Global Radio's local station, with its strapline "Heart 106.2, London's best music mix" had a weekly reach of 1,881,000 in the three months to 20 December 2009, up 4.8% year on year.
Despite the figure representing a slight drop (-0.6%) on Q3, it was enough to surpass rival Magic which slipped 8.8% year on year to reach 1,821,000.
The lackluster performance by the former leader also resulted in it being overtaken by Heart' stablemate 95.8 Capital FM, with 1,827,000.
Today's results were widely celebrated by leaders at Global Radio, and founder and group chief executive, Ashley Tabor, said "This is a landmark day for Global Radio, taking the number one and two positions in London. It's a target that the whole team here has been working to for some time and I'm delighted the hard work has paid off."
In terms of individual shows, Capital FM's breakfast show, fronted by Johnny Vaughan and Lisa Snowdon, extended its lead as the most popular commercial radio show in London for the sixth consecutive quarter.
Capital's breakfast show averaged 1,231,000 listeners per week between 6am and 10am, according to figures for the last quarter of 2009, up from 981,000 listeners in the same period of 2008.
Vaughan's morning slot was the only commercial breakfast show in London's top flight not to lose listeners year on year.
Heart's second-placed breakfast show, hosted by Jamie Theakston and Harriet Scott, slipped 26,000 quarter on quarter, and 100,000 year on year, to 790,000. Magic's Neil Fox remained static with 782,000 listeners, down from 835,000 in Q4 2008.
Bauer's Kiss 100 FM was down from 722,000 average weekly listeners in the same period in 2008 to 668,000 today.
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