Love him or hate him, Joe Rogan maintained his hold as the No. 1 podcaster on Spotify for 2022.
“The Joe Rogan Experience,” which has been exclusively available on Spotify since December 2020, took the No. 1 slot for most popular podcast of the year globally and in the U.S., for the second year in a row. Coming in second was “Call Her Daddy,” the sex and relationship podcast hosted by Alex Cooper, which is also exclusive to Spotify. That was followed at No. 3 by “Anything Goes With Emma Chamberlain,” the show hosted by the popular YouTuber that is set to become exclusively available on Spotify in 2023.
Rounding out the top 5 podcasts on Spotify globally were original drama series “Caso 63,” including English-language adaptation “Case 63” starring Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac, and true-crime podcast mainstay “Crime Junkie.” Spotify revealed the top podcasts and audiobooks of the year as part of announcing its annual Wrapped 2022 campaign, which launched Wednesday.
Rogan, the comedian-actor who first launched his podcast in 2009, has a multiyear distribution deal with Spotify worth more than $200 million. On “The Joe Rogan Experience,” he hosts a range of guests spanning the worlds of comedy, sports, politics, entertainment, business, academia and cultural commentary.
He’s a controversial figure: Rogan came under fire this year for spreading misinformation about the COVID vaccine on his show, prompting a boycott of Spotify by Neil Young and a few other artists. Rogan also faced a backlash over his use of the N-word in older episodes of his podcast. Earlier this year,Spotify removed 70 episodes “The Joe Rogan Experience” that included “racially insensitive language,” which Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said were pulled at Rogan’s request.
Meanwhile, Spotify also announced the “most anticipated podcasts” of 2022 in the U.S., ranked based on the first-week streams for newly released series. based on that measure, Meghan Markle’s “Archetypes,” the interview podcast from the Duchess of Sussex, took the No. 1 slot. That was followed by Warner Bros./DC’s “Batman Unburied” scripted original series for Spotify; “Kim Kardashian’s The System: The Case of Kevin Keith”; “Case 63”; and “Back to the Beach With Kristin and Stephen,” the “Laguna Beach” rewatch series hosted by the reality TV show cast members Kristin Cavallari and Stephen Colletti.
At the end of Q3, Spotify hosted a whopping 4.7 million podcasts overall on its platform — the vast majority of which are nonexclusive — up from 4.4 million the previous quarter.
Most Popular Podcasts Globally
- “The Joe Rogan Experience”
- “Call Her Daddy” with Alex Cooper
- “Anything Goes With Emma Chamberlain”
- “Caso 63”/“Case 63” (All Languages)
- “Crime Junkie”
U.S. Most Popular Podcasts
- “The Joe Rogan Experience
- “Call Her Daddy”
- “Crime Junkie”
- New York Times’ “The Daily”
- “Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard”
U.S. Most Anticipated Podcasts
- “Archetypes”
- “Batman Unburied”
- “Kim Kardashian’s The System: The Case of Kevin Keith”
- “Case 63”
- “Back to the Beach With Kristin and Stephen”
U.S. Most Popular Audiobooks
- “I’m Glad My Mom Died,” Jennette McCurdy
- “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” J.K. Rowling
- “It Ends With Us,” Colleen Hoover
- “Atomic Habits,” James Clear
- “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck,” Mark Manson
