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 22 Sep 2026

Country

Main category

Sub category

Date

09/22/2026

Average data

Episodes: 164

Frequency: every 35 days

Duration: 00:43:48

Top 5 authors

1. iHeartPodcasts (5 shows)

2. Sony Music Entertainment (2 shows)

3. BBC Radio 4 (2 shows)

4. The Guardian (2 shows)

5. Forbidden Knowledge Network (2 shows)

Top 5 hosting

1. Megaphone (19 shows)

2. Acast (14 shows)

3. Omny Studio (13 shows)

4. Simplecast (8 shows)

5. ART19 (7 shows)

Rank	Name	Artist	Main Category	Eps	Hosting	Score
1	Embedded	NPR	Society & Culture	191	Simplecast	58
2	I’m Not a Monster Presents… Where is Austin Tice?	BBC Sounds	Society & Culture	34	BBC	58
3	Freakonomics Radio	Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher	Society & Culture	938	Simplecast	38
4	The Why Files: Operation Podcast	The Why Files: Operation Podcast	Society & Culture	304	Megaphone	42
5	Otherworld	Otherworld	Society & Culture	260	WideOrbit	48
6	The Telepathy Tapes Details temporarily unavailable	Ky Dickens	Society & Culture	88	Acast	84
7	Paper Trail	ProPublica	Society & Culture	13	PRX	69
8	Danny Jones Podcast	Danny Jones \| Daylight Media	Society & Culture	433	Megaphone	32
9	This Is Actually Happening	Audible	Society & Culture	350	ART19	68
10	Adrift	Apple TV / Blanchard House	Society & Culture	9	ART19	69
11	Focus: We Keep Us Safe	KUOW News and Information	Society & Culture	18	Omny Studio	73
12	Lights Out Library: Sleep Documentaries	Olimpia Pérez	Society & Culture	141	Megaphone	68
13	The Rewriting Humanity	Jim Walsh	Society & Culture	20	Podbean	48
14	Sold a Story	APM Reports	Society & Culture	23	American Public Media	62
15	World of Secrets	BBC	Society & Culture	97	BBC	53
16	Black Box: The Chatbots	The Guardian	Society & Culture	51	Acast	68
17	What It Was Like	Superreal	Society & Culture	94	Acast	79
18	Theories of the Third Kind	Theories of the Third Kind	Society & Culture	301	WideOrbit	68
19	My Brother David	iHeartMedia	Society & Culture	1	Omny Studio	59
20	The Speaker	KQED	Society & Culture	2	PRX	59
21	Ear Hustle	Ear Hustle & Radiotopia	Society & Culture	188	PRX	79
22	Better in Person with Stephen Dubner	Freakonomics Radio	Society & Culture	11	Simplecast	62
23	The Hidden Third	Mariana van Zeller	Society & Culture	48	Megaphone	48
24	Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World	Jimmy Akin	Society & Culture	300	Unknown	42
25	The Documentary Podcast	BBC World Service	Society & Culture	2000	BBC	33
26	Reaching Out	Futuro Media	Society & Culture	2	Acast	79
27	Question Everything	Brian Reed	Society & Culture	83	Unknown	63
28	OnlyFantasy	Audible	Society & Culture	29	ART19	69
29	The Crux True Survival Stories	The Crux True Survival Stories	Society & Culture	263	Spreaker	69
30	Heretics \| Andrew Gold	Andrew Gold	Society & Culture	699	Megaphone	53
31	Sweet Bobby	Tortoise Media	Society & Culture	9	Acast	79
32	Careless \| Tortoise Investigates	The Observer	Society & Culture	121	Acast	73
33	The Poet	Sony Music Entertainment	Society & Culture	6	Megaphone	73
34	Wind of Change	Pineapple Street Studios / Crooked Media / Spotify	Society & Culture	16	Megaphone	53
35	Radio Ambulante	My Cultura, Radio Ambulante and iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	369	Omny Studio	73
36	5CAST w/ Andrew Callaghan	Andrew Callaghan	Society & Culture	31	Buzzsprout	38
37	The Secret World of Roald Dahl	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	14	Omny Studio	78
38	Where the River Took Us	Texas Monthly	Society & Culture	10	Spreaker	64
39	Belief Hole \| Paranormal, Mysteries and Other Tasty Thought Snacks	SpectreVision Radio	Society & Culture	155	Megaphone	63
40	Skyline Drive: How to Live Forever	iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope	Society & Culture	23	Omny Studio	68
41	Sound, Light & Frequency	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	33	Omny Studio	83
42	Flightless Bird	David Farrier	Society & Culture	213	Megaphone	38
43	Decoder Ring	Slate Podcasts	Society & Culture	162	Acast	69
44	The Know Rogan Experience	Cross Pond Productions	Society & Culture	89	Libsyn	62
45	Telephone Stories	Ninth Planet Audio	Society & Culture	15	Acast	63
46	SuperHuman	iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope	Society & Culture	12	Omny Studio	53
47	Homegoings with Myra Flynn	Myra Flynn	Society & Culture	3	PRX	58
48	The Consciousness Cassettes (Season 2 of The Telepathy Tapes)	TTT Media	Society & Culture	15	ART19	52
49	Real Life Ghost Stories	Real Life Ghost Stories	Society & Culture	1190	Acast	59
50	JFK The Enduring Secret	Jeff Crudele	Society & Culture	400	Buzzsprout	83
51	Hyperfixed	Alex Goldman & Radiotopia	Society & Culture	54	PRX	64
52	Personally: Agent Layla	CBC	Society & Culture	69	Triton Digital	63
53	Noble	Wavland	Society & Culture	12	Simplecast	63
54	Artifacts: Stories from the Emotional History of the Internet	Danny Brown	Society & Culture	20	Captivate	73
55	Johnathan Walton Media	Johnathan Walton	Society & Culture	49	RedCircle	73
56	Stories from a Stranger	Higher Ground	Society & Culture	21	ART19	73
57	Target Intelligence: PSYOP with Shawn Ryan	IRONCLAD	Society & Culture	12	Megaphone	83
58	ChannelB پادکست فارسی	Ali Bandari	Society & Culture	105	Acast	69
59	Relatos Forenses Podcast	pepe&chema	Society & Culture	267	Megaphone	32
60	The Shrink Next Door	Audible \| Bloomberg	Society & Culture	3	ART19	63
61	Revisiting The Gay Life	David Boyer	Society & Culture	15	PRX	79
62	pepe&chema podcast	pepe&chema	Society & Culture	206	Megaphone	32
63	Our American Stories	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	2004	Omny Studio	43
64	Scene on Radio	Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University	Society & Culture	140	PRX	59
65	Fighting Crime	Arnold Ventures	Society & Culture	10	Megaphone	58
66	Uncanny	BBC Radio 4	Society & Culture	170	BBC	38
67	The Birth Keepers	The Guardian	Society & Culture	6	Acast	58
68	Latino USA	My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	701	Omny Studio	53
69	Inconceivable Truth	audiochuck	Society & Culture	12	Simplecast	63
70	Reflector	Longview	Society & Culture	33	Megaphone	48
71	Campus Files: Scandals, Secrets & Crimes at American Universities	Audacy	Society & Culture	93	WideOrbit	68
72	The Paranormal Podcast	Jim Harold	Society & Culture	14	Megaphone	52
73	What I survived	Jack Laurence	Society & Culture	65	Acast	83
74	Swingers	BBC Radio Wales	Society & Culture	7	BBC	43
75	Conspiracy Files with Paige Carter	Forbidden Knowledge Network	Society & Culture	150	Spotify for Podcasters	52
76	Más Allá del Rosa	Jessica Fernández	Society & Culture	233	Acast	79
77	Surviving El Chapo: The Twins Who Brought Down A Drug Lord	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	26	Omny Studio	63
78	All My Relations Podcast	Matika Wilbur & Temryss Lane	Society & Culture	77	Buzzsprout	62
79	Al Jazeera	Al Jazeera Network	Society & Culture	71	Spreaker	43
80	HABITUAL	Colorado Radio for Justice	Society & Culture	6	Transistor	69
81	The Brohio Podcast	Aliens, Conspiracy Theories, Paranormal, Famous Murders, Cryptozoology, Strange Occurrences, Monsters, UFOs, True Crime, Demons, Occult, Urban Legends, Comedy	Society & Culture	524	Spreaker	43
82	Alien UFO Podcast Details temporarily unavailable	Simon Bown	Society & Culture	423	Simplecast	63
83	The Obit Project	Jad Abumrad and Jule Banville	Society & Culture	13	Omny Studio	59
84	Strangers on a Bench	Tom Rosenthal	Society & Culture	100	Acast	59
85	The Underworld Podcast	The Underworld Podcast	Society & Culture	280	Megaphone	43
86	Debt Heads	Jamie Feldman & Rachel Webster	Society & Culture	13	Transistor	73
87	The Commune	Stuff Audio	Society & Culture	13	Megaphone	63
88	The Cryptid Podcast	The Cryptid Podcast - Daniel "Dano" Hamilton	Society & Culture	266	PodServe.fm	48
89	Lucky Boy	Gary Marshall	Documentary	6	N/A	N/A
90	Boomtown	Imperative Entertainment and Texas Monthly	Society & Culture	15	Megaphone	64
91	Jungle Prince	The New York Times	Society & Culture	3	Simplecast	63
92	The Crimes of Margo Freshwater	Sony Music Entertainment	Society & Culture	7	Megaphone	63
93	Symptomatic: A Medical Mystery Podcast	iHeartPodcasts	Society & Culture	47	Omny Studio	48
94	Hysterical	Audible \| Pineapple Street Studios	Society & Culture	4	ART19	63
95	If This Hall Could Talk	WQXR, Carnegie Hall	Society & Culture	9	Simplecast	69
96	The Witch Farm	BBC Radio 4	Fiction	13	BBC	49
97	How I Survived	That's Life!	Society & Culture	42	Omny Studio	53
98	History's Great Mysteries	Nick	Society & Culture	20	Spotify for Podcasters	28
99	Conspiracy Theories and Cover-Ups	Forbidden Knowledge Network	Society & Culture	83	Spotify for Podcasters	52
100	Power Plays	Human Rights Foundation	Society & Culture	6	Captivate	63

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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