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 21 Jan 2026

Country

Main category

Sub category

Date

01/21/2026

Average data

Episodes: 221

Frequency: every 239 days

Duration: 00:47:48

Top 5 authors

1. iHeartPodcasts (5 shows)

2. pepe&chema (2 shows)

3. The Observer (2 shows)

4. Ear Hustle & Radiotopia (2 shows)

5. Ky Dickens (2 shows)

Top 5 hosting

1. Megaphone (19 shows)

2. Acast (14 shows)

3. Omny Studio (12 shows)

4. PRX (8 shows)

5. Spreaker (6 shows)

Rank	Name	Artist	Main Category	Eps	Hosting	Score
1	The Telepathy Tapes Details temporarily unavailable	Ky Dickens	Society & Culture	88	Acast	84
2	Sword and Scale	Sword and Scale	True Crime	23	Spreaker	84
3	Criminal	Vox Media Podcast Network	True Crime	414	Megaphone	63
4	Freakonomics Radio	Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher	Society & Culture	946	Simplecast	38
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	This Is Actually Happening	Audible Original	Society & Culture	359	ART19	68
8	Something Was Wrong	Broken Cycle Media	True Crime	379	Audioboom	62
9	Adrift	Apple TV / Blanchard House	Society & Culture	10	ART19	63
10	Danny Jones Podcast	Danny Jones \| Daylight Media	Society & Culture	445	Megaphone	32
11	Curse of: Miss America	iHeartPodcasts and Glass Podcasts	Society & Culture	21	Omny Studio	63
12	The Hidden Third	Mariana van Zeller	Society & Culture	56	Megaphone	48
13	Lights Out Library: Sleep Documentaries	Olimpia Pérez	Society & Culture	147	Megaphone	68
14	Classical Music Happy Hour	WNYC, WQXR	Music	29	Simplecast	63
15	Flightless Bird	David Farrier	Society & Culture	220	Megaphone	38
16	The Brothers Ortiz	Campside Media & iHeart Podcasts	Society & Culture	11	Omny Studio	79
17	The Turning - Seasons 1, 2 & 3	iHeartPodcasts and Rococo Punch	Society & Culture	42	Omny Studio	63
18	World of Secrets	BBC	Society & Culture	102	BBC	53
19	Left To Their Own Devices	Toronto Star	Society & Culture	13	Libsyn	68
20	Spiral \| Tortoise Investigates	The Observer	Society & Culture	118	Acast	73
21	Sold a Story	APM Reports	Society & Culture	28	American Public Media	62
22	A Whole Other Country	Marfa Public Radio	Society & Culture	9	PRX	69
23	Law Enforcement Talk: True Crime and Trauma Stories	John "Jay" Wiley, Bleav	Society & Culture	600	Simplecast	69
24	Radio Ambulante	My Cultura, Radio Ambulante and iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	374	Omny Studio	73
25	What It Was Like	Superreal	Society & Culture	105	Acast	79
26	Boomtown	Imperative Entertainment and Texas Monthly	Society & Culture	15	Megaphone	64
27	Noble	Wavland	Society & Culture	12	Simplecast	63
28	Tough Cookie: The Wally “Famous” Amos Story	Vanity Fair	Society & Culture	8	PRX	53
29	Ear Hustle	Ear Hustle & Radiotopia	Society & Culture	192	PRX	79
30	Real Life Ghost Stories	Real Life Ghost Stories	Society & Culture	1209	Acast	59
31	The Documentary Podcast	BBC World Service	Society & Culture	2000	BBC	33
32	The Powers of Darkness Podcast	Or Whatever Movies	Society & Culture	13	Libsyn	62
33	The Palisades Fire: A Sandcastles Special	Wave Maker Media	Society & Culture	9	PRX	69
34	The Secret World of Roald Dahl	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	14	Omny Studio	78
35	The Missing Cryptoqueen	BBC Sounds	Society & Culture	25	BBC	33
36	Hyperfixed	Alex Goldman & Radiotopia	Society & Culture	58	PRX	74
37	Decoder Ring	Slate Podcasts	Society & Culture	168	Acast	69
38	Atonement: The John Paulk Story	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	9	Omny Studio	42
39	The Crux True Survival Stories	The Crux True Survival Stories	Society & Culture	272	Spreaker	69
40	Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World	Jimmy Akin	Society & Culture	300	Unknown	42
41	Strangers on a Bench	Tom Rosenthal	Society & Culture	100	Acast	59
42	The Paranormal Podcast	Jim Harold	Society & Culture	15	Megaphone	52
43	pepe&chema podcast	pepe&chema	Society & Culture	212	Megaphone	32
44	Mind Games	Kaleidoscope	Society & Culture	11	Omny Studio	53
45	The Know Rogan Experience	Cross Pond Productions	Society & Culture	95	Libsyn	62
46	The Underworld Podcast	The Underworld Podcast	Society & Culture	286	Megaphone	43
47	Surviving El Chapo: The Twins Who Brought Down A Drug Lord	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	26	Omny Studio	63
