Top 50 US podcasts for Q3 2025 released by Edison Research

Edison Research announced on October 17, 2025, the Top 50 Podcasts in the United States based on reach for Q3 2025 among weekly podcast consumers ages 13 and older. The ranking measures total audience reach through Edison Podcast Metrics, a subscription service that provides audience size estimates and listener profiles for shows and networks.

The top four podcasts maintained their positions from Q2 2025: The Joe Rogan Experience secured first place, followed by Crime Junkie in second, The Daily in third, and Call Her Daddy in fourth. SmartLess moved up one spot from Q2 to complete the top five positions.

The measurement methodology involved continuous interviews conducted throughout Q3 2025 with 5,000 weekly podcast consumers ages 13 and older across the United States. Interviews were conducted in both English and Spanish. Rankings reflect average weekly consumption over the full quarter period. All respondents reported listening to or watching a podcast in the week prior to their interview.

Notable ranking movements

The Meidas Touch Podcast entered the Top 20 for the first time at position 14. The show briefly overtook The Joe Rogan Experience in YouTube podcast rankings at one point during Q3, though Edison Research notes the YouTube chart ranks by watch time rather than reach.

The Charlie Kirk Show jumped 32 positions from number 49 in Q2 to number 17 in Q3. The show has continued releasing new episodes since Kirk's passing on September 10, 2025.

New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce gained three positions to reach number 7, a movement partially attributed to a guest appearance by Taylor Swift. The sports-focused show demonstrated how celebrity guest appearances can influence podcast reach metrics.

Morbid climbed nine positions to reach number 9 in the rankings. The true crime podcast's significant ascent reflects continued audience appetite for crime-focused content, a category that continues performing strongly in podcast consumption measurements.

The Pat McAfee Show reached an all-time high ranking of 26, rising from position 39 in Q2. Another sports-focused podcast, The Bill Simmons Podcast, increased its rank position to 36 from 67. Both shows benefited from timing aligned with the start of football season.

Candace reached position 28, rising at least partially due to the host's return from a maternity break in late June. The show's recovery demonstrates how production consistency affects podcast audience retention and growth.

First-time Top 50 entries

On Purpose with Jay Shetty entered the Top 50 for the first time at position 42. The entry may have been influenced by Jay Shetty's appearance on The Today Show on September 11, 2025, demonstrating how traditional media appearances can drive podcast discovery and consumption.

Diary of a CEO landed at position 51, just outside the Top 50. Giggly Squad reached position 52. Both shows bubbled under the ranking threshold, indicating strong audience bases that could potentially enter the Top 50 in future quarters.

Complete Top 50 ranking

The full rankings with producers are:

1. The Joe Rogan Experience (Joe Rogan)
2. Crime Junkie (audiochuck)
3. The Daily (The New York Times)
4. Call Her Daddy (Alex Cooper)
5. SmartLess (Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett)
6. This Past Weekend w/Theo Von (Theo Von)
7. New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce (Wondery)
8. Dateline NBC (NBC News)
9. Morbid (Ash Kelley & Alaina Urquhart)
10. Stuff You Should Know (iHeartPodcasts)
11. MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories (Ballen Studios | Wondery)
12. This American Life (This American Life)
13. Rotten Mango (Stephanie Soo)
14. The MeidasTouch Podcast (MeidasTouch Network)
15. The Breakfast Club (iHeartPodcasts)
16. Pod Save America (Crooked Media)
17. The Charlie Kirk Show (Charlie Kirk)
18. The Tucker Carlson Show (Tucker Carlson Network)
19. The Megyn Kelly Show (SiriusXM)
20. Club Shay Shay (iHeartPodcasts & Shay Shay Media)
21. The Ben Shapiro Show (The Daily Wire)
22. Bad Friends (Bobby Lee & Andrew Santino)
23. The Mel Robbins Podcast (Mel Robbins)
24. Planet Money (NPR)
25. Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend (Team Coco & Earwolf)
26. The Pat McAfee Show (Pat McAfee, ESPN)
27. My Favorite Murder (Exactly Right & iHeartPodcasts)
28. Candace (Candace Owens)
29. The Ramsey Show (Ramsey Network)
30. Up First from NPR (NPR)
31. Radiolab (WNYC Studios)
32. TED Talks Daily (TED)
33. Million Dollaz Worth Of Game (Barstool Sports)
34. The Joe Budden Podcast (The Joe Budden Network)
35. Huberman Lab (Scicomm Media)
36. The Bill Simmons Podcast (The Ringer)
37. Murder, Mystery & Makeup (Audioboom Studios)
38. Serial (Serial Productions & The New York Times)
39. Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard (Armchair Umbrella)
40. Drink Champs (The Black Effect & iHeartPodcasts)
41. Distractible (Distractible)
42. On Purpose with Jay Shetty (iHeartPodcasts)
43. Good Hang with Amy Poehler (The Ringer)
44. The Basement Yard (Santagato Studios)
45. Shawn Ryan Show (Shawn Ryan)
46. How I Built This with Guy Raz (Guy Raz | Wondery)
47. Impaulsive with Logan Paul (Logan Paul)
48. 48 Hours (CBS News)
49. Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! (NPR)
50. Hidden Brain (Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam)

