Live Sports Extra each posted record figures for the past year. This reflects positively on the popularity of digital radio as a whole, and brings impetus to the planned 2018 'digital switchover.' It is currently believed that at least half of the country tunes in to digital radio daily.

Chris Evans
Chris Evans is king of British breakfast radio