Audacy Claims Half Of Hot AC’s Top 10, Led By New York’s WNEW-FM.

With the exception of the title of hot AC’s most played song year-to-date, there’s nothing “Ordinary” about the format. Alex Warren’s hit, along with the K-Pop anthem “Golden,” the Brit-pop of Olivia Dean and Raye, and country crossovers Ella Langley and Shaboozey, have all given hot AC a wide range of sounds to attract adults, especially women in their 30s.

Inside Radio’s TOP 10 U.S. hot AC stations, based on persons 6+ weekly cume delivery during Nielsen’s spring 2026 wave (April-June three-month average), shows three stations from three different owner-operators ruling the list, each with cumes passing the million mark.

At the top, at 2.1 million, is Audacy’s WNEW (102.7) New York, home to 30-year New York radio veteran Karen Carson in mornings, and one of five Audacy stations in hot AC’s top 10. Right behind at 2 million is one of iHeartMedia’s three stations on the list, “104.3 MYfm” KBIG Los Angeles, flagship of the syndicated “Valentine in the Morning,” since the station moved to the format in 2007.

Ranked third at 1 million is one of Hubbard’s two in the top 10, “101.9 The Mix” WTMX Chicago, hot AC since 1992. The other, placing ninth, is eight-time Marconi Award winner “KS95” KSTP-FM.

Audacy’s other four stations in the top 10 include the station that arguably started it all, fourth-ranked “Mix 96.5” KHMX Houston, which in 1990 originated the “Mix” hot AC brand and format that ran on other FM stations across the U.S. shortly after.

Audacy’s “Alice @ 97.3” KLLC San Francisco, where Sarah Clark has co-hosted mornings since 1997, comes in seventh, followed by “Mix 104.1” WBMX Boston, home to the “Karson & Kennedy” morning show whose co-host, Kennedy Elsey, received Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio (MIW)’s 2026 Airblazer Award. Audacy’s “Star 94” WSTR Atlanta ranks tenth.

iHeartMedia’s additional two place fifth and sixth: “Mix 102.9” KDMX Dallas, and “Star 101.3” KIOI San Francisco, making that market the only one with a pair of hot ACs in the top 10.