The Atlantic: The 50 Best Podcasts of 2021, selected by Laura Jane Standley and Eric McQuade

[see also 2019 • 2018]

1. 9/12
2. The Midnight Miracle
3. According to Need
4. Believe Her
5. The Line
6. My Fugitive
7. Mississippi Goddam: The Ballad of Billey Joe
8. Bent by Nature
9. Embedded: Capital Gazette
10. Because of Anita
11. The Ezra Klein Show
12. Blindspot: Tulsa Burning
13. Radiotopia Presents
14. Loud
15. The Improvement Association
16. This Land
17. La Brega
18. Meltdown
19. Hot White Heist
20. Odessa
21. White Hot Hate
22. 70 Over 70
23. The Messenger
24. Wild
25. The Just Enough Family
26. Southlake
27. Blind Landing
28. 365 Stories I Want To Tell You Before We Both Die
29. Fiasco: Benghazi
30. Nice Try!: Interior
31. Exit Scam
32. Spectacle
33. Not Past It
34. The Apology Line
35. Making Gay History: Coming of Age During the AIDS Crisis
36. Smoke Screen: The Sellout
37. Forever is a Long Time
38. Suave
39. The Sporkful: Mission Impastable
40. Algorithm
41. Anything for Selena
42. Storytime with Seth Rogen
43. Going for Broke with Ray Suarez
44. Princess of South Beach
45. Gene and Roger
46. The History of Sketch Comedy
47. The Flamethrowers
48. Strangeland
49. Dish City
50. Toxic: The Britney Spears Story

The Guardian: The 20 Best Podcasts of 2021

1. Sweet Bobby
2. Welcome to Your Fantasy
3. Comfort Eating with Grace Dent
4. Slow Burn
5. Day X
6. Unread
7. Grounded with Louis Theroux
8. The Daily
9. Things Fell Apart
10. The Witness: In His Own Words
11. The Battersea Poltergeist
12. The 33 ⅓ Podcast
13. Prison Break
14. The Line
15. Death at the Wing
16. Dear Me
17. Teach Me A Lesson
18. Pieces of Britney
19. The Bias Diagnosis
20. Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera

Entertainment Weekly: The 10 Best Podcasts of 2021