Credit: Getty
Earworm
Spotify Wrapped: these are officially the most listened to podcasts of 2022, from Caso 63 to Crime Junkie
By Amy Beecham
3 years ago
1 min read
Add nearly all of these podcasts to your must-listen list for 2023, stat.
Whether they satisfy our need for escapism with grisly true crime or make us laugh with candid tales of dating mishaps, we could never be without our favourite podcasts.
2022 alone has seen the release of firm favourites like Archetypes with Meghan Markle, Hoaxed and High Low with Emrata. And the audio medium is only continuing to grow in popularity, with podcast listener numbers up 29.5% in the last three years.
As part of its popular Spotify Wrapped analysis, the music streamer revealed some intriguing data about listening habits from across the globe. Unsurprisingly, Taylor Swift was named as the most viral artist globally, and As It Was by Harry Styles took the prize for most-streamed song.
However, it was the most popular podcasts list that really caught our eye, but not for the reasons you might think.
Controversially, interview podcast The Joe Rogan Experience was named the most popular podcast for the third year running.
Host Rogan has repeatedly come under fire this year, including for spreading misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccine on his show and his use of the N-word in older episodes of his podcast, prompting a boycott of Spotify by artists including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. Spotify also removed 70 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience that included “racially insensitive language”.
While its popularity is definitely concerning, the rest of the list showcased some great podcasts hosted by women that are definitely worth a listen.
Call Her Daddy
Hosting some of the biggest celebrity interviews this year, including Hailey Bieber, Demi Lovato and Keke Palmer, Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy took the number two spot for 2022.
With episodes entitled Fuck the Male Gaze, An Abortion Story and How I Knew I Needed To End A Friendship, there really is no subject off limits, delivering on the show’s promise to cut “through the bullshit with every guest and topic, asking the questions you want the answers to”.
Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain
Hosted by ultra-influencer Emma Chamberlain, Anything Goes is recorded from the comfort of her bed, where Chamberlain talks at length about whatever is on her mind that week.
Seasonal depression, celebrity privacy and balance in relationships are all dissected and analysed with a signature blend of philosophy, advice and random anecdotes.
Caso 63
Caso 63, a Spotify Original podcast that’s debuted in Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Hindi and English, takes the fourth spot with all its language iterations combined. Set in the year 2022, psychiatrist Elisa Aldunate begins a series of therapy sessions with Patient 63. As the sessions progress, time, space and reality begin to blur, playing with listeners’ minds…
Crime Junkie
Crime Junkie, a true-crime podcast from Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat, rounds out the list as the fifth most popular podcast. Now in its fifth year, between tales of missing people, wanted criminals and captured perpetrators, you’ll never be short of a mind-bending true story.
And while it didn’t make the official list, an honorary mention has to go to Normal Gossip, one of our favourite podcast picks of the year.
Normal Gossip
Normal Gossip delivers juicy, strange, funny and utterly banal gossip about people you’ll never know and never meet. Host Kelsey McKinney discusses reader-submitted comedic gossip with guests, diving into the lives and decisions of complete strangers. Because the second-hand truth really is stranger than fiction.
Fingers crossed it can knock Joe Rogan off the top spot in time for next year…
Images: Getty/Spotify
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