On June 30, 2015, Apple launched Beats 1, a 24/7 music radio station as part of Apple Music. It's still streaming daily as Apple Music 1.
(via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)
June 30, 2015: Apple launches 24/7 radio station Apple Music 1 (launched originally as Beats 1). Part of Apple Music, the new global radio station features top DJs ranging from former BBC presenter Zane Lowe to top musical artists like Lil Wayne.
Apple calls Apple Music 1 “the biggest radio station in the world” and says it beats (no pun intended) all other music stations when it comes to concurrent listeners. However, without hard figures to back that up, some call out Cupertino on this claim.
As its name suggests, the origin of Beats 1 can be traced back to Apple’s $3 billion acquisition of Beats in 2014. This gave Apple the music-themed brand and tech with which it started building the basis for its subscription-based streaming service Apple Music.
However, Zane Lowe — one of the first Beats 1 DJs — said the time frame for creating Beats 1 proved incredibly tight. The team, he said in interviews over the years, had just three months to “build Beats 1 from scratch.”
Unlike Apple Music, Beats 1 required no subscription to listen to. In theory, this opened it up to a massive audience, even if Apple never revealed the exact number of listeners.
In 2020, Cupertino changed the station’s name to Apple Music 1 and launched two other radio stations: Apple Music Hits and Apple Music Country. And in December 2024, Apple added three more free stations: Apple Música Uno, Apple Music Club and Apple Music Chill.
As of June 2026, Apple Music operates six live global radio stations:
The six stations remain free for people who don’t subscribe to Apple Music.
Apple Music in December 2024 introduced three new radio stations: Apple Música Uno, Apple Music Club and Apple Music Chill.Lowe said early on that he was “not sure” how essential Beats 1 was to the overall Apple Music experience — although he hoped “there’s a place for it.” In the years since the Beats 1 launch, Apple’s main radio station continues to garner big-name interviews and celebrity hosts, particularly in the hip-hop world. (Lowe still hosts The Zane Lowe Show.)
Strangely, Apple does relatively little to promote its radio stations. And the focus on them as a key differentiator for Apple Music seems to have gone the way of the streaming service’s controversial early focus on exclusives.
Do you listen to any of Apple’s radio stations? What do you think of them? Let us know in the comments below.
| # | Наименование новости | Тональность | Информативность | Дата публикации |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Today in Apple history: Apple’s eWorld online service goes live | 0 | 5 | 20-06-2026 |
| 2 | Today in Apple history: App Store surpasses 15 billion downloads | 0 | 5 | 07-07-2026 |
| 3 | Today in Apple history: Apple admits Antennagate is a thing | 0 | 5 | 02-07-2026 |
| 4 | Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs begins his path back to the top | 0 | 5 | 08-07-2026 |
| 5 | Today in Apple history: MobileMe gets to R.I.P. | -2 | 3 | 01-07-2026 |
| 6 | Today in Apple history: Bill Gates urges Apple to license Mac OS | 0 | 5 | 25-06-2026 |
| 7 | 10 days in iOS 27 beta heaven/hell [Cult of Mac podcast No. 25] | 0 | 5 | 20-06-2026 |
| 8 | 9to5Mac Daily: June 18, 2026 – iOS 27 app features, Beats firmware fix | 0 | 5 | 18-06-2026 |
| 9 | 9to5Mac Daily: May 22, 2026 – Apple Music AI, hardware changes | 0 | 2 | 23-05-2026 |