The top 50 US podcasts for Q1/2025

• Edison Research released the top 50 podcasts in the US for Q1 2025. Rotten Mango makes its debut in the top ten; The Mel Robbins Podcast makes the top 50 for the first time - at #15.

  • Podnews’s list includes hosting companies; Megaphone host 22, Simplecast host 12.

• Registrations are now open for the Women Who Podcast Awards. The awards are run by a magazine, Women Who Podcast, which is up to issue 17.

• President Trump signed an executive order aiming to eliminate federal funding for NPR and PBS. Public funding for radio and TV costs the American taxpayer $1.60 a year, said New York Public Radio in a statement.

• In the US, Apple lost a court case, and has allowed developers to link to external purchase mechanisms. Spotify was among one of the first to make a change to their app. The ruling may make it easier for podcast app developers to link to purchases without having to pay Apple’s 30% “app-tax”; Patreon has said it will also make changes to its app. It only applies to the US for now; though we can expect the EU to take a keen interest.

• The second annual Sports Podcast Festival returns to Raleigh NC in mid August.

The Tech Stuff - with RSS.com

• A new version of the podcast:location tag has been included in the podcast namespace, popularly known as Podcasting 2.0. The tag now lets podcasters mark where they are, as well as what a podcast is about. It also supports OpenStreetMap place IDs, allowing rich discovery. There is a full specification, an implementation guide, and an example tag generator. A rich, fully-featured tag, it’s worth ensuring you support it in full.

• 90.5% of the podcast downloads for the Podnews Daily come from Malaysia or Indonesia. We’ve traced them back to Google News: 65 days since they started, our Editor has dug a little deeper into the downloads on his personal blog, with more proof that they’re kicked-off by Google services.

Moves and hires

• The CTO of Libsyn, Greg Buretz, has left the company. He’d been with Libsyn since 2012.

Tips and tricks - with The Podcast Show London

• What’s the best way to book the right guests? And how do you make sure they add value to your show? Jared Easley covers Mike McVay’s talk at the NAB Show.

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave: If you’re planning a vacation, NerdWallet’s Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways breaks down the latest travel details, exploring the pros and cons of specific strategies, practical tools, and tactics to make your budget go even further.

Uncomfy features stories from guests who dared to get uncomfortable in a moment that challenged their worldview. In the thick of intense emotions, they chose to stay curious and open, rather than lash out or shy away, and came out the other side with stronger relationships, clearer beliefs, and increased confidence. And you can do it too! The show is hosted by journalist Julie Rose and is a BYUradio production.

Go and Find Out is a narrative podcast about travel, risk, and personal transformation. Jonny Wright takes you on an immersive 16-month global hitchhiking journey through Europe, India, and Southeast Asia — meeting strangers, chasing questions, and learning how to live outside the map. With original sound design, poetic narration, and unexpected encounters, this series explores what happens when you leave behind comfort and go in search of something more.

Some podcasts make moms believe better organization and time management will solve all their problems: but More Time for Mom goes deep into what’s really at the root of everything that makes mom life feel SO hard. Behavioral science professor, life coach and mom of four young kids Dr. Amber Curtis unpacks all the ways that toxic productivity culture leads moms to equate their self-worth with how much they get done; then shares science-backed strategies to help overwhelmed moms overcome the hidden sources of stress stealing time and joy.

The world, the universe and us is new today from New Scientist. From the evolution of intelligent life, to the mysteries of consciousness; from the threat of the climate crisis to the search for dark matter, The world, the universe and us is your essential weekly dose of science and wonder in an uncertain world. It’s with Airwave.