WHAT ARE THE GREATEST PODCASTS OF ALL TIME?
Left of Dial’s Essential Listening Poll gathered 300 audio creators, podcast hosts, writers, and scholars from around the world for the first time to create the definitive list of the most groundbreaking, influential, and beloved podcasts of all time. Voters were asked to share the five shows that are most important and meaningful to them.
Undeniable powerhouses. Unexpected hidden gems. International hits.
See what made the list of the 100 Greatest Podcasts of All Time.
#100-51
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100 (TIE). Wiser Than Me with Julia-Louis Dreyfus
Lemonada Media
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100 (TIE). Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly
Apostrophe Podcast Network
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100 (TIE). Twenty Thousand Hertz
Dallas Taylor
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100 (TIE). The Retrievals
Serial Productions & The New York Times
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100 (TIE). The Joe Rogan Experience
Joe Rogan
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100 (TIE). The Diary of a CEO
DOAC
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100 (TIE). The Best Show with Tom Scharpling
Forever Dog
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100 (TIE). Strangers on a Bench
Tom Rosenthal
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99. Still Processing
The New York Times
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98. Snap Judgment
Snap Judgment and PRX
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97. Sea of Lies
CBC
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96. Scriptnotes
John August and Craig Mazin
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95. Pivot
New York Magazine
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94. Our Ancestors Were Messy
Nichole Hill
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93. Ologies with Alie Ward
Alie Ward
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92. Oh No, Ross and Carrie
Ross and Carrie
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91. My Dad Wrote a Porno
My Dad Wrote a Porno
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90. Moonface
Overtones Media
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89. Millennial
Megan Tan
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88. Making Sense with Sam Harris
Sam Harris
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87. Las Raras
Las Raras
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86. Invisibilia
NPR
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85. Inconceivable Truth
WAVLAND/Rococo Punch
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84. Imaginary Advice
Imaginary Advice
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83. If Books Could Kill
Michael Hobbes & Peter Shamshiri
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82. Hysterical
Wondery / Pineapple Street Studios
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81. Huberman Lab
Scicomm Media
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80. How I Built This with Guy Raz
Guy Raz / Wondery
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79. Hard Fork
The New York Times
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78. Football Weekly
The Guardian
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77. Ghost Story
Wondery / Pineapple Street Studios
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76. Gemischtes Hack
Felix Lobrecht & Tommi Schmitt
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75. Floodlines
The Atlantic
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74. Fest und Flauschig
Jan Böhmermann & Olli Schulz
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73. Dying For Sex
Wondery
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72. Decoder Ring
Slate Podcasts
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71. Cement City
Audacy / Cement City Productions
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70. Business Wars
Wondery
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69. 5-4
Prologue Projects
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68. The Rest is History
Goalhanger
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67. The Bright Sessions
Atypical Artists
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66. The Adventure Zone
The McElroys
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65. Switched on Pop
Vulture
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64. Richard's Famous Food Podcast
Richard Parks III
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63. No Such Thing As A Fish
No Such Thing As a Fish
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62. Everything Is Alive
Radiotopia
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61. Dolly Parton's America
WNYC Studios & OSM Audio
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60. Disgraceland
Double Elvis Productions
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59. Death, Sex & Money
Slate Podcasts
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58. De eso no se habla
(De eso no se habla)
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57. Crimetown
Spotify Podcasts
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56. Bear Brook
NHPR
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55. 10 Things That Scare Me
WNYC Studios
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54. 1619
The New York Times
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53. The Ballad of Billy Balls
iHeartPodcasts
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52. Stolen
Spotify Studios
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51. Slow Burn
Slate Podcasts
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#50-1
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50. Revisionist History
Pushkin Industries
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49. Political Gabfest
Slate
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48. On Being with Krista Tippet
On Being Studios
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47. Normal Gossip
Normal Gossip
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46. No Feeling Is Final
ABC
