Is The Joe Rogan Experience Not As Popular As Spotify Would Like You to Believe?

I don’t know anyone who listens to The Joe Rogan Experience on Spotify. Or on any platform for that matter.

Now, I fully understand that that’s anecdotal, but I think it does matter because I’m right in the wheelhouse of Rogan’s demo: I’m a 35-year-old white guy. But I also don’t have a spare three or so hours here and there to consume complete episodes of Rogan’s show.

But the data from Spotify shows, overwhelmingly, that The Joe Rogan Experience is the most popular podcast in the United States.

Can it be trusted, though?

Last week, YouTube announced it was going to join the likes of Triton Digital, Podtrac, Edison Research, and others in releasing podcast rankings. Obviously, it would mark a different viewpoint from the audio-only version of the rankings.

And naturally, The Joe Rogan Experience was at the top of the chart. No one was surprised by that fact. If you walked down the street and asked a random person who the most popular podcaster in America was, there’s a decent chance that they’d respond with Rogan. We’ve all been led to believe that he’s the unquestioned leader in the clubhouse and that everyone else is battling for second place.

So consider my surprise when I opened the updated rankings from YouTube to see that, after just one week, he had been toppled by the true crime show Rotten Mango for the top spot in the rankings.

By all accounts, this should be the equivalent of Harry S. Truman winning the 1948 presidential election, Appalachian State beating Michigan, and Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson all rolled into one. Joe Rogan has been, and still is, the top podcaster in the nation. And yet, a true crime show was able to knock The Joe Rogan Experience from the top perch after just one week?

That means, in my opinion, one of three things happened:

• Rotten Mango had a once-in-a-generation week, propelling it to the top spot
• The Joe Rogan Experience had a once-in-a-generation week on the other end of the spectrum, dropping it down a place
• The Joe Rogan Experience isn’t the alpha predator podcast we’ve been led to believe it is

Which one of those seems to be the most likely outcome? It wasn’t as if Rogan had a week of no-names on his show. Comedian Tom Segura, who hosts two popular podcasts himself, appeared on Rogan’s podcast, as did Food Network star — and Mayor of Flavortown™ — Guy Fieri was also on his show.

Meanwhile, Rotten Mango featured an episode about what went on inside the courtroom during the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs. Now, that’s obviously a hot-button topic, but for it to surpass Rogan’s show feels incorrect.

I guess the other alternative could be that YouTube’s data is flawed. It’s not completely unquestionable, but it also doesn’t have a business interest in the shows like Spotify would have in Rogan’s.

Furthermore, Rogan’s podcast data isn’t featured in other rankings from the likes of Triton Digital or Podtrac, ostensibly because Spotify won’t share the data with those companies. Edison Research data shows that Rogan is the top dog on the block, and I’ll never question them, but video is a whole different animal.

Maybe that’s the answer. Rogan’s show is wildly popular with audio-only audiences but not with those who also consume podcasts via video? That doesn’t feel right, either. It doesn’t feel like the logical step.

According to data quietly released by Spotify last year, Rogan’s podcast had nearly 15 million subscribers on the digital audio platform. That’s — as the kids say — like, a lot. But you know what’s even bigger? Rogan’s subscriber base on YouTube, which sits just shy of 20 million as of this publication.

So make it make sense! How does someone who is the unquestioned podcast champ dethroned on a platform where he has more subscribers than the platform he dominates?

Maybe I’m overreacting. Certainly an option. It isn’t unprecedented for Rogan’s show to not be in the top spot. Last year, Tucker Carlson surpassed the show at one point, and there aren’t really any other rankings show the former Fox News host at the top of the heap, either.

Or maybe, The Joe Rogan Experience isn’t as wildly popular as I’ve been led to believe. That’s not to say that it’s not a favorite of millions. It clearly is. But it also might not be the 10,000-pound gorilla playing King of the Mountain with every other challenger, either. There’s a chance that’s the case, too.

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Garrett Searight

Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.