GCSE results day is here again, with students across the country receiving grades across a raft of subjects.
Beyond the headline figures in this year’s results are a lot of other data insights around subject entries - both increases and declines - the number of GCSEs taken, grade distributions and the subjects that continue to prove popular, or not, with girls and boys.
1. The popularity game
The top 10 most popular subjects remain the same as last year, with science: double award being sat by the most students in 2025, with 925,606 entries.
As you would probably expect, maths comes next, with 831,556 entries. This is followed by English language, with 801,787 entries, and English literature with 608,110. These four core subjects are by far the most popular GCSEs.
Next in the list is history, with 289,624 entries - interestingly, this subject retains its spot as the fifth most popular GCSE, despite it falling down the entries table at A level this year.
Geography comes next with 288,664 entries, followed by religious studies (217,483), art and design subjects (191,715 ), biology (170,055) and chemistry (161,948).
2. The subjects on the up
Where we’ve seen more change this year is in the list of subjects with the biggest rise in entries compared with 2024.
While business studies topped this table last year, in 2025 it is statistics that has seen the biggest increase, from 31,048 entries in 2024 to 34,081 this year - a rise of 9.8 per cent.
Another big riser was performing/expressive arts (although it should be noted that far fewer students take this subject), increasing from 6,507 entries to 7,107 - an 8.2 per cent increase. Music followed with entries rising from 32,284 to 34,247.
Next comes business studies, which saw a more modest jump of 2.8 per cent from 125,434 to 128,988 entries, and English language, trailing closely behind with a 2.5 per cent rise from 782,022 to 801,787.
More on GCSE results:
Spanish ranks sixth here, with a 2.2 per cent increase in entries, from 127,832 to 130,587 this year. This increase comes after the subject overtook French as the most popular GCSE language, and follows an uptake in Spanish at A level this year - all good news for those working in the subject and noted by the British Council school’s adviser, Vicky Gough.
“[Spanish’s] growing popularity and cultural appeal show there is real appetite for language learning - when pupils see the benefits it can bring,” she said.
Also on the rise this year were PE (rising 2.1 per cent, from 76,496 to 78,077), geography (1.9 per cent, from 283,154 to 288,664), maths (1.9 per cent, from 816,165 to 831,556) and classical subjects (1.6 per cent, from 16,047 to 16,311).
3. And the subjects on the down
There was less good news for some subjects that saw a clear decline in entries, such as engineering, which fell a whopping 18.9 per cent. This was a drop from 3,018 entries in 2024 to 2,476 this year.
Meanwhile, German fell by 6.9 per cent, from 35,913 to 33,391 entries, which was another blow for the subject, while economics also fared badly, with entries down from 8,093 last year to 7,608.
While these subject moves are based on slightly smaller entry numbers to begin with, the fact that the overall number of entries to GCSEs declined this year - from 5,811,595 in summer 2024 to 5,777,020 in summer 2025 - may also explain decreases in more popular subjects, such as physics, biology, chemistry and history, as well as French, which declined by a modest 1.6 per cent this year.
4. Gender inequality in some subjects
Looking at the gender split in entries, it is clear that, as with A levels last week, there remain some notable divides in certain subjects.
Computing, economics and physical education are predominantly taken by boys - while girls are far more likely to choose performing arts, drama and French.
While this data does not reveal any significant year-on-year changes, it once again underlines the challenge in changing perceptions of certain subjects among girls and boys when it comes to GCSE choices.
5. How many GCSEs per student?
Overall, looking at the results data for 16-year-olds this year, entering nine GCSEs was the most common choice, with 188,245 taking this number, followed by 167,315 taking eight and 103,315 taking seven.
Ofqual also provides a breakdown of how many students scored all grades 4 and above, all grades 7 and above and all grade 9s, outlined in the table below.
Of particularly note, perhaps, is the number of students securing all 9s.
While, as you might expect, the highest number securing all 9s took just one GCSE (1,303 students), there were plenty who did so taking more subjects: a very impressive 540 scored all 9s for 10 exams, 116 for 11 exams and five for 12 exams.
6. No bell curve in grade distributions - again
Finally, this year’s overall grade distributions repeat the pattern seen last year in that there isn’t a clear bell curve of distribution - as previously analysed by Tes.
Instead there are two peaks, at grade 3 and grade 5, while grade 4 (often seen as a “pass”) has a slight drop.
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