Apple unveiled its most popular podcasts of 2023 on Tuesday, revealing that true crime’s chokehold on the platform continues for another year. True crime took first place in two categories, with Crime Junkie as the most popular podcast for the second year in a row, and Scamanda as the most popular new show.
The top podcast list for 2023 contained almost entirely familiar shows from 2022’s top podcasts, with only one new show breaking into the scene: Huberman Lab. Andrew Huberman’s fitness and health podcast hadn’t even broken the top 20 a year ago but has taken listeners by storm with his cold shower preaching. Huberman even had the most shared episode on Apple Podcasts, a feature on “What Alcohol Does to Your Body, Brain & Health.”
Otherwise, the top podcasts remained largely the same. Crime Junkie, The Daily, and Dateline NBC still held the top spots. The Joe Rogan Experience and Call Her Daddy, which held the number one and two spots in 2021 before they moved to Spotify, were noticeable in their absence from the list. Apple’s top 10 podcasts are much more “brand safe” than these two defectors, however, the largely unchanged list represents a deeper problem than brand safety.
Podcasts have long had an issue with discoverability. It’s difficult to find new shows to listen to, and Apple having the same top podcast two years in a row is evidence of that. Whereas social media and streaming have become optimized for search and discovery, the podcast space remains excruciatingly stagnant.
Apple Music Replay, its competitor to Spotify Wrapped, also dropped today, showing users a year-end summary of their most listened-to artists, songs, podcasts, and genres in a highly sharable slideshow. Replay feels like an outright copy of Wrapped in many ways, with similar Gen Z-friendly fonts and psychedelic backgrounds. You can see your Replay on Apple’s webpage or right on the Apple Music app.
Here’s Apple’s full list of the top 10 shows for 2023:
- Crime Junkie
- The Daily
- Dateline NBC
- SmartLess
- This American Life
- Morbid
- Up First
- Huberman Lab
- Hidden Brain
- Stuff You Should Know
Apple unveiled its most popular podcasts of 2023 on Tuesday, revealing that true crime’s chokehold on the platform continues for another year. True crime took first place in two categories, with Crime Junkie as the most popular podcast for the second year in a row, and Scamanda as the most popular new show.
The top podcast list for 2023 contained almost entirely familiar shows from 2022’s top podcasts, with only one new show breaking into the scene: Huberman Lab. Andrew Huberman’s fitness and health podcast hadn’t even broken the top 20 a year ago but has taken listeners by storm with his cold shower preaching. Huberman even had the most shared episode on Apple Podcasts, a feature on “What Alcohol Does to Your Body, Brain & Health.”
Otherwise, the top podcasts remained largely the same. Crime Junkie, The Daily, and Dateline NBC still held the top spots. The Joe Rogan Experience and Call Her Daddy, which held the number one and two spots in 2021 before they moved to Spotify, were noticeable in their absence from the list. Apple’s top 10 podcasts are much more “brand safe” than these two defectors, however, the largely unchanged list represents a deeper problem than brand safety.
Podcasts have long had an issue with discoverability. It’s difficult to find new shows to listen to, and Apple having the same top podcast two years in a row is evidence of that. Whereas social media and streaming have become optimized for search and discovery, the podcast space remains excruciatingly stagnant.
Apple Music Replay, its competitor to Spotify Wrapped, also dropped today, showing users a year-end summary of their most listened-to artists, songs, podcasts, and genres in a highly sharable slideshow. Replay feels like an outright copy of Wrapped in many ways, with similar Gen Z-friendly fonts and psychedelic backgrounds. You can see your Replay on Apple’s webpage or right on the Apple Music app.
Here’s Apple’s full list of the top 10 shows for 2023:
- Crime Junkie
- The Daily
- Dateline NBC
- SmartLess
- This American Life
- Morbid
- Up First
- Huberman Lab
- Hidden Brain
- Stuff You Should Know