Measurement methodology details

Edison Podcast Metrics operates as a continuous measurement system rather than point-in-time snapshots. The approach differs from download-based metrics by focusing on actual consumption patterns among weekly podcast audiences.

Participants indicate which podcasts they listened to or watched in the past week along with demographic, psychographic, and purchase-behavior information. The measurement captures reach as a percentage of the weekly podcast audience.

The data collection occurred continuously throughout Q3 2025. Rankings are based on average weekly consumption over the full-quarter period. Podcast listener quotas align with U.S. Census Bureau demographics across age, gender, education, region, and race categories.

Marketing implications

The Q3 2025 rankings arrive during significant transformation in podcast advertising measurement and monetization. Edison Research and Nielsen announced a collaboration on August 6, 2025, to launch Nielsen Podcast Fusion powered by Edison Research, integrating Edison Podcast Metrics into Nielsen's media planning tool for the first time.

The integration enables advertisers and agencies to plan, optimize and compare all major media types—including podcasts, TV, radio, digital and social—in one unified platform. NPR and Ocean Media signed on as charter subscribers for the new dataset.

Programmatic podcast advertising capabilities expanded substantially during the quarter. Spotify announced on July 11, 2025, the expansion of its automated podcast buying capabilities, providing advertisers with direct access to premium podcast ad inventory through both Spotify Ads Manager and Spotify Ad Exchange. The enhancement enables brands to reach approximately 170 million monthly podcast listeners across nearly 7 million podcast titles worldwide.

Advanced targeting capabilities emerged as Triton Digital published enhanced podcast ranking data on August 19, 2025, introducing audience intelligence features that enable advertisers to target specific demographic segments and purchase intent behaviors. The methodology combines traditional download measurements with survey data, delivering insights across more than 40 demographic and purchase intent segments.

The rankings reflect a documented gap between consumer audio engagement and advertiser investment. While consumers dedicate 31% of their media time to audio content, advertisers allocate only 9% of their budgets to audio platforms, according to industry research.

Technological developments addressed scaling challenges that have historically constrained host-read advertisement production across multiple podcast networks. Triton Digital announced on July 15, 2025, a partnership with ekoz.ai that introduces AI-powered voice cloning technology to its Spreaker podcast platform, enabling programmatic delivery of host-read advertisements while maintaining authenticity.

Publisher performance patterns

NPR maintained strong presence with four shows in the rankings: Planet Money at position 24, Up First from NPR at position 30, Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! at position 49, and significant presence in previous quarterly measurements. The public broadcaster's content demonstrates consistent audience retention across news and entertainment formats.

iHeartPodcasts placed three shows in the Top 50: Stuff You Should Know at position 10, The Breakfast Club at position 15, and Club Shay Shay at position 20. The network's average ranking position of 15.0 across these entries indicates strong mid-ranking performance.

Wondery appeared as producer for multiple top-ranking shows including New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce at position 7 and How I Built This with Guy Raz at position 46. The network's presence across different content categories demonstrates diverse audience appeal.

The New York Times maintained two shows in the rankings: The Daily at position 3 and Serial at position 38. Both shows represent different podcast formats—daily news versus narrative storytelling—demonstrating the publisher's range in podcast content production.

