Apple Podcast Rankings - USA - Documentary

Discover the Top 100 Podcasts in USA

Explore the latest data-driven rankings of the top 100 podcasts in USA. Our comprehensive analysis covers the best Apple Podcasts across various categories, providing insights into the most popular shows, episode lengths, publication frequencies, and leading hosting services. Whether you're a podcast creator or an avid listener, find the top-ranked podcasts that everyone is tuning into right now.

Podcast charts from 20 Jan 2026

Country

Main category

Sub category

Date

01/20/2026

Average data

Episodes: 212

Frequency: every 241 days

Duration: 00:47:02

Top 5 authors

1. iHeartPodcasts (5 shows)

2. Ear Hustle & Radiotopia (2 shows)

3. pepe&chema (2 shows)

4. Sony Music Entertainment (2 shows)

5. BBC Sounds (2 shows)

Top 5 hosting

1. Megaphone (20 shows)

2. Omny Studio (13 shows)

3. Acast (12 shows)

4. PRX (9 shows)

5. Simplecast (6 shows)

Rank	Name	Artist	Main Category	Eps	Hosting	Score
1	Sword and Scale	Sword and Scale	True Crime	23	Spreaker	84
2	Criminal	Vox Media Podcast Network	True Crime	414	Megaphone	63
3	Freakonomics Radio	Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher	Society & Culture	946	Simplecast	38
4	The Telepathy Tapes Details temporarily unavailable	Ky Dickens	Society & Culture	88	Acast	84
5	Black Box: The Chatbots	The Guardian	Society & Culture	51	Acast	68
6	The Why Files: Operation Podcast	The Why Files: Operation Podcast	Society & Culture	315	Megaphone	42
7	Something Was Wrong	Broken Cycle Media	True Crime	379	Audioboom	62
8	Adrift	Apple TV / Blanchard House	Society & Culture	10	ART19	63
9	This Is Actually Happening	Audible Original	Society & Culture	359	ART19	68
10	The Hidden Third	Mariana van Zeller	Society & Culture	56	Megaphone	48
11	Curse of: Miss America	iHeartPodcasts and Glass Podcasts	Society & Culture	21	Omny Studio	63
12	Danny Jones Podcast	Danny Jones \| Daylight Media	Society & Culture	445	Megaphone	32
13	Classical Music Happy Hour	WNYC, WQXR	Music	29	Simplecast	63
14	Lights Out Library: Sleep Documentaries	Olimpia Pérez	Society & Culture	147	Megaphone	68
15	A Whole Other Country	Marfa Public Radio	Society & Culture	9	PRX	69
16	The Turning - Seasons 1, 2 & 3	iHeartPodcasts and Rococo Punch	Society & Culture	42	Omny Studio	63
17	The Brothers Ortiz	Campside Media & iHeart Podcasts	Society & Culture	11	Omny Studio	79
18	World of Secrets	BBC	Society & Culture	102	BBC	53
19	Sold a Story	APM Reports	Society & Culture	28	American Public Media	62
20	Left To Their Own Devices	Toronto Star	Society & Culture	13	Libsyn	68
21	Law Enforcement Talk: True Crime and Trauma Stories	John "Jay" Wiley, Bleav	Society & Culture	600	Simplecast	69
22	What It Was Like	Superreal	Society & Culture	105	Acast	79
23	Spiral \| Tortoise Investigates	The Observer	Society & Culture	118	Acast	73
24	Noble	Wavland	Society & Culture	12	Simplecast	63
25	Boomtown	Imperative Entertainment and Texas Monthly	Society & Culture	15	Megaphone	64
26	Ear Hustle	Ear Hustle & Radiotopia	Society & Culture	192	PRX	79
27	The Documentary Podcast	BBC World Service	Society & Culture	2000	BBC	33
28	Flightless Bird	David Farrier	Society & Culture	220	Megaphone	38
29	Real Life Ghost Stories	Real Life Ghost Stories	Society & Culture	1209	Acast	59
30	Tough Cookie: The Wally “Famous” Amos Story	Vanity Fair	Society & Culture	8	PRX	53
31	Radio Ambulante	My Cultura, Radio Ambulante and iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	374	Omny Studio	73
32	The Palisades Fire: A Sandcastles Special	Wave Maker Media	Society & Culture	9	PRX	69
33	The Powers of Darkness Podcast	Or Whatever Movies	Society & Culture	13	Libsyn	62
34	Hyperfixed	Alex Goldman & Radiotopia	Society & Culture	58	PRX	74
35	Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World	Jimmy Akin	Society & Culture	300	Unknown	42
36	Decoder Ring	Slate Podcasts	Society & Culture	168	Acast	69
37	The Crux True Survival Stories	The Crux True Survival Stories	Society & Culture	272	Spreaker	69
38	The Missing Cryptoqueen	BBC Sounds	Society & Culture	25	BBC	33
39	Strangers on a Bench	Tom Rosenthal	Society & Culture	100	Acast	59
40	Sasquatch Odyssey	Sasquatch Odyssey-Bigfoot Encounters	Society & Culture	766	Spreaker	64
41	Uncanny	BBC Radio 4	Society & Culture	133	BBC	38
42	Surviving El Chapo: The Twins Who Brought Down A Drug Lord	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	26	Omny Studio	63
43	Next Question with Katie Couric	Katie Couric Media	Society & Culture	444	Acast	53
44	The Secret World of Roald Dahl	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	14	Omny Studio	78
45	Our American Stories	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	2004	Omny Studio	43
46	The Paranormal Podcast	Jim Harold	Society & Culture	15	Megaphone	52
47	The Vanishing of Janis Rose	Sony Music Entertainment	Society & Culture	8	Megaphone	58
48	Latino USA	My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	717	Omny Studio	53
49	Dalton Fischer Podcast	Dalton Fischer	Society & Culture	23	Buzzsprout	42
50	Wind of Change	Pineapple Street Studios / Crooked Media / Spotify	Society & Culture	16	Megaphone	53
51	The Harvard Plan	The Boston Globe	Society & Culture	8	Megaphone	63
52	Sweet Bobby	Tortoise Media	Society & Culture	3	Acast	79
53	The Commune	Stuff Audio	Society & Culture	13	Megaphone	63
54	Weight For It	ohitsBigRon Studios	Society & Culture	25	PRX	84
55	Symptomatic: A Medical Mystery Podcast	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	53	Omny Studio	48
56	pepe&chema podcast	pepe&chema	Society & Culture	212	Megaphone	32
57	Belief Hole \| Paranormal, Mysteries and Other Tasty Thought Snacks	SpectreVision Radio	Society & Culture	157	Megaphone	63
58	The Shrink Next Door	Audible Original \| Bloomberg	Society & Culture	5	ART19	63
59	Relatos Forenses Podcast	pepe&chema	Society & Culture	279	Megaphone	32
60	Creepy Shit	Creepy Shit	Society & Culture	73	Audioboom	58
61	Alien UFO Podcast Details temporarily unavailable	Simon Bown	Society & Culture	423	Simplecast	63
62	The Underworld Podcast	The Underworld Podcast	Society & Culture	286	Megaphone	43
63	The Loop	Ear Hustle & Radiotopia	Society & Culture	7	PRX	64
64	Conspiracy Files with Paige Carter	Forbidden Knowledge Network	Society & Culture	156	Spotify for Podcasters	52
65	Heretics \| Andrew Gold	Andrew Gold	Society & Culture	710	Megaphone	53
66	JAXXON PODCAST	Jaxxon Podcast	Society & Culture	358	Spotify for Podcasters	38
67	The Telepathy Tapes	Ky Dickens	Society & Culture	94	ART19	83
68	JFK The Enduring Secret	Jeff Crudele	Society & Culture	413	Buzzsprout	83
69	5CAST w/ Andrew Callaghan	Andrew Callaghan	Society & Culture	31	Buzzsprout	38
70	The Brohio Podcast	Aliens, Conspiracy Theories, Paranormal, Famous Murders, Cryptozoology, Strange Occurrences, Monsters, UFOs, True Crime, Demons, Occult, Urban Legends, Comedy	Society & Culture	530	Spreaker	43
71	Scene on Radio	Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University	Society & Culture	141	PRX	59
72	Art Bell Back in Time	Art Bell Back in Time	Society & Culture	3	Spotify for Podcasters	53
73	Prometheus Lens	Justin Brown	Society & Culture	588	Spreaker	74
74	The Agent	Imperative Entertainment	Society & Culture	16	Megaphone	59
75	Lucky Boy	Gary Marshall	Documentary	6	N/A	N/A
76	Hysterical	Audible Original \| Pineapple Street Studios	Society & Culture	5	ART19	63
77	搞钱女孩	搞钱女孩小辉	Society & Culture	194	Ximalaya	53
78	Johnathan Walton Media	Johnathan Walton	Society & Culture	55	RedCircle	73
79	Stolen Lives True Crime	Stolen Lives True Crime	Society & Culture	300	Audioboom	58
80	All My Relations Podcast	Matika Wilbur & Temryss Lane	Society & Culture	78	Buzzsprout	62
81	Conspiracy Theories and Cover-Ups	The Forbidden Knowledge Network	Society & Culture	47	Podbean	58
82	Atonement: The John Paulk Story	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	9	Omny Studio	42
83	Into The Fog with Peter Laws	Peter Laws	Society & Culture	92	Spotify for Podcasters	32
84	The Know Rogan Experience	Cross Pond Productions	Society & Culture	95	Libsyn	62
85	Radio Diaries	Radio Diaries & Radiotopia	Society & Culture	274	PRX	43
86	Family Lore	Audacy	History	27	WideOrbit	73
87	I’m Not a Monster Presents… Where is Austin Tice?	BBC Sounds	Society & Culture	38	BBC	58
88	Jungle Prince	The New York Times	Society & Culture	3	Simplecast	63
89	The Whispering Woods : True Ghost Stories & Paranormal Encounters	True, Scary, Paranormal, Folklore and Ghost Stories	Society & Culture	679	Acast	69
90	Thunder Bay	Canadaland	Society & Culture	14	Acast	59
91	Be Amazed	Be Amazed	Society & Culture	507	RedCircle	43
92	Skyline Drive: How to Live Forever	iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope	Society & Culture	23	Omny Studio	68
93	An Arm and a Leg	An Arm and a Leg	Society & Culture	172	Omny Studio	89
94	Campus Files: Scandals, Secrets & Crimes at American Universities	Audacy	Society & Culture	100	WideOrbit	68
95	BioHacked: Family Secrets	Sony Music Entertainment	Society & Culture	14	Megaphone	48
96	On Assignment	Reuters	Society & Culture	55	Megaphone	53
97	Debt Heads	Jamie Feldman & Rachel Webster	Society & Culture	13	Transistor	73
98	Mind Games	Kaleidoscope	Society & Culture	11	Omny Studio	53
99	Leaving Eden Podcast	Leaving Eden LLC	Society & Culture	346	Acast	64
100	Her Audacity Podcast	Ceci Hendrickson & Nikki Knudson	Society & Culture	21	Podbean	52

Understanding Podcast Rankings and Trends in USA

The podcast landscape in USA is constantly evolving, with new shows emerging and established ones climbing the ranks. Our data reveals intriguing trends in podcasting, such as the average number of episodes produced, typical episode lengths, and the most consistent publication schedules. These insights can help listeners find their next favorite podcast and give creators a deeper understanding of what resonates with their audience.

For those interested in podcast creation, knowing the best hosting services and the most successful authors in your category can provide a competitive edge. Whether you're looking to start your own show or just want to see what's popular, this ranking offers a valuable snapshot of the podcasting world in USA.
Explore more data on podcast rankings by diving into other categories and countries, and stay ahead in the ever-changing podcast scene.

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