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45. Drinnies
Giulia Becker & Chris Sommer
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44. Criminal
Vox Media Podcast Network
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43. Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend
Team Coco & Earwolf
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42. Bone Valley
Lava For Good Podcasts
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41. Blank Check with Griffin & David
Blank Check Productions
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40. Another Round
BuzzFeed
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39. You Didn't See Nothin
USG Audio
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38. WireTap
CBC
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37. Wind of Change
Pineapple Street Studios / Crooked Media / Spotify
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36. The Truth
The Truth
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35. The Ezra Klein Show
New York Times Opinion
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34. Scene on Radio
Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University
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33. Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo
CBC
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32. Hunting Warhead
CBC
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31. Dead Eyes
Headgum
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30. Comedy Bang Bang: The Podcast
Earwolf and Scott Aukerman
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29. Acquired
Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal
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28. 9/12
Pineapple Street Studios, Amazon Music, Wondery
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27. The Heart
Radiotopia
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26. The Bill Simmons Podcast
The Ringer
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25. Rumble Strip
Erica Heilman / Rumble Strip, Erica Heilman
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24. Radio Ambulante
My Cultura, Radio Ambulante and iHeartPodcasts
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23. On the Media
WNYC Studios
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22. Ear Hustle
Ear Hustle & Radiotopia
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21. Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
Dan Carlin
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20. Articles of Interest
Avery Trufelman
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19. Wolf 359
Kinda Evil Genius Productions, LLP
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18. Appearances
Mermaid Palace and Radiotopia
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17. Short Cuts
BBC Radio 4
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16. Mystery Show
Gimlet
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15. Have You Heard George's Podcast
BBC Sounds
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14. 99% Invisible
Roman Mars
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13. Welcome To Night Vale
Night Vale Presents
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12. In the Dark
The New Yorker
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11. Song Exploder
Hrishikesh Hirway
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10. Love and Radio
Love and Radio/QCODE
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9. StartUp Podcast
Gimlet
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8. WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Marc Maron
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7. Reply All
Gimlet
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6. Heavyweight
Pushkin Industries
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5. S-Town
Serial Productions
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4. Radiolab
WNYC Studios
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3. The Daily
The New York Times
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2. Serial
Serial Productions
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1. This American Life
This American Life
What They Said: the Top 100 podcasts Ever Made, According To the People Who Make Them
By Samantha Hodder, Bingeworthy
Samantha Hodder is an audio creator, educator and critic. Her newsletter Bingeworthy is a home for narrative podcast criticism, a study in the art and the craft of audio.
When a conductor leads an orchestra, a cohesive piece of music emerges from one hundred-odd different musicians. Although it sounds like a single melodic narrative, underneath are dozens of layers. Whether it’s fourth trumpet or first cello, the soloists need to be engaging and fresh, the musicians need to understand if their part is foreground or background, and the percussion must set the pace and stay constant.
That is the image I take from this list, The Essential Listening Poll, voted on by 300 working producers, creators, academics and writers. The job was to pull out 100 shows to illuminate the wider narrative of this genre. What are the defining concertos, melodies, operatic moments and memorable soloists?
What shows that were influential, unmissable, iconic? Which ones do you remember when you think back on 15 years of listening, even if you haven’t gone back in years? It’s not about popularity, or favourites, what show gets the most downloads or has the biggest corporate empire. For that, you can look to the weekly charts--which also play an important role in this industry.
Rather, let’s use this list as the way to help curate a list for what has lasting power, what broke the mold to stay memorable years later? What stories, or voices, or themes, do we still reach for, long after they were made?
Let’s think of this as a working definition of narrative greatness. Afterall, this was the response from people who spend their days (and probably nights as well), listening and making audio. This is who they quietly measure themselves against, who they look to for guidance…what they call on and conjure while they work. This is an industry that has made itself in the last thirty years; this poll shows that we both look inward and backwards to look to the future.
