Podcast Industry Week: August 17 to 23, 2026
Recorded findings from PROOF scans for the week of 2026-08-17 to 2026-08-23 (US storefront). All figures are mechanical measurements from scheduled captures.
Top charts
The Overall top 20 as of Aug 23, with each show's position change across the week and hosting platform. Review counts at or below the 10th percentile of the chart's reference distribution are flagged red, below the 25th amber.
The Daily
Simplecast
10.9k
The Joe Rogan Experience
Megaphone
15.1k
Crime Junkie
Simplecast
55.1k
The Truth About Natalie
Simplecast
236
Dateline NBC
Simplecast
2.4k
Morbid
Simplecast
19.1k
Pod Save America
Audioboom
13.9k
The Rest Is History
Megaphone
1k
Up First from NPR
Simplecast
7.5k
Mick Unplugged
Megaphone
67
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Megaphone
1.3k
Pardon My Take
Barstool Sports
14.3k
20/20
Megaphone
1.2k
The Dylan Gemelli Podcast
Podbean
56
The Mel Robbins Podcast
Simplecast
1.7k
The Megyn Kelly Show
Simplecast
8.5k
MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
Simplecast
3.2k
What Happened to the McStays?
Megaphone
8
The Ezra Klein Show
Simplecast
1.8k
The Shawn Ryan Show
Megaphone
16.4k
Giggly Squad
Acast
Baby, this is Keke Palmer
Art19
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Art19
Embracing Marketing Mistakes
Buzzsprout
Eye On A.I.
Libsyn
Pablo Torre Finds Out
Acast
Video
129 unique shows ranked on video charts as of Aug 23, up 1 from 128 a week earlier. 10 shows appeared on a video chart for the first time.
The Safety Consultant Podcast
Government
#2
Stronger Weekly
Health & Fitness
#2
Mission: Texas
Government
#2
Why Is Bryce Talkin' Sports?
Sports
#3
SPEAK USA Podcast
Government
#3
The MiddleGround Mic
News
#4
Streaming Things
TV & Film
#5
Home Grown with Martha and Jamie
Leisure
#5
Talking Cars (Video)
Leisure
#7
The Totally Football Show with James Richardson
Sports
#8
Hosting share across the 132 shows verified as publishing video on the tracked charts, measured by the Aug 22 scan. Deltas compare against the Aug 16 scan.
Chart movement
Positions compare each chart's last capture of the week with its last prior capture, between Aug 16 and Aug 23. 1858 shows appeared on a tracked chart for the first time on record and 2 shows ranked in the prior capture did not appear at any point during the week.
3 charts changed leaders: The Ezra Klein Show took the top spot on Society & Culture from Stuff You Should Know; Critical Role took the top spot on Leisure from Ante Up Poker Magazine; Strict Scrutiny took the top spot on Government from American Potential.
The Truth About Natalie
True Crime
94→2
Law of Attraction SECRETS
Education
88→10
BYU Speeches
Religion & Spirituality
92→30
The Poetry Cafe
Arts
70→14
A Bit Fruity with Matt Bernstein
Society & Culture
90→36
Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast
Overall
97→44
Hang Out with Sean Hannity
Society & Culture
94→45
The Bill Simmons Podcast
Overall
70→22
TL's Road House
Music
83→37
The Zach Lowe Show
Sports
45→195
AvTalk - Aviation Podcast
Leisure
44→185
Coffee N° 5 with Lara Schmoisman
Business
61→184
The Melting Pod
Government
76→199
Interesting Times with Ross Douthat
News
48→165
The Car Podcast with Chris Harris & Friends
Leisure
73→189
Osterholm Update
Science
51→164
The Bookshelf Chronicles
Arts
37→148
The Kinda Funny Podcast
Leisure
83→193
Kiss 95-7's War of the Roses
Leisure
93→198
Blood Stone
Fiction
#3
Abu Dhabi Unwrapped: A Sonic Travel Guide
Leisure
#4
Collector Nation
Sports
#11
Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast
History
#12
Right About Now - Legendary Business Advice
Business
#12
DC Studios Showcase: The Official Podcast
TV & Film
#16
The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart
True Crime
#19
Why Is Bryce Talkin' Sports?
Sports
#23
Worldview Matters With David Fiorazo
Religion & Spirituality
#28
Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday Official Podcast
TV & Film
#28
Hosting and prefix market share
Share of the roughly 3,799 unique shows across the tracked top 200s, measured by the Aug 22 scan. Week over week deltas are omitted because the scan universe changed size between the two scans.
Feed changes
14 hosting platform moves were recorded this week, along with 18 feed URL changes.
The MiddleGround Mic
Buzzsprout → Amperwave
Notes from the Edge
Simplecast → Art19
The Genius Life
Spotify/Anchor → Megaphone
Midnight Burger
Art19 → Megaphone
The Middle School Mary Poppins Podcast
Buzzsprout → Spotify/Anchor
Here's The Thing
Audioboom → iHeart / Triton
Talk Joshi
Podbean → Simplecast
Making the Argument with Nick Freitas
Captivate → Megaphone
Uncapped with Jack Altman
Megaphone → Spotify/Anchor
Marvel's Wolverine: The Long Night
Simplecast → Megaphone
Enclosure changes
The hourly enclosure scan recorded 404 changes across 260 shows: 101 enclosure URL, 12 episode GUID, and 205 episode title changes.
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
14 title
14 changes
Purple Daily - A Minnesota Vikings Podcast
11 URL
11 changes
The Milk Road Show
9 changes
RHAP: We Know Big Brother
8 URL
8 changes
ChooseFI | Financial Independence Podcast
1 URL
7 changes
Infrastructure
1 of 42 monitored services recorded downtime. The largest was Beehiiv at about 30 minutes.
Newly observed domains
20 previously unobserved domains appeared in this week's feed scans. Newly observed domains are listed as recorded and have not been classified.
Figures come from PROOF's scheduled captures: daily Apple Podcasts chart snapshots (top 200 across the tracked charts, US storefront), daily video chart captures with per show verification, daily hosting and prefix scans of ranked shows, hourly enclosure checks, and infrastructure checks every 30 minutes. Position changes compare each chart's last capture of the week with its last prior capture. Review flags compare a show's written review count against the chart's reference distribution. Newly observed domains are unclassified and listed as recorded. Explore the live data in the PROOF tools.