iHeartRadio Podcast Awards: the 2022 winners

Everyone’s favorite podcasts were celebrated during the 2022 iHeartRadio Podcast Awards, as the very best in podcasting throughout the year and the most innovative talent and content creators in the industry were honored.

Some of this year’s winners included “SmartLess” for Best Comedy Podcast, “Scam Godess” for Best Crime Podcast, “The Daily” for Best News Podcast, Sam Sanders for Best Male Overall Host and Nicole Byer for Best Female Overall Host, among so many others.

Taking home the coveted title of Podcast of the Year, which was decided by the fans via voting on Twitter, is “You’re Wrong About” hosted by Sarah Marshall and Michael Hobbes. Also nominated in the category this year were “Code Switch,” “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” “Crime Junkie,” “Louder Than a Riot,” “Office Ladies,” “SmartLess,” “Stuff You Should Know,” “The Daily,” and “The Midnight Miracle”.

Below, Podnews details more information about the winning entries.

Podcast of the Year (Socially Voted Category): You’re Wrong About

True Crime
From: Sarah Marshall
Hosted by: Buzzsprout

Trailer Best Comedy Podcast: SmartLess

Culture
From: Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett
Hosted by: Simplecast

Trailer Best Crime Podcast: Scam Goddess

True Crime
From: Earwolf & Laci Mosley
Hosted by: Simplecast

Best Music Podcast: Song Exploder

Music
From: Hrishikesh Hirway
Hosted by: PRX

Best News Podcast: The Daily

News
From: The New York Times
Hosted by: Simplecast

Best Sports Podcast: The Bill Simmons Podcast

Sports
From: The Ringer
Hosted by: Megaphone
• Best Overall Host: Sam Sanders (NPR), Nicole Byer (Team Coco)

Trailer Best Business and Finance Podcast: How I Built This with Guy Raz

Business
From: Guy Raz | Wondery
Hosted by: ART19

Trailer Best Pop Culture Podcast: Keep It!

Entertainment
From: Crooked Media
Hosted by: Simplecast

Best Food Podcast: Doughboys

Food
From: Headgum / Doughboys Media
Hosted by: ART19

Trailer Best Wellness & Fitness Podcast: Therapy for Black Girls

Health & Fitness
From: iHeartPodcasts and Joy Harden Bradford, Ph.D.
Hosted by: Omny Studio

Trailer Best History Podcast: Throughline

Documentary
From: NPR
Hosted by: Megaphone

Trailer Best Kids & Family Podcast: Story Pirates

Kids & Family
From: Story Pirates
Hosted by: Megaphone

Trailer Best Fiction Podcast: Bridgewater

Fiction
From: iHeartPodcasts and Grim & Mild
Hosted by: Omny Studio

Best Science Podcast: Ologies with Alie Ward

Culture
From: Alie Ward
Hosted by: Simplecast

Trailer Best Technology Podcast: There Are No Girls On The Internet

Culture
From: iHeartPodcasts
Hosted by: Omny Studio

Trailer Best Ad Read: SmartLess

Culture
From: Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett
Hosted by: Simplecast

Trailer Best Political Podcast: Pod Save America

News
From: Crooked Media
Hosted by: Simplecast

Best TV & Film Podcast: How did this get made?

Reviews
From: Earwolf and Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas
Hosted by: Simplecast

Trailer Best Spanish Language Podcast: Radio Ambulante

Society & Culture
From: My Cultura, Radio Ambulante and iHeartPodcasts
Hosted by: Omny Studio

Trailer Best Advice/Inspirational Podcast: We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle

Society & Culture and Education
From: Glennon Doyle and Audacy
Hosted by: Megaphone

Trailer Best Beauty and Fashion Podcast: Forever 35

Arts
From: Doree Shafrir & Elise Hu
Hosted by: Acast

Trailer Best Travel Podcast: Women Who Travel

Society & Culture
From: Condé Nast Traveler
Hosted by: PRX

Trailer Best Spirituality and Religion Podcast: On Being with Krista Tippett

Social
From: On Being Studios
Hosted by: Simplecast

The Best Green Podcast: Living on Earth

News and Science
From: World Media Foundation
Hosted by: Megaphone

Trailer Best Branded Podcast: Inside Trader Joes

Arts and Health & Fitness
From: Trader Joe's
Hosted by: Libsyn

Trailer Best Emerging Podcast: Films To Be Buried With with Brett Goldstein

TV & Film and Comedy
From: Big Money Players Network and iHeartPodcasts
Hosted by: Omny Studio

Best International Podcast: Morbidology

True Crime
From: Morbidology
Hosted by: Spreaker

Audible Audio Pioneer Award: My Favorite Murder

True Crime
From: Exactly Right Media – the original true crime comedy network
Hosted by: Megaphone
• Innovator Award: Descript

Trailer Social Impact Award: Force Multiplier

Business
From: iHeartPodcasts
Hosted by: Omny Studio

Podcast hosting companies

• Megaphone hosted 11 winners
• Simplecast 6
• NPR 3
• All others hosted either one or two.

Countries and Languages

Only one podcast was from outside the US - the winner of the international award. Morbidology’s host, Emily G. Thompson, is from Belfast in Northern Ireland. Similarly, only one podcast was in a different language than English; Radio Ambulante winning the Best Spanish Language Podcast. Excepting these two categories, all winners were US-based and English-speaking.

Gender split

Of the winning podcasts, not double-counting, we counted 24 male hosts, and 15 female hosts: a gender split of 38% female.

iHeart Podcasts

Only 4 podcasts this year were produced or distributed by iHeartRadio: the same as in 2021.

Indie/Non-Indie Podcasts

There isn’t a definition of “indie”; but out of the 29 winners, we counted nine podcasts who are not part of, or distributed by, a large media owner.

The above list of podcasts is available as an OPML file for your podcast player