YouTube launched a Weekly Top Podcast Shows chart in the United States on May 15, 2025. It ranks the top 100 eligible podcast shows by watch time on YouTube and refreshes every Wednesday. The chart is available at charts.youtube.com/podcasts.
This is a ranking of podcast viewing within YouTube, not a universal list of the most-downloaded or most-listened-to podcasts. The launch announcement also does not establish whether YouTube has since changed the chart’s regions, formula or schedule.
What YouTube launched
The chart is part of YouTube’s broader Charts experience. It gives podcast discovery a dedicated weekly ranking instead of leaving viewers to find shows only through search, recommendations or channel pages.
| Launch detail | What YouTube announced |
|---|---|
| Announcement date | May 15, 2025 |
| Initial market | United States |
| Number of shows | Top 100 |
| Ranking signal | Watch time on YouTube |
| Update schedule | Every Wednesday |
| Chart address | https://charts.youtube.com/podcasts |
YouTube said it intended to expand podcast charts to additional regions and add more podcast features. The original announcement does not provide a complete rollout schedule, so the launch facts above should not be treated as a verified description of every market in 2026.
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How the weekly ranking works
Watch time is the disclosed metric
YouTube says shows are ranked by watch time. That makes this a measure of how much time people spend consuming eligible podcast content on YouTube, rather than a count of downloads, subscribers, unique viewers or total listeners across all services.
A watch-time system can give more opportunity to long episodes, frequent publishing and programs that keep viewers watching for extended sessions. That is an analytical implication of the metric, not a separate YouTube rule.
It represents a weekly measurement period
The chart updates every Wednesday. The launch coverage showed a chart period of May 5–11, 2025, illustrating that each list summarizes a completed week rather than reporting real-time popularity.
Rank #2
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- Intelligent Noise Reduction Mode for Cleaner Podcast Audio – This podcast microphone features an advanced Noise Reduction Mode designed for clearer, more focused voice recording in real-world environments. Press and hold the mute button to enable noise reduction (blue indicator). In this mode, the microphone helps reduce keyboard clicks, PC fan noise, air conditioner hum, and background chatter. Default Mode maintains a warm, natural vocal tone for quiet spaces. Designed as a reliable microphone for PC, it allows creators to identify the active mode instantly and adapt as needed, ensuring clear audio for podcasting, gaming, streaming, online classes, meetings, and recording.
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- Real-Time Zero-Latency Monitoring with Adjustable Volume Control – This podcast microphone features real-time, zero-latency monitoring through a built-in 3.5mm headphone jack, allowing you to hear exactly what’s being recorded without delay. Designed as a reliable microphone for PC, it includes a dedicated monitoring volume control that lets you adjust headphone listening levels independently for accurate and comfortable audio monitoring. Real-time feedback helps identify distortion, background noise, or uneven volume before it affects your final recording, making this podcast microphone ideal for podcasting, streaming, online teaching, voice-over work, and professional content creation.
- Precision Audio Adjustment Knobs for Full Sound Control – This podcast microphone gives creators hands-on control with dedicated knobs for microphone volume, monitoring volume, and echo adjustment. Fine-tune mic gain to maintain clear, balanced vocal output, adjust headphone monitoring levels independently for comfortable listening, and add or reduce echo to enhance depth and presence. Designed as a reliable PC microphone, these intuitive physical controls allow fast, on-the-fly adjustments without software, helping identify distortion, background noise, or level inconsistencies instantly. Ideal for podcasting, streaming, ASMR, voice-overs, singing, and professional multi-platform recording.
It is not a universal podcast league table
The ranking does not necessarily measure:
- Podcast downloads from RSS apps
- Audio listening on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or other services
- Popularity outside YouTube
- Engagement per episode
- Unique viewers or total audience size
The most accurate description is YouTube’s weekly ranking of eligible podcast shows by YouTube watch time.
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Creators must designate a podcast playlist
YouTube said the chart generally includes playlists that creators specifically designate as podcasts during the upload process. An ordinary playlist is therefore not necessarily enough, and the announcement does not promise that every correctly designated show will appear.
Clip-only and Shorts-only playlists are excluded
YouTube explicitly excludes playlists containing only clips or Shorts. Promotional clips can still be useful elsewhere on a channel, but clips alone are not a substitute for a qualifying full-show podcast playlist.
Rank #3
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- Four pickup patterns: Flexible cardioid, omni, bidirectional, and stereo pickup patterns allow you to record in ways that would normally require multiple mics, for vocals, instruments and podcasts
- Onboard audio controls: Headphone volume, pattern selection, instant mute, and mic gain put you in charge of every level of the audio recording and streaming process
- Positionable design: Pivot the mic in relation to the sound source to optimize your sound quality thanks to the adjustable desktop stand and track your voice in real time with no-latency monitoring
The announcement does not spell out every eligibility or processing rule. It also does not establish how the chart handles live streams, deleted videos, syndicated episodes, invalid traffic, paid promotion or late reporting.
