Apple Podcasts released its year-end rankings of the top series, episodes and channels — with true-crime podcast publisher Audiochuck sitting at the top of several of the lists.
Audiochuck, the Indianapolis-based network founded by Ashley Flowers (pictured above), was the top free channel on Apple Podcasts for the second year in a year. Its flagship show, “Crime Junkie,” was the No. 1 most listened to show, as well as the most followed and most shared show in the U.S. On Spotify’s list of top 2022 podcasts in the U.S., “Crime Junkie” was No. 3 (after “The Joe Rogan Experience” and “Call Her Daddy,” both of which are exclusively available on Spotify). “Crime Junkie,” which debuted in 2017, is co-hosted by Flowers and Brit Prawat.
In addition, “The Deck,” one of Audiochuck’s newest series, was the No. 1 new show in the U.S. on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Flowers, the weekly series tells the story of a person whose murder or mysterious disappearance has gone unsolved for years. (See below for all rankings.)
The other top shows of 2022 overall in the U.S. were the New York Times’ “The Daily” (No. 2), “Dateline NBC” (No. 3), “Morbid” (No. 4), “SmartLess,” hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett (No. 5), “This American Life” (No. 6), “Up First” (No. 7), “Serial” (No. 8), “The Ben Shapiro Show” (No. 9) and “Hidden Brain” (No. 10).
Meanwhile, according to Apple, Serial’s “Adnan Is Out” — the new episode of the show that first questioned Adnan Syed’s murder conviction, which Serial produced after Syed was released from prison — was the top shared episode of the year in the U.S., while Serial’s first episode from the original series (“The Alibi”) was No. 3. Serial Productions is owned by the New York Times.
Wondery, the podcast studio that is part of Amazon Music, had the top subscriber channel on Apple Podcasts — and also distributes 16 of the 20 top subscriber shows, led by “Morbid,” a true-crime podcast hosted by Alaina Urquhart and Ash Kelley, at No. 1.
Last week, Apple announced the Apple Podcasts Award, honoring Slate’s narrative history series “Slow Burn” as the Show of the Year for its latest season, “Roe v. Wade,” hosted by Slate executive editor Susan Matthews, exploring the events leading up to the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that was overturned earlier this year. Since then, “Slow Burn” has climbed to the top of the charts across all categories in more than 100 countries and regions and is the No. 1 history podcast and ranks among the top 10 across categories in the U.S.
Apple Podcasts 2022 Charts (U.S.)
Top Shows of 2022
1. Crime Junkie
2. The New York Times’ The Daily
3. Dateline NBC
4. Morbid
5. SmartLess
6. This American Life
7. Up First
8. Serial
9. The Ben Shapiro Show
10. Hidden Brain
11. Stuff You Should Know
12. My Favorite Murder With Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
13. We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle
14. Radiolab
15. Fresh Air
16. Freakonomics Radio
17. Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
18. On Purpose with Jay Shetty
19. Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!
20. Something Was Wrong
Top New Shows of 2022
1. The Deck
2. Fly on the Wall With Dana Carvey and David Spade
3. The Thing about Helen & Olga
4. The Trojan Horse Affair
5. The Seduction
6. Betrayal
7. The Always Sunny Podcast
8. Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra
9. Very Scary People
10. Twin Flames
11. MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
12. KILLED
13. Dateline: Missing In America
14. The Execution of Bonny Lee Bakley
15. Back to the Beach with Kristin and Stephen
16. Internal Affairs
17. Father Wants Us Dead
18. The Sunshine Place
19. Fed Up
20. American Radical
Top Subscriber Shows of 2022
1. Morbid
2. SmartLess
3. American Scandal
4. This Is Actually Happening
5. Something Was Wrong
6. Sword and Scale
7. Over My Dead Body
8. The Shrink Next Door
9. Twin Flames
10. Snap Judgment Presents: Spooked
11. The Execution of Bonny Lee Bakley
12. Fed Up
13. Scamfluencers
14. Against The Odds
15. The Vanished Podcast
16. Dateline NBC
17. Killer Psyche
18. The Generation Why Podcast
19. Internal Affairs
20. Suspect
Top Followed Shows of 2022
1. Crime Junkie
2. Morbid
3. SmartLess
4. The Daily
5. The Deck
6. Huberman Lab
7. The Trojan Horse Affair
8. Dateline NBC
9. Something Was Wrong
10. Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra
11. We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle
12. On Purpose With Jay Shetty
13. Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
14. The Thing about Helen & Olga
15. Serial
16. The Always Sunny Podcast
17. Gone South
18. This Is Actually Happening
19. CounterClock
20. Stuff You Should Know
Top Shared Shows of 2022
1. Crime Junkie
2. SmartLess
3. Huberman Lab
4. The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
5. Murdaugh Murders Podcast
6. The Daily
7. Something Was Wrong
8. Morbid
9. S-Town
10. Serial
11. The Thing about Pam
12. The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill
13. The Trojan Horse Affair
14. We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle
15. On Purpose with Jay Shetty
16. Your Own Backyard
17. Dr. Death | S1: Dr. Duntsch
18. Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra
19. Sweet Bobby
20. The Dropout
Top Shared Episodes of 2022
1. Serial: “Serial S01 Ep. 13: Adnan Is Out”
2. Huberman Lab: “What Alcohol Does to Your Body, Brain & Health”
3. Serial: “Serial S01 – Ep. 1: The Alibi”
4. We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle: “Breaking Cycles & Reparenting Yourself with Dr. Becky Kennedy”
5. The Daily: “Inside the Adolescent Mental Health Crisis”
6. The Daily: “We Need to Talk about Covid, Part 1”
7. We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle: “How to Raise Untamed Kids with Dr. Becky Kennedy”
8. The Daily: “A Movement to Fight Misinformation… With Misinformation”
9. The Daily: “Why Adnan Syed Was Released From Prison”
10. REAL AF with Andy Frisella: “14. #75HARD: A Tactical Guide To Winning The War With Yourself”
11. Hidden Brain: “Reframing Your Reality: Part 1”
12. The Daily: “The Rise of Workplace Surveillance”
13. Huberman Lab: “Sleep Toolkit: Tools for Optimizing Sleep & Sleep-Wake Timing”
14. Honestly With Bari Weiss: “Eating Ourselves to Death”
15. All There Is With Anderson Cooper: “Stephen Colbert: Grateful for Grief”
16. REAL AF with Andy Frisella: “208. #75HARD + #LIVEHARD: Winning The War Within & Unlocking Your Full Potential”
17. Ologies with Alie Ward: “Part 1: Attention-Deficit Neuropsychology (ADHD) with Russell Barkley”
18. The Peter Attia Drive: “COVID-19: Current state of affairs, Omicron, and a search for the end game”
19. The Daily: “The Pastors Being Driven Out by Trumpism”
20. Full Send Podcast: “Donald Trump on WW3, Talking to Putin, and Joe Rogan!”
Top Subscriber Channels of 2022
1. Wondery
2. Dateline NBC
3. Pushkin
4. Tenderfoot TV
5. TED Audio Collective
6. BBC Podcasts
7. Planet Money
8. Radiolab
9. The Moth
10. Luminary
11. Slate Podcasts
12. Lemonada
13. The Binge
14. Casefile Presents
15. Radiotopia
16. Slumber Studios
17. The Athletic
18. S&S +PLUS Light
19. Imperative
20. Wondery Kids
Top Free Channels of 2022
1. Audiochuck
2. The New York Times
3. iHeartPodcasts
4. Serial
5. The Daily Wire
6. Barstool Sports
7. Dear Media
8. ABC News
9. Exactly Right
10. Earwolf
11. Team Coco
12. ESPN
13. Crooked Media
14. MSNBC
15. Freakonomics
16. All Things Comedy Network
17. C13Originals
18. The Black Effect Network
19. Vox Media Podcast Network
20. Ramble
