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Podcast
July 8, 2024
7
min read
Elad Schulman

Most popular podcasts

In 2022, everyone and their mothers are listening to podcasts - everything from the most popular podcasts to podcast focusing on niche topics - including us. In a world where you’re always multi-tasking, podcasts offer the perfect medium - whether you’re stuck in traffic, commuting to work or sorting through laundry, listening to a podcast can help you pass the time or learn something new. We all have our go-to podcast, but we thought we would highlight the most popular podcasts from each genre - how many of these do you already listen to daily? 

Comedy

How Did This Get Made

How Did This Get Made? is a podcast produced by Earwolf and brings together 3 movie critics, Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Jason Mantzoukas, who deconstruct a different bad movie each episode. 

This is one of the most popular podcasts! It has been around since December 2012 and the three friends have broken down over 300 box-office flops, so this one is definitely a great option if you’re looking for a podcast to binge! 

Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me!

Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me! hosted by Peter Sagal, is the ultimate way to test your knowledge on the news of the week. Guests and panelists are tested on their knowledge on the weekly news, and listeners will just have to try to hold themselves from shouting the answers on their morning commute. Though this talk show has been around since 1998 on NPR, it has only recently become available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, so it’s the perfect time to start listening!

Guests range from Kacey Musgraves, the grammy-winning singer-songwriter to Elana Meyers Taylor, the most decorated Olympic American bobsledder.

True Crime

Serial 

Serial is considered the first true crime podcast, and still stands as one of the most popular podcasts in the ‘true crime’ genre today. “Serial” covers a different complicated crime each season, and the first season, which explores the murder of high school student Hae Min Lee and the (potentially) wrongful conviction of her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed, has been downloaded over a million times.

The listener joins the host, Sarah Koening, for the numerous twists and turns of each crime, not knowing what will happen up until the very end of the season. You aren’t a true True Crime podcast lover if you haven’t listened to Serial

Morning Cup of Murder

The name of this podcast is pretty self explanatory - the listener is provided with a daily murder story that happened on that specific date, making it the perfect podcast to listen to while having your morning cup of coffee (at least to some). 

Morning Cup of Murder defies the standard of hour-long episodes. Each episode of this podcast is no more than 10 minutes long, giving you the perfect dose of true crime for each day. 

Let’s take a look at the top True Crime podcast sponsors: BetterHelp, TalkSpace, SimpliSafe, and HelloFresh

Fitness

Ali on the Run 

Ali, a dancer-turned-runner, sits with different entrepreneurs, leaders, and marathoners each week on their love for the sport. Every type of runner is seen and celebrated on this widely popular podcast (the fastest runners of the world, but also the runners that make up the middle and back of the pack). The perfect podcast when you yourself are out for a run, Ali will keep you motivated while you pump out those miles. 

It’s not difficult to see why Ali’s podcast is one of the most popular podcasts in the genre - runners of all levels will connect with Ali’s words of wisdom about running and pushing the physical and mental boundaries in life. 

Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth Podcast

Mind Pump is here to debunk all your fitness theories, as the name suggests. The hosts, Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer and Justin Andrews, have been in the fitness industry for more than four decades, so to put it simply, they have a lot of experience and knowledge on all things health, nutrition, what works and what doesn’t. Listeners will be supplied with the tools they need to reach their fitness goals. 

So, if you’re trying to learn more about the secrets of the supplements industry, different training techniques, or which exercise will get you the ‘biggest gains’, this is the podcast for you! 

History

Making Gay History | LGBTQ Oral Histories from the Archive

Eric Marcus shines a spotlight on the forgotten, and largely hidden, history of the LGBTQIA+ rights movement. Most episodes include archived interviews from the trailblazers, activists and allies themselves, allowing listeners to get the history straight from the people who were a part of it. This unique podcast style is one of the reasons why Marcus’s podcast is one of the most popular podcasts of this genre. 