What the chart measures—and what it leaves out
| The chart measures | It does not necessarily measure |
|---|---|
| Watch time on YouTube | Total podcast downloads |
| Performance inside YouTube’s ecosystem | Cross-platform popularity |
| Eligible YouTube podcast playlists | Every podcast distributed through RSS |
| A weekly U.S. ranking at launch | Global podcast popularity |
| Video or YouTube-hosted consumption | Audio-only listening elsewhere |
Why YouTube’s chart matters
A clearer discovery signal
A public top-100 list makes YouTube’s podcast activity easier for listeners to browse and gives creators another way to be discovered beyond recommendations and search.
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Chart placement can become a visible indicator for publishers, advertisers and media analysts watching audience movement on YouTube. It may also encourage shows to treat full-length video episodes, retention and consistent publishing as important parts of their YouTube strategy.
Rank #4
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- Vibrant RGB Light-The streaming microphone RGB illuminates your gaming setup with customizable RGB lighting for a visually stunning game experience. You can easily control the RGB mode/colors or turn off by simply tapping the RGB button without making any complicated settings on specific software.
- Enhanced Features-Featured -50dB sensitivity and cardioid polar pattern, the USB recording mic kit not easily pick up background noise for delivering clear audio. The PC gaming microphone USB kit includes a boom arm for easy positioning, mute button and gain knob for precise control, headphones jack for real-time monitoring, and headphone volume control while streaming or recording.
- Decent for Gamers and Streamers-The XLR microphone designed specifically to meet the needs of gaming enthusiasts and streamers. Ideal for various applications, including gaming, streaming, podcasting, voiceovers, and more, which also works with popular streaming software like OBS and Streamlabs.
- Recording Microphone Kit-The dynamic microphone is more convenient for working from home or going out for podcasts, and the complete accessories allow for faster recording work due to its simple straightforward assembly. External windscreen of the XLR dynamic microphone filter out plosive voice.
Part of YouTube’s broader podcast position
YouTube said podcasts on its platform had more than 1 billion monthly active viewers. That is YouTube’s stated figure, not an independent measurement of the global podcast market. YouTube also cited Edison research for the claim that it was the most frequently used podcast-listening service in the United States; that characterization should be understood in the context of the research methodology cited by YouTube.
The company highlighted News, Sports, Comedy and True Crime as genres represented in its podcast effort. Those examples do not mean that any one genre is guaranteed to dominate the ranking.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why YouTube’s list may differ from Spotify’s or Apple’s
Platform charts are not directly interchangeable. YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts may use different definitions of a podcast, measurement windows, geographic scopes, eligibility rules and treatments of episodes, seasons, clips and video.
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The clearest disclosed distinction is YouTube’s use of watch time. A long-form video show with a large YouTube audience can rank highly there even if it occupies a different position on an audio-focused service. Conversely, an audio-first program with little or no organized video presence may perform strongly elsewhere without accumulating comparable YouTube watch time.
What creators should do with the launch
- Organize full episodes in a playlist that is designated as a podcast through YouTube’s creator workflow.
- Do not rely on a clips-only or Shorts-only playlist to qualify the show.
- Treat viewer retention and total watch time as relevant YouTube discovery signals.
- Keep promotional clips distinct from the playlist intended to represent the full podcast.
- Describe chart placement as a YouTube performance indicator, not proof of total audience size across all platforms.
YouTube’s announcement does not provide a complete, current Studio walkthrough with exact menu labels, so creators should use the instructions shown in their own YouTube Studio account rather than rely on an outdated path.
Limitations and unanswered questions
The launch announcement identifies watch time but does not explain whether that figure is adjusted for unique viewers, how syndicated uploads are grouped, whether live streams count, how suspected invalid traffic is treated, whether paid promotion contributes to ranking, or how corrections affect a weekly list. Those details matter when using the chart for competitive or advertising analysis.
Regional availability is another moving part. The original launch was U.S.-based, while YouTube described additional regions as a planned expansion. The announcement alone does not verify the complete country list, the current update day or any methodology changes after May 2025. The live destination is YouTube Podcast Charts.
How to read early chart results
Launch-day coverage reported The Joe Rogan Experience as the leader for the then-current chart period. That was a time-specific result associated with the launch, not a permanent claim about the show’s position.
Any chart leader should be read alongside its week, geography and measurement basis. A high position means a show generated substantial eligible watch time in YouTube’s ranking system during that period; it does not settle which podcast is most popular everywhere.
Quick Recap
Launch facts at a glance
- Date: May 15, 2025
- Original geography: United States
- Format: Top 100 shows
- Metric: YouTube watch time
- Refresh: Wednesdays
- Eligibility signal: Creator-designated podcast playlists
- Excluded format: Playlists containing only clips or Shorts
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