Apple and Spotify have revealed their prime podcasts of 2023. Here is what they do — and don’t — inform us.

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It’s that point of yr once more, when all your pals share their Spotify Wrapped and also you (learn: me) reply along with your boring Apple Music Replay and no person cares. I do even have Spotify, however my Wrapped isn’t loading, perhaps as a result of it has been crashing from overuse. I did obtain a tip from acclaimed author Olivia Wolfgang-Smith that if Taylor Swift is your primary artist on Spotify “they show you a little video of her saying thanks for being a simp.”

But it’s not simply in regards to the music! The end-of-year streaming roundups additionally give us a glimpse into individuals’s podcast consumption habits. Let’s get into it.

Spotify’s and Apple’s prime podcasts are…

Spotify and Apple launched their prime podcast lists, and so they have many (although not all) of the standard suspects. And whereas they provide us worthwhile perception into which reveals are performing nicely, neither are definitive. Apple and Spotify have totally different audiences and totally different methods, and their respective rankings are a mirrored image of these distinctions.

  1. Crime Junkie
  2. The Daily
  3. Dateline NBC
  4. SmartLess
  5. This American Life
  6. Morbid
  7. Up First
  8. Huberman Lab
  9. Hidden Brain
  10. Stuff You Should Know

And Spotify’s prime 10 embrace:

  1. The Joe Rogan Experience
  2. Call Her Daddy
  3. Huberman Lab
  4. something goes with emma chamberlain
  5. On Purpose with Jay Shetty
  6. Crime Junkie
  7. This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
  8. Serial Killers
  9. The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
  10. TED Talks Daily

As you may see, there’s surprisingly little overlap between the 2 lists. Only Crime Junkie and Huberman Lab seem on each. And whereas Apple has numerous true crime, information, and outdated podcast standbys, Spotify’s checklist is stronger on celeb chat reveals (significantly its personal).

According to a study by Cumulus and Signal Hill, Apple’s podcast listeners are usually older than Spotify’s (median age of listeners is 41 vs. 37, respectively). And whereas Spotify has an excellent cut up when it comes to gender, 61 p.c of Apple Podcast customers are feminine. Additionally, longtime podcast listeners desire Apple to Spotify.

You can see how these demographics play out within the outcomes. True crime is largely pushed by girls listeners, which contributes to the excessive rankings of Crime Junkie, Dateline NBC, and Morbid on Apple. Podcast stalwarts like This American Life and Stuff You Should Know additionally did nicely on Apple, seemingly as a result of the app’s customers have been consuming podcasts for some time. 

On Spotify, you see its younger viewers at play. Alex Cooper, Emma Chamberlain, and Theo Von all clocked prime spots. It’s not the place you go to hearken to NPR — not solely are there no NPR reveals within the prime 10, there are solely two (shorty reveals Up First and NPR News Now) at present in Spotify’s top 100. For higher or worse, it speaks to Spotify’s new podcast technique that leans closely on celeb chat reveals.

You additionally see on Spotify’s checklist a bias towards its personal content material. Four of the highest ten reveals are Spotify originals. This is barely much less egregious than final yr when the streamer’s end-of-year checklist consisted of solely 5 reveals, 4 of which had been Spotify’s. But even then, that was kind of defined by the truth that as a result of Spotify’s reveals had been unique to the platform, the streams of these podcasts had been concentrated in a single place. That modified this yr, with Spotify backing away from the exclusivity mannequin and making a lot of its podcasts broad, together with top-ten rankees something goes and Serial Killers. It is feasible that elements like in-platform advertising of these reveals and residual listener habits performed a job in elevating these reveals.

There remains to be no checklist that may say with any certitude the precise rating of all podcasts throughout all platforms, however I’ve discovered Edison’s quarterly research (which is predicated on polling, somewhat than uncooked obtain knowledge) to be probably the most constant. In its third quarter report, Edison confirmed that Rogan is primary and, reinforcing Apple’s knowledge, put Crime Junkie at quantity two. But something goes clocked in at quantity 45, and Serial Killers didn’t make the highest 50. And regardless of the attain of conservative discuss pods like The Ben Shapiro Show and The Dan Bongino Show, none of them seem on both checklist (though Cumulus Podcast Network, which distributes each, was in Apple’s top ten free channels). Perhaps, although, that listening is occurring on YouTube or on Daily Wire’s personal app, which is ranked eleventh for the information class within the App Store.

This is to not say Spotify’s or Apple’s rankings are mistaken. But due to the particularities of those lists, it’s best to view them as a snapshot of their respective platforms, not of the business as an entire. 

Are there any reveals you had been shocked to see had been lacking? Or any you may’t consider are actually that fashionable? Hit me up at ariel.shapiro@theverge.com.

That’s all for at the moment! I will probably be again Tuesday with the most recent audio information.

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