Often, the different seasons of the podcast will be based on different events in history. For example, season 9 focused primarily on the AIDs crisis - a part of history that is still taboo and absent from the history textbooks.

You’re Wrong About

Michael Hobbes and Sarah Marshall, the podcast hosts of You’re Wrong About, are two journalists that are committed to setting the record straight on people or historical events that have been miscast in society throughout history. Some of the podcast’s most popular episodes include discussions on Princess Diana, the Stanford Prison Experiment, and ‘cancel culture’. 

While listening, “You’re Wrong About'' will cause you to ask yourself questions like, “what do we really know about history”, and “how much of what we think we know is wrong?”. So, pretty light questions to think about while folding your laundry. 

Let’s take a look at the top History podcast sponsors: CuriosityStream, SimpliSafe, and BetterHelp.  

News

The Daily

The Daily strives to provide listeners with what ‘the news should sound like’. Host Michael Barbaro is joined by various journalists and experts from the New York Times to break down the news of the day. 

Listeners are provided with 5 episodes a week, all under 20 minutes long, perfect for those who are in a hurry but still want to stay updated on current events. 

Consider This

Consider This, another podcast that manages to condense each episode to just under 15 minutes, helps you make sense of major news stories, and what exactly those news stories mean for you. How is TikTok changing the music industry? Why should you care about the rise of book bans in public schools? These are just some of the topics that are brought up during this popular podcast. 

With 6 episodes a week, you’ll have a range of topics to bring up for a heated dinner conversation around the table! 

Business

Business Wars

  

As one of the most popular podcasts in the ‘Business’ subcategory, “Business Wars” is perfect for those that love knowing all of the tea. Hosted by David Brown, the podcast critically examines business ‘rivalries’ between two organizations, or brands. Netflix vs. HBO. Nike vs. Adidas. These are just a few of the episodes that will help you better understand what drives these companies and their leaders, inventors, investors and executives. 

This is the perfect podcast to help you understand some of your favorite brands, and who knows, you might even cancel a few subscriptions! Though ‘HBO and chill’ doesn’t have quite the same ring to it…

How I Built This

Sometimes, the success of a brand seems obvious. Discovery Channel has always been around, Bobbi Brown was always stocked on the shelves of makeup stores. But that’s not exactly the case. How I Built This aims to bring you the stories - and the struggles, of some of the world’s best known companies. 

Anybody can be an innovator, and this podcast proves this fact with each new episode. So, channel your inner Steve Jobs and brainstorm the next ‘big thing’ while listening to this podcast!

Science

The Infinite Monkey Cage

The Infinite Monkey Cage brings together physicist Brian Cox and comedian Robin Ince as the hosts of this podcast, so you know you’ll at least get a few laughs out of this popular podcast. Each episode tackles a different scientific question (for example, ‘does time exist?’), and a panel of three guests then debate on the topic. 

The mix of entertainers and experts on the podcast ensures that the balance between scientific facts and punchlines is just right. What more could you ask for? Not to mention, The Infinite Monkey Cage has been a widely popular podcast for many years already!

Twenty Thousand Hertz

This podcast is all about different sounds (yeah, you heard me right). From the sounds you always hear in movie trailers to the history of snoring, this highly researched podcast will teach you all about how iconic sounds were created and why certain sounds make us feel the way they do. 

The episodes are usually not longer than 30 minutes, so be sure to check this one out if it sounds like something you might like (the pun options with this podcast are endless!).

It’s pretty easy to see that there’s a podcast out there that covers almost every topic you could think of. The world of podcasting is growing day by day, and as you can probably guess, advertisers see this platform as a strong way to get their products out to a large audience. There’s a special feeling of trust and intimacy that a listener feels with the host, and this bond is what makes sponsorships highly successful. Whether you’re listening to a podcast about health and fitness or a true crime podcast, there’s no doubt that there’s a product that can be seamlessly mentioned throughout the podcast.

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