Corporate context

Edison Research announced on October 15, 2025, that SSRS acquired the company. The full-service market research firm's acquisition occurred during a period of significant activity in podcast measurement and analytics.

Edison Research conducts survey research across 66 countries. The company's The Infinite Dial series has measured digital audio, social media, podcasting, smart speakers, and related technologies since 1998. The firm's Share of Ear survey provides the only single-source measure of all audio consumption in the United States.

The company operates as the leading podcast research firm worldwide, producing the only survey-based data on podcast listening in the United States through Edison Podcast Metrics. The measurement service has conducted research for numerous companies in the podcast space.

Industry consolidation patterns

Major acquisitions reshaped the podcast landscape during Q3. Audioboom Group Plc announced on July 17, 2025, a binding agreement to acquire Adelicious Ltd, creating the UK's largest homegrown podcast network with 40 million unique listeners and more than 125 million monthly downloads and video views.

The consolidation reflects broader trends in podcast advertising measurement and targeting. New capabilities enable advertisers to target specific topics discussed within individual podcast episodes, exceeding traditional show-level targeting limitations.

Platform monetization strategies evolved substantially. Audioboom announced it has distributed more than $325 million in creator payouts to over 8,000 content creators globally over the past ten years, demonstrating the scale of podcast monetization opportunities.

Video podcast consumption gained prominence in measurement methodologies. Edison Research revealed that podcast rankings began incorporating data from individuals whose sole podcast consumption occurred through video platforms in 2025, reflecting the growing importance of visual podcast content.

The Q3 2025 rankings provide advertisers with audience reach data during a period when podcast advertising infrastructure expanded significantly, measurement integration advanced across traditional and digital media platforms, and programmatic capabilities scaled to reach hundreds of millions of listeners worldwide.

Timeline

• October 17, 2025: Edison Research announces Top 50 Podcasts in the U.S. for Q3 2025
• October 15, 2025: SSRS announces acquisition of Edison Research
• September 10, 2025: Charlie Kirk passes away; The Charlie Kirk Show continues releasing episodes
• September 11, 2025: Jay Shetty appears on The Today Show
• August 19, 2025: Triton Digital launches advanced podcast audience targeting with Q2 data
• August 6, 2025: Nielsen partners with Edison Research to integrate podcast data into media planning tool
• July 17, 2025: Audioboom acquires UK podcast leader Adelicious
• July 15, 2025: Triton Digital adds AI voice cloning for programmatic podcast ads
• July 11, 2025: Spotify expands automated podcast buying to 170 million listeners
• Late June 2025: Candace returns from maternity break

Summary

Who: Edison Research, a survey research company conducting work in 66 countries, released the quarterly ranking. The measurement involved 5,000 weekly podcast consumers ages 13 and older across the United States.

What: The Top 50 Podcasts in the U.S. ranking for Q3 2025 measures total audience reach among weekly podcast consumers. The ranking shows The Joe Rogan Experience maintaining first position, Crime Junkie in second, The Daily in third, and Call Her Daddy in fourth. Notable movements include The Meidas Touch Podcast entering the Top 20 at position 14 and The Charlie Kirk Show jumping 32 positions to number 17.

When: The announcement occurred on October 17, 2025. Data collection happened continuously throughout Q3 2025 (July through September). Rankings reflect average weekly consumption over the full quarter period.

Where: The ranking measures podcast consumption across the United States. Interviews were conducted with respondents in English and Spanish. The measurement methodology aligns with U.S. Census Bureau demographics across age, gender, education, region, and race categories.

Why: The ranking provides advertisers and podcast industry stakeholders with audience reach data during a period of significant transformation in podcast advertising. The measurement addresses a documented 22% gap between consumer audio engagement (31% of media time) and advertiser investment (9% of budgets). The data enables media planning decisions across integrated platforms, particularly following Nielsen's integration of Edison Podcast Metrics into unified media planning tools. The rankings matter for the marketing community as programmatic podcast advertising scaled to 170 million listeners across 12 markets in 2025, creating substantial opportunities for advertisers seeking to reach podcast audiences through automated buying systems.