Esquire: The 21 Best Podcasts of 2018

• I'm Afraid That
• Deck the Hallmark
• Armchair Expert
• Blank Check
• The Rewatchables
• Who? Weekly
• In the Dark
• Slow Burn
• Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness
• This is Love
• The Wilderness
• Caliphate
• The Habitat
• Atlanta Monster
• My Favorite Murder
• Trump, Inc.
• Buffering the Vampire Slayer
• I’ll Be Gone In The Dark: The Podcast
• Dear Franklin Jones
• Making Obama
• Late Night Whenever

The Atlantic: The 50 Best Podcasts of 2018

[see also 2019]

1. Caliphate
2. Headlong: Surviving Y2K
3. No Feeling Is Final
4. The Shadows
5. Slow Burn
6. The Dream
7. The Daily
8. The Horror of Dolores Roach
9. Serial
10. Uncover
11. Heavyweight
12. This American Life
13. StartUp
14. Making Obama
15. Dr. Death
16. Still Processing
17. Sold in America
18. Death in Ice Valley
19. Empire on Blood
20. The Realness
21. Ear Hustle
22. Terrible, Thanks For Asking
23. Longform Podcast
24. Song Exploder
25. In the Dark
26. The Teacher's Pet
27. UnErased: The History of Conversion Therapy in America
28. The United States of Anxiety
29. Bag Man
30. Slow Radio
31. Thunder Bay
32. Bikram
33. Rough Translation
34. Embedded
35. Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel
36. Radiolab
37. We Came to Win
38. Bundyville
39. Wild Thing
40. Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything
41. Happy Face
42. Last Seen
43. Edge of Fame
44. Bubble
45. Errthang Show!
46. Bodies
47. What's Good with Stretch & Bobbito
48. This is Love
49. Death, Sex & Money
50. The Truth: The Off Season

Sarah Larson: Best Podcasts of 2018, as published by The New Yorker

[see also 2019]

1. In the Dark
2. Slow Burn
3. Cocaine & Rhinestones
4. Articles of Interest
5. Trump, Inc.
6. Serial
7. Caliphate
8. The Promise
9. Caught
10. Bear Brook

Peter Larsen: 15 Best Podcasts of 2018, as published by San Jose Mercury News

1. In the Dark
2. Gladiator
3. Bear Brook
4. Cocaine & Rhinestones
5. R U Talkin' R.E.M. RE: ME?
6. My Dad Wrote A Porno
7. Serial
8. Caliphate
9. Headlong: Surviving Y2K
10. Obscure with Michael Ian Black
11. Someone Knows Something
12. Slow Burn
13. The Teacher's Pet
14. Death in Ice Valley
15. Dr. Death

Entertainment Weekly: The Best Podcasts of 2018

1. You Must Remember This
2. Radiolab
3. Walking The Floor with Chris Shiflett
4. Thirst Aid Kit
5. Hell and Gone
6. Bitch Sesh
7. FiveThirtyEight Politics
8. The Good Place: The Podcast
9. My Favorite Murder
10. Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

Honorable mentions

• Alice Isn't Dead
• Conversations with People Who Hate Me

Nicholas Quah: The 10 Best Podcasts of 2018, as published by New York Magazine’s Vulture

[see also 2020, 2019]

1. Slow Burn
2. Serial
3. Caliphate
4. In the Dark
5. Personal Best
6. 30 for 30
7. Headlong: Surviving Y2K
8. Alice Isn't Dead
9. It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders
10. Wooden Overcoats

Time Magazine: The Top 10 Podcasts of 2018

[see also 2019]

1. Serial
2. Slow Burn
3. In the Dark
4. Binge Mode: Harry Potter
5. The Habitat
6. The Dream
7. The Wilderness
8. Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness
9. Everything is Alive
10. Bikram