Podtrac has released its May podcast charts. There’s positive news for The Daily, Fox News, NPR, and Ben Shapiro/The Daily Wire.
What We Know: The Daily from The New York Times earned the top spot in May. It supplanted NPR News Now for the top spot. Another NPR show — Up First from NPR — finished third. The next seven positions remained unchanged. The biggest mover in the top 20 was NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!. That show jumped 22 positions. Elsewhere in the news genre, the Shawn Ryan Show rose four positions, while The Dan Bongino Show dropped two down to 14th.
What The Numbers Show:
| Rank | Podcast | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Daily | ⬆ 1 |
| 2 | NPR News Now | ⬇ 1 |
| 3 | Up First from NPR | — |
| 4 | Dateline NBC | — |
| 5 | Fox News Hourly Update | — |
| 6 | Pod Save America | — |
| 7 | The Ben Shapiro Show | — |
| 8 | Pardon My Take | — |
| 9 | 48 Hours | — |
| 10 | Stuff You Should Know | — |
| 11 | On Purpose with Jay Shetty | ⬆ 2 |
| 12 | This American Life | ⬇ 1 |
| 13 | The Shawn Ryan Show | ⬆ 4 |
| 14 | The Dan Bongino Show | ⬇ 2 |
| 15 | Morning Wire | — |
| 16 | The Ezra Klein Show | — |
| 17 | My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark | ⬆ 1 |
| 18 | Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! | ⬆ 22 |
| 19 | 20/20 | ⬆ 1 |
| 20 | Today, Explained | ⬇ 6 |
What Remains Unclear: What led to The Daily overtaking NPR News Now in the top spot. It isn’t unusual for the show to earn top billing in the podcast space. However, there was no massive news story in May that can easily be pointed to as the culprit.
What It Means: While the focus may be on the top several positions, there’s an interesting story in these figures. The Ben Shapiro Show remained a top 10 podcast, earning seventh place. Meanwhile, Morning Wire remained in 15th. There has been plenty of talk about the diminishment of The Daily Wire in recent months. These finishes would show that the perception, perhaps, has been exaggerated.
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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.
