PPMs: AC Rules In Four Of Day 1’s Eight Markets.

Think back to 2025. When was the first Nielsen survey of that year where adult contemporary stations were on top in half of Day 1’s non-embedded PPM markets? Was it January, holding over from the always-powerful Holiday book, or maybe May?

The answer may surprise you. It was December 2025, the only regular survey during last year when ACs ruled in four of those eight markets, before taking over during the Holiday survey’s four weeks of Santa-casting.

For 2026 to date, it’s a different story, as this year’s May survey, covering April 30-May 27, is the first with ACs ahead in four markets: New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Houston. That’s notable considering that during 2025, six of the 12 regular surveys showed AC leading in only one or two of the eight Day 1 markets.

It may also be worth noting that for May in these markets, there are 16 AC stations of any type — whether AC itself, hot AC, soft AC or urban AC — ranked in the top five.

For Day 1, the leaderboard shows four wins for AC, with one each for adult alternative, hot AC, news/talk, classic hits and sports.

Please note that rankings do not include stations owned by Cumulus Media, which is in the midst of a re-negotiation of its contract with Nielsen, which expired Dec. 31, 2025. 

As in April, iHeartMedia AC “106.7 Lite FM” WLTW continues to lead Audacy all-news WINS-AM-FM by a full share point, while it’s also number one in weekly cume persons at 4.0 million. It’s an all iHeartMedia-and-Audacy top five, with Audacy classic hits sister WCBS-FM and iHeartMedia CHR “Z100” WHTZ still third and fourth respectively, while iHeartMedia classic rock “Q104.3” WAXQ re-enters the region for the first time since September 2025, moving from eighth-ranked to fifth.

For a third consecutive survey, the top four remain in the same order. iHeartMedia AC KOST — the weekly cume leader, at 2.5 million — is on top for a seventh survey in a row, ahead of hot AC sister “104.3 MyFM” KBIG and Audacy’s classic hits “K-Earth 101” KRTH third and adult hits “93.1 Jack FM” KCBS-FM. Audacy claims the fifth-ranked station as well, with urban AC “94.7 The Wave” KTWV returning to the top five for the first time since the Holiday 2025 book.

While Audacy adult alternative WXRT leads the pack for a third consecutive survey, this time it settles for a tie with Hubbard — Media That Connects hot AC “101.9 The Mix” WTMX, which makes a rare showing at the top. Both stations are just a tenth of a point up on Audacy all-news sister WBBM-AM/WCFS, and 0.3 ahead of Hubbard classic rock sister “The Drive” WDRV/WWDV, landing at fourth. iHeartMedia soft AC “93.9 Lite FM” WLIT, which boasts a first-place 1.3 million weekly cume, moves back into the top five, at fifth.

iHeartMedia AC “Star 102.1” KDGE re-takes the crown in Big D for the first time since Nielsen’s Holiday 2025 survey, just 0.1 in front of Audacy hot AC “Mix 102.9” KDMX, the champ from January-April. Star also had the highest weekly cume at 1.2 million. The rest of the top five is all new vs. April, with Salem Media Group contemporary Christian KLTY and Audacy modern/alternative rock “Alt 103.7” KVIL now ranked third and fourth, followed by two more from Audacy — adult hits “100.3 Jack-FM” KJKK, and classic hits “98.7 The Spot” KSPF — tied for fifth.

Make it 10 straight wins for iHeartMedia AC “Sunny 99.1” KODA, which for all 10 surveys has stayed ahead of Urban One urban AC “Majic 102.1” KMJQ. KODA also leads the market in weekly cume, at 1.9 million. Urban One claims three of the top five, with classic rock “The Eagle 106.9/107.5” KGLK/KHPT at third and country “93Q” KKBQ fifth, while Hope Media Group contemporary Christian 89.3 KSBJ places fourth.

It’s a fifth consecutive victory for news/talk pubcaster KQED, 0.5 ahead of Audacy all-news KCBS-AM/KFRC. Just below, it’s a battle of the ACs as iHeart soft AC “98.1 The Breeze” KISQ gains a share point to move from sixth to third, followed by cume leader (at 1.1 million) Connoisseur Media AC KOIT, while iHeart hot AC sister “Star 101.3” KIOI ties for fifth with Connoisseur CHR sister “99.7 Now” KMVQ. 

For the first time since last August, Cox Media Group classic hits “97.1 The River” WSRV takes the lead in Atlanta, in a very tight race for the top three, as it’s just two-tenths of a share point ahead of April champ, Urban One urban AC “Majic 107.5/97.5” WAMJ, and half a point in front of the March leader, CMG news/talk WSB-AM/WSBB-FM. Just below, Audacy urban contemporary “V103” WVEE and CMG urban AC sister “Kiss 104.1” WALR remain at fourth and fifth for a third straight survey.

For the second time this year — the last in January, during the Eagles’ post-season run — Audacy sports WIP-FM, flagship for both the Eagles and Phillies, is back in 8-share territory. It’s got a comfortable lead over iHeart urban AC WDAS-FM, which moves from fifth to second, its first time ranked that high since the Holiday 2024 survey. Beasley Media Group’s heritage rock WMMR and classic rock WMGK come in third and fifth, while Audacy AC sister “B101” WBEB, which leads in weekly cume at 1.2 million, holds at fourth.