These were the most popular podcast episodes of 2024, according to Apple Podcasts
True crime and politics have been dominating the podcast charts this year, at least in Apple’s app.
Apple has shared the most popular podcasts of 2024True crime, politics, and interview shows dominateYou can view stats for your country in the Podcasts app
It’s the season to look back on the last 12 months – we’re seeing announcements every day now about the apps of the year, the movies of the year, and annual music recaps – and now Apple has published stats on the top podcasts of 2024.
The charts cover the most popular shows overall, the most popular new shows, the most popular individual episodes, the most widely shared shows, and the shows with the most subscribers across the year. You can see the results for the results in your own part of the world by opening the Browse tab in the iOS Podcasts app.
For the US, the top three shows overall were The Daily news show, the true crime podcast Crime Junkie, and The Joe Rogan Experience interview series. Over in the UK, the podcast charts were topped by The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett, The Rest Is Politics, and The Rest Is History.
When it comes to the best new shows for 2024, the US list was headed by The Tucker Carlson Show, Three (true crime), and Mortal Sin (true crime again). In the UK, the winners were The Rest Is Entertainment, The Rest Is Politics (US version), and Olivia Attwood’s So Wrong It’s Right – so you can see some of the trends.
Top episodes
Crime Junkie has been one of the big winners this year (Image credit: Crime Junkie)
For top episodes in the US, we’ve got a Crime Junkie episode on the Alphabet murders, Joe Rogan’s interview with Donald Trump, and the Daily episode on the Harris vs Trump debate during the US election.
In the UK, the top three episodes were claimed by the UK election episode from The Rest Is Politics, the Paul Rudd episode from Off Menu with Ed Game and James Acaster, and the Angela Rayner episode of The Rest Is Politics.
Politics, true crime, and interview shows have been dominating the podcast charts in 2024 then – though bear in mind this is based on listening happening through the Apple Podcasts app and not anywhere else (like Spotify, for example).
As for the most shared shows we’re recommending to friends and family, the top three were Huberman Lab (health), Scamanda (true crime yet again), and Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the US, and Zoe Science & Nutrition, The Rest Is Politics, and The Rest Is History in the UK.
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