Curated Podcasts

The 20 Most Essential Podcasts of 2025 (and Two Episodes You Can't Miss)

Dec. 9, 2025 · lifehacker.com

"I've divided the list into categories to help you find exactly what you’re in the mood for—and because some episodes are just too good to get buried in your queue, I’ve also highlighted two standout episodes of past favorite shows that you shouldn’t miss. Let’s get listening."

TWO THOUSAND AND LATE

By Atypical Artists

LATEST EPISODE

GUEST EPISODE: Forgive Me! (plus a special announcement!)

May 13, 2026

00:27:23

The Harbingers

By Audacious Machine Creative

LATEST EPISODE

Episode 15: The Sound of Letting Go

June 4, 2026

00:46:49

Next We Have with Gareth Reynolds

By Headgum

LATEST EPISODE

The Worst Segment We’ve Ever Done with Dave Anthony, Hannah Pilkes, and Steve Berg

May 29, 2026

01:03:47

Text Me Back! With Lindy West And Meagan Hatcher-Mays

By Meagan & Lindy

LATEST EPISODE

Lindy and Meagan are Two of Gaia’s Children

June 4, 2026

01:08:57

The Last Invention

Longview

LATEST EPISODE

Sam Altman’s Attacker, In His Own Words

April 16, 2026

00:20:17

Suspicious Minds: AI and the Apocalypse

By Agoric Media

LATEST EPISODE

Magnifica Humanitas

June 4, 2026

01:07:35

Diabolical Lies

By Katie Gatti Tassin & Caro Claire Burke

LATEST EPISODE

The "Rise" and Fall of the Girlboss

May 31, 2026

02:24:49

Pablo Torre Finds Out

By The Athletic

LATEST EPISODE

Ballmer's Secret I.O.U., Aspiration's "Web of Lies" and the Zenith of Fraud: Kawhi-Gate, Part XI

June 5, 2026

01:02:41

In The Dark

By The New Yorker

LATEST EPISODE

Blood Relatives, Episode 6

Nov. 25, 2025

00:46:04

The Outlaw Ocean

By CBC

LATEST EPISODE

The Outlaw Ocean Introduces: Hunting the Suicide Salesman

June 3, 2026

00:48:00

BETH'S DEAD

By Monica Padman, Elizabeth Laime, Andy Rosen

LATEST EPISODE

Preview for EP11 + EP12 Q&A SPOILERS

Jan. 26, 2026

00:01:37

Wisecrack

By Tenderfoot TV and iHeartPodcasts

LATEST EPISODE

Encore

Feb. 6, 2026 · transcript

00:26:26

Good Hang with Amy Poehler

By The Ringer

LATEST EPISODE

Tom Holland

June 2, 2026

01:15:27

Strangers on a Bench

By Tom Rosenthal

LATEST EPISODE

EPISODE 90: So Glad I Didn't Hide Away

June 1, 2026

01:02:43

Stop Rewind: The Lost Boy

By Blanchard House / Curiouscast

LATEST EPISODE

Only For The Truth | 10

Nov. 17, 2025

00:44:32

Embedded

By NPR

LATEST EPISODE

Introducing "We Keep Us Safe" from NPR, KUOW and The Seattle Times

June 4, 2026

00:02:54

CRAMPED

By Kate Downey

LATEST EPISODE

Can Capitalism Fix What the Healthcare System Broke? One Endo App Founder Is Trying

June 2, 2026

00:38:15

Debt Heads

By Jamie Feldman & Rachel Webster

LATEST EPISODE

The Debt Heads play M.A.S.H.

May 28, 2026

00:09:55

Clotheshorse with Amanda Lee McCarty

By Amanda Lee McCarty

LATEST EPISODE

Episode 260: Your beliefs are your superpower, with Malena of The Slow Era

May 19, 2026

02:20:39

The Journal.

By The Wall Street Journal & Spotify Studios

LATEST EPISODE

The World Cup Story, Part 1: Soccer and Scandal

today

00:38:44

You're Wrong About

By Sarah Marshall

LATEST EPISODE

Rainbows with Lulu Miller

May 26, 2026

01:12:53

Heavyweight

By Pushkin Industries

LATEST EPISODE

2026 Update: Brandon

June 4, 2026 · transcript

00:39:53

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The 12 Best Podcasts for Your Commute

Aug. 12, 2018 · blog.gobrightline.com

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Oprah's Super Soul

Happier with Gretchen Rubin

Crimes of the Times

In The Dark

4 True Crime Podcasts You Have To Listen To

Aug. 12, 2018 · www.theodysseyonline.com

Up and Vanished

In The Dark

Serial

Someone Knows Something

PodStuff Writers Pick Their Standout Podcasts of 2018

Jan. 6, 2019 · www.headstuff.org

The Teacher's Pet

Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc.

This Sounds Serious

Happy Face

The Assassination

The Best Podcasts of 2018

Sept. 30, 2018 · www.pcmag.com

A Piece of Work

Comedy Bang Bang: The Podcast

Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast

Last Podcast On The Left

My Brother, My Brother And Me

WIRED's pick of the best podcasts for curious minds

Nov. 15, 2018 · www.wired.co.uk

Future Perfect

Without Fail

The Allusionist

About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge

99% Invisible

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Listen Score and Global Rank

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What is Listen Score? Listen Score (LS) is a metric that shows the estimated popularity of this podcast compared to other rss-based public podcasts in the world on a scale from 0 to 100. The higher, the more popular. Calculated from 1st and 3rd party data. Updated monthly.

What is Global Rank? This podcast is one of the top most popular shows out of 3,777,139 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score (the estimated popularity score).

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