Last updated on December 15th, 2017

Welcome to Listicle Season! Tis the season to compile!

There is SO much audio and podcast content out there in this day and age. Raise your hand if you host a podcast. Now raise your hand if you know someone who has plans to host a podcast. Most of you now have two hands up.

The end of the year sees a great deal of ‘best of’ lists. Maybe too many? No, don’t be ridiculous! Well, how do we really know what is the ‘best of’ if there are so many lists claiming to present the ‘best of’ something. I’ve seen many a Best Podcast Episodes and Best Podcasts list pop up lately. So here I am, at your service, to gather the Best Of Best Of 2017 Podcasts and Podcast Episodes of 2017. Scroll to the bottom to find out which podcasts were cited the most. And let me know if I’ve missed you list of 2017 bests by emailing earbudspodcastcollective@gmail.com.

To note: online sources have been compiling lists of podcasts to listen to all year long, so, for the purposes of this list of lists, we are focusing on articles that were published from the second half of the year and on…

List of Top Podcast Lists

Format: source, title of article

  1. From Discover Pods: The 140 Best Podcasts of 2017
  2. From Entertainment Weekly: The 10 Best Podcasts of 2017
  3. From Esquire: The Best Podcasts of 2017 (So Far)
  4. From The Guardian: Best podcasts of 2017 part 1: from the buzziest to politics and brain food.
  5. From Lifewire: The 20 Best Podcasts of 2017
  6. From Marie Claire: 10 Best Podcasts of 2017 – Top New Podcasts to Listen to This Year
  7. From Stuff: The 32 best podcasts of 2017
  8. From Techradar: Best podcasts 2017: the top online shows you should listen to
  9. From Time: The Top 10 Podcasts of 2017
  10. From Vogue: The Best Podcasts To Listen To Now
  11. From Vulture:  The Best Podcasts of 2017 (So Far)
  12. And another from Vulture: The 10 Best Podcasts of 2017

If you scour the lists posted above, you’ll notice that 109  individual podcasts are purported as being “the best of 2017.” What do we do with this information? How do we possibly know which are the best podcasts, or the best episodes? Let’s break it down a bit.

Here are the podcasts mentioned the most throughout the above lists:

  1. S-Town (appeared on 11 out of the 12 lists above)
  2. The Daily (7 lists)
  3. Pod Save America (6 lists)
  4. This American Life (6 lists)
  5. My Dad Wrote a Porno (4 lists)
  6. Mogul: The Life and Death of Chris Lighty (4 lists)
  7. Nancy (4 lists)
  8. Homecoming (4 lists)
  9. Reply All (4 lists)
  10. Missing Richard Simmons (4 lists)
  11. The Heart (4 lists)
  12. 36 Questions (3 lists)
  13. Crimetown (3 lists)
  14. 2 Dope Queens (3 lists)
  15. Criminal (3 lists)

Here are the podcast networks most cited throughout the above list:

  1. Gimlet
  2. WYNC
  3. Radiotopia

And, last but not least: did you/your podcast/your media company release a top podcast or top podcast episodes of 2017 list this year? If so, please send them my way – earbudspodcastcollective@gmail.com.

Happy listening! And Happy New Year, pod-o-files!