• by Ray Schultz , August 19, 2022

You’ve heard of the Billboard music charts. Apple is now offering charts tracking the most popular podcasts.

Apple says the goal is to help audience members decide what to listen to next.

With Apple Podcasts Charts, audio fans can see shows and episodes by category with listings updated throughout the day. Each chart displays both the top free and subscription results per market in all subject areas — say, news, sports or comedy.

The charts measure the most popular shows and episodes in a given market by listening, follows and completion rates. But ratings, reviews and shares are not factored into the Apple algorithm. Nor is revenue. 

By default, each chart displays the top 200 free and subscription results per market across all categories.

In the paid area, the Top Subscriber Shows and Top Subscriber Channels charts measure the total number of subscribers and their engagement.

Listeners can find Top Charts on the Search tab on iOS and ipadOS. They are located under Charts on macOS and tvOS.  

Users can use the Browse tab on iOS, iPadOS and macOS to find top show episodes and the subscriber listings. 

Here's the top 10 according to the Aug. 19 chart:

1. The Sunshine Place
2. The (New York Times) Daily
3. Crime Junkie
4. Dateline NBC
5. Morbid
6. Fed Up
7. Missed Fortune
8. NPR Up First
9. Smartless
10. Alex Wagner