Joe Rogan tops Apple’s most popular podcasts of 2025

When it comes to podcasting, it’s Joe Rogan’s world. The Joe Rogan Experience was the most popular podcast of 2025, according to Apple’s just-released rankings.

This is the first year Rogan has topped the Apple charts. Last year, he took the bronze medal, behind The Daily and Crime Junkie (both of which still made the Top 10 this year). Two years ago, he didn’t make the list (thanks to an exclusivity agreement with Spotify, signed in 2020—where he also currently holds the No. 1 spot).

Rogan’s podcast certainly had head-turning guests this year, including a much-listened-to interview with Elon Musk. The Daily, from The New York Times, was Apple’s second-most popular podcast this year, with The Mel Robbins Podcast debuting at No. 3, after not making the list in 2024.

Robbins, whose podcast offers advice to people who want to change their lives, said she was shocked by the high placement. (Her podcast was also the most followed show on Apple in 2025 and had the most shared episode.)

“I just can’t believe it,” she wrote to listeners on social media. “Our small team, you, and this global community turned this little podcast that started in a room above my garage into one of the biggest podcasts in the world. I am so proud and so grateful.”

Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy and The Ezra Klein Show were the other new additions to the 2025 list.

True crime, news, and big podcasting names dominated the top shows. Here’s how the list ranked the podcasts for 2025.

1. The Joe Rogan Experience
2. The Daily
3. The Mel Robbins Podcast
4. Crime Junkie
5. Dateline NBC
6. SmartLess
7. Call Her Daddy
8. This American Life
9. Huberman Lab
10. The Ezra Klein Show

Amy Poehler’s Good Hang with Amy Poehler was the top new podcast of the year, followed by Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce and several true-crime offerings.

Among Apple’s top series, The Telepathy Tapes, which investigates the controversial claim that some nonspeaking individuals with autism have telepathic abilities, was the leader. That podcast, hosted by Ky Dickens, has been particularly polarizing among listeners, with some listening obsessively and many calling it a grift.

“An incredible and humbling honor,” the podcast team wrote on social media. “Thank you to everyone who shared, listened, and opened their minds. We are so beyond grateful for all of the listeners.”

The most surprising ranking of the list, though, was likely the podcast that didn’t top the charts. Among the most listened-to podcast episodes of the year, Taylor Swift’s appearance on New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce only ranked third, behind offerings from The Telepathy Tapes and Crime Junkie.

In fairness, the Swift podcast aired in August, while The Telepathy Tapes episode that topped the list was from September 2024 and the Crime Junkie episode was from April, giving both more time to gather listeners.

Here’s how the other lists ranked this year.

Top new shows

1. Good Hang with Amy Poehler
2. Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce
3. Deadly Mirage
4. Blink: Jake Haendel’s Story
5. Murder in the Moonlight
6. Devil in the Desert
7. What Happened to Holly Bobo?
8. Cold Blooded: Mystery in Alaska
9. Unicorn Girl
10. The Best People with Nicolle Wallace

Top series

1. The Telepathy Tapes
2. The Binge Cases
3. Deadly Mirage
4. Blink: Jake Haendel’s Story
5. Dateline Originals
6. Murder in the Moonlight
7. Serial
8. Three
9. Devil in the Desert
10. CounterClock

Top episodes

1. The Telepathy Tapes: “Unveiling the Hidden World of Telepathic Communication in a Silenced Community”
2. Crime Junkie: “Murdered: The Feeney Family”
3. New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce: “The Taylor Swift Episode”
4. The Joe Rogan Experience: “#2223 – Elon Musk”
5. The Daily: “The President, Again”
6. Blink: Jake Haendel’s Story: “Blink”
7. Deadly Mirage: “Death in the High Desert”
8. SmartLess: “Amy Poehler”
9. Good Hang with Amy Poehler: “Tina Fey”
10. Murder in the Moonlight: “In Cold Blood”

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