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 Jul 2026

Country

Main category

Sub category

Date

07/20/2026

Average data

Episodes: 187

Frequency: every 30 days

Duration: 00:46:28

Top 5 authors

1. iHeartPodcasts (6 shows)

2. pepe&chema (2 shows)

3. Audible Original (2 shows)

4. Tortoise Media (2 shows)

5. BBC Sounds (2 shows)

Top 5 hosting

1. Megaphone (18 shows)

2. Acast (15 shows)

3. Omny Studio (15 shows)

4. Simplecast (7 shows)

5. BBC (6 shows)

Rank	Name	Artist	Main Category	Eps	Hosting	Score
1	Sword and Scale	Sword and Scale	True Crime	22	Spreaker	84
2	Spiral \| Tortoise Investigates	The Observer	Society & Culture	117	Acast	73
3	Freakonomics Radio	Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher	Society & Culture	945	Simplecast	38
4	The Why Files: Operation Podcast	The Why Files: Operation Podcast	Society & Culture	314	Megaphone	42
5	Paper Trail	ProPublica	Society & Culture	16	PRX	69
6	The Telepathy Tapes Details temporarily unavailable	Ky Dickens	Society & Culture	88	Acast	84
7	Focus: We Keep Us Safe	KUOW News and Information	Society & Culture	25	Omny Studio	73
8	Where the River Took Us	Texas Monthly	Society & Culture	10	Spreaker	64
9	This Is Actually Happening	Audible Original	Society & Culture	358	ART19	68
10	Danny Jones Podcast	Danny Jones \| Daylight Media	Society & Culture	444	Megaphone	32
11	Otherworld	Otherworld	Society & Culture	272	WideOrbit	48
12	Swingers	BBC Radio Wales	Society & Culture	7	BBC	43
13	Embedded	NPR	Society & Culture	196	Simplecast	58
14	To Catch a Thief: North Korea On Our Payroll	Rubrik \| Nicole Perlroth \| Pod People	Society & Culture	19	Megaphone	63
15	OnlyFantasy	Audible Original	Society & Culture	31	ART19	53
16	Lights Out Library: Sleep Documentaries	Olimpia Pérez	Society & Culture	146	Megaphone	68
17	Adrift	Apple TV / Blanchard House	Society & Culture	10	ART19	63
18	The Secret World of Roald Dahl	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	14	Omny Studio	78
19	Better in Person with Stephen Dubner	Freakonomics Radio	Society & Culture	11	Simplecast	62
20	What It Was Like	Superreal	Society & Culture	105	Acast	79
21	The Documentary Podcast	BBC World Service	Society & Culture	2000	BBC	33
22	Sweet Bobby	Tortoise Media	Society & Culture	3	Acast	79
23	What I survived	Jack Laurence	Society & Culture	71	Acast	83
24	Army of Normal Folks	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	494	Omny Studio	68
25	Question Everything	KCRW	Society & Culture	90	Omny Studio	63
26	Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World	Jimmy Akin	Society & Culture	300	Unknown	42
27	Sold a Story	APM Reports	Society & Culture	28	American Public Media	62
28	Hyperfixed	Alex Goldman & Radiotopia	Society & Culture	58	PRX	74
29	Decoder Ring	Slate Podcasts	Society & Culture	167	Acast	69
30	Stories from a Stranger	Higher Ground	Society & Culture	26	ART19	73
31	The Obit Project	Jad Abumrad and Jule Banville	Society & Culture	13	Omny Studio	59
32	The Crux True Survival Stories	The Crux True Survival Stories	Society & Culture	271	Spreaker	69
33	Ear Hustle	Ear Hustle & Radiotopia	Society & Culture	192	PRX	79
34	Radio Ambulante	My Cultura, Radio Ambulante and iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	372	Omny Studio	73
35	The Hidden Third	Mariana van Zeller	Society & Culture	55	Megaphone	48
36	Campus Files: Scandals, Secrets & Crimes at American Universities	Audacy	Society & Culture	99	WideOrbit	68
37	Wind of Change	Pineapple Street Studios / Crooked Media / Spotify	Society & Culture	16	Megaphone	53
38	Flightless Bird	David Farrier	Society & Culture	219	Megaphone	38
39	Sound, Light & Frequency	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	38	Omny Studio	83
40	Johnathan Walton Media	Johnathan Walton	Society & Culture	54	RedCircle	73
41	Scene on Radio	Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University	Society & Culture	141	PRX	59
42	Uncanny	BBC Radio 4	Society & Culture	130	BBC	38
43	Real Life Ghost Stories	Real Life Ghost Stories	Society & Culture	1207	Acast	59
44	Our American Stories	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	2004	Omny Studio	43
45	Getting Free	International Beit Din	Society & Culture	7	Podbean	63
46	Strangers on a Bench	Tom Rosenthal	Society & Culture	100	Acast	59
47	SuperHuman	iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope	Society & Culture	12	Omny Studio	53
48	Noble	Wavland	Society & Culture	12	Simplecast	63
49	Radio Marz \| پادکست فارسی رادیو مرز	Marzie	Society & Culture	92	Acast	52
50	World of Secrets	BBC	Society & Culture	101	BBC	53
51	The Shrink Next Door	Audible Original \| Bloomberg	Society & Culture	5	ART19	63
53	ChannelB پادکست فارسی	Ali Bandari	Society & Culture	105	Acast	69
54	The Paranormal Podcast	Jim Harold	Society & Culture	14	Megaphone	52
55	Mind Games	Kaleidoscope	Society & Culture	11	Omny Studio	53
56	The Ugly Truth About The Girl Next Door	The Ugly Truth About The Girl Next Door	Society & Culture	96	Spotify for Podcasters	28
57	Hysterical	Audible Original \| Pineapple Street Studios	Society & Culture	5	ART19	63
58	The Missing Cryptoqueen	BBC Sounds	Society & Culture	25	BBC	33
59	Latino USA	My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	713	Omny Studio	53
60	HABITUAL	Colorado Radio for Justice	Society & Culture	6	Transistor	69
61	Heretics \| Andrew Gold	Andrew Gold	Society & Culture	709	Megaphone	53
62	Alien UFO Podcast Details temporarily unavailable	Simon Bown	Society & Culture	423	Simplecast	63
63	Inconceivable Truth	audiochuck	Society & Culture	12	Simplecast	63
64	Black Box: The Chatbots	The Guardian	Society & Culture	51	Acast	68
65	Artifacts: Stories from the Emotional History of the Internet	Danny Brown	Society & Culture	25	Captivate	73
66	The Diamond King \| Telegraph Investigates	The Telegraph	Society & Culture	52	Acast	78
67	Skyline Drive: How to Live Forever	iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope	Society & Culture	23	Omny Studio	68
68	Personally: Agent Layla	CBC	Society & Culture	72	Triton Digital	63
69	The Crimes of Margo Freshwater	Sony Music Entertainment	Society & Culture	7	Megaphone	63
70	Surviving El Chapo: The Twins Who Brought Down A Drug Lord	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	26	Omny Studio	63
71	Belief Hole \| Paranormal, Mysteries and Other Tasty Thought Snacks	SpectreVision Radio	Society & Culture	157	Megaphone	63
72	pepe&chema podcast	pepe&chema	Society & Culture	211	Megaphone	32
73	History Well Told	Pri-media	Society & Culture	267	Spotify for Podcasters	28
74	Lucky Boy	Gary Marshall	Documentary	6	N/A	N/A
75	The Commune	Stuff Audio	Society & Culture	13	Megaphone	63
76	搞钱女孩	搞钱女孩小辉	Society & Culture	193	Ximalaya	53
77	Boomtown	Imperative Entertainment and Texas Monthly	Society & Culture	15	Megaphone	64
78	Target Intelligence: PSYOP with Shawn Ryan	IRONCLAD	Society & Culture	12	Megaphone	83
79	Radio Diaries	Radio Diaries & Radiotopia	Society & Culture	274	PRX	43
80	Hoaxed	Tortoise Media	Society & Culture	9	Acast	74
81	Power Plays	Human Rights Foundation	Society & Culture	6	Captivate	63
82	Relatos Forenses Podcast	pepe&chema	Society & Culture	278	Megaphone	32
83	Fatal Fantasy	Sony Music Entertainment	Society & Culture	7	Megaphone	79
84	Secrets and Spies Podcast: Espionage \| Global Issues \| Current Affairs	Secrets & Spies	Society & Culture	354	Simplecast	78
85	The Know Rogan Experience	Cross Pond Productions	Society & Culture	94	Libsyn	62
86	The Underworld Podcast	The Underworld Podcast	Society & Culture	285	Megaphone	43
87	The Birth Keepers	The Guardian	Society & Culture	6	Acast	58
88	JFK The Enduring Secret	Jeff Crudele	Society & Culture	412	Buzzsprout	83
89	Symptomatic: A Medical Mystery Podcast	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	52	Omny Studio	48
90	Be Amazed	Be Amazed	Society & Culture	504	RedCircle	43
91	Leaving Eden Podcast	Leaving Eden LLC	Society & Culture	346	Acast	64
92	Dalton Fischer Podcast	Dalton Fischer	Society & Culture	23	Buzzsprout	42
93	Affaires sensibles Feed not publicly shared by the creator	France Inter	Documentary	145	N/A	N/A
94	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
95	Conspiracy Files with Paige Carter	Forbidden Knowledge Network	Society & Culture	155	Spotify for Podcasters	52
96	I’m Not a Monster Presents… Where is Austin Tice?	BBC Sounds	Society & Culture	38	BBC	58
97	Stuff Matters with Ed Conway	Sky News	Society & Culture	9	Captivate	42
98	History's Great Mysteries	Nick	Society & Culture	20	Spotify for Podcasters	28
99	Secrets We Keep	LiSTNR	Society & Culture	169	Omny Studio	69
100	Debt Heads	Jamie Feldman & Rachel Webster	Society & Culture	13	Transistor	73

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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