48	Next Question with Katie Couric	Katie Couric Media	Society & Culture	444	Acast	53
49	Sasquatch Odyssey	Sasquatch Odyssey-Bigfoot Encounters	Society & Culture	766	Spreaker	64
50	Uncanny	BBC Radio 4	Society & Culture	133	BBC	38
51	Our American Stories	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	2004	Omny Studio	43
52	Sweet Bobby	Tortoise Media	Society & Culture	3	Acast	79
53	Johnathan Walton Media	Johnathan Walton	Society & Culture	55	RedCircle	73
54	The Vanishing of Janis Rose	Sony Music Entertainment	Society & Culture	8	Megaphone	58
55	The Harvard Plan	The Boston Globe	Society & Culture	8	Megaphone	63
56	Dalton Fischer Podcast	Dalton Fischer	Society & Culture	23	Buzzsprout	42
57	Creepy Shit	Creepy Shit	Society & Culture	73	Audioboom	58
58	The Shrink Next Door	Audible Original \| Bloomberg	Society & Culture	5	ART19	63
59	Wind of Change	Pineapple Street Studios / Crooked Media / Spotify	Society & Culture	16	Megaphone	53
60	Weight For It	ohitsBigRon Studios	Society & Culture	25	PRX	84
61	Alien UFO Podcast Details temporarily unavailable	Simon Bown	Society & Culture	423	Simplecast	63
62	Latino USA	My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	717	Omny Studio	53
63	Relatos Forenses Podcast	pepe&chema	Society & Culture	279	Megaphone	32
64	Belief Hole \| Paranormal, Mysteries and Other Tasty Thought Snacks	SpectreVision Radio	Society & Culture	157	Megaphone	63
65	The Commune	Stuff Audio	Society & Culture	13	Megaphone	63
66	Symptomatic: A Medical Mystery Podcast	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	53	Omny Studio	48
67	5CAST w/ Andrew Callaghan	Andrew Callaghan	Society & Culture	31	Buzzsprout	38
68	The Telepathy Tapes	Ky Dickens	Society & Culture	94	ART19	83
69	Prometheus Lens	Justin Brown	Society & Culture	588	Spreaker	74
70	Scene on Radio	Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University	Society & Culture	141	PRX	59
71	The Loop	Ear Hustle & Radiotopia	Society & Culture	7	PRX	64
72	Debt Heads	Jamie Feldman & Rachel Webster	Society & Culture	13	Transistor	73
73	Heretics \| Andrew Gold	Andrew Gold	Society & Culture	710	Megaphone	53
74	Conspiracy Files with Paige Carter	Forbidden Knowledge Network	Society & Culture	156	Spotify for Podcasters	52
75	JAXXON PODCAST	Jaxxon Podcast	Society & Culture	358	Spotify for Podcasters	38
76	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
77	The Agent	Imperative Entertainment	Society & Culture	16	Megaphone	59
78	Lucky Boy	Gary Marshall	Documentary	6	N/A	N/A
79	JFK The Enduring Secret	Jeff Crudele	Society & Culture	413	Buzzsprout	83
80	搞钱女孩	搞钱女孩小辉	Society & Culture	194	Ximalaya	53
81	Jungle Prince	The New York Times	Society & Culture	3	Simplecast	63
82	Art Bell Back in Time	Art Bell Back in Time	Society & Culture	3	Spotify for Podcasters	53
83	All My Relations Podcast	Matika Wilbur & Temryss Lane	Society & Culture	78	Buzzsprout	62
84	Hysterical	Audible Original \| Pineapple Street Studios	Society & Culture	5	ART19	63
85	On Assignment	Reuters	Society & Culture	55	Megaphone	53
86	Conspiracy Theories and Cover-Ups	The Forbidden Knowledge Network	Society & Culture	47	Podbean	58
87	Leaving Eden Podcast	Leaving Eden LLC	Society & Culture	346	Acast	64
88	Family Lore	Audacy	History	27	WideOrbit	73
89	An Arm and a Leg	An Arm and a Leg	Society & Culture	172	Omny Studio	89
90	The Whispering Woods : True Ghost Stories & Paranormal Encounters	True, Scary, Paranormal, Folklore and Ghost Stories	Society & Culture	679	Acast	69
91	I’m Not a Monster Presents… Where is Austin Tice?	BBC Sounds	Society & Culture	38	BBC	58
92	The Slow Newscast	The Observer	Society & Culture	453	Acast	74
93	Campus Files: Scandals, Secrets & Crimes at American Universities	Audacy	Society & Culture	100	WideOrbit	68
94	Her Audacity Podcast	Ceci Hendrickson & Nikki Knudson	Society & Culture	21	Podbean	52
95	Thunder Bay	Canadaland	Society & Culture	14	Acast	59
96	Be Amazed	Be Amazed	Society & Culture	507	RedCircle	43
97	ChannelB پادکست فارسی	Ali Bandari	Society & Culture	105	Acast	69
98	Into The Fog with Peter Laws	Peter Laws	Society & Culture	92	Spotify for Podcasters	32
99	Relatos del lado oscuro	José Ramón Cantalapiedra	Religion & Spirituality	569	Spreaker	60
100	Great Lives	BBC Radio 4	Society & Culture	417	BBC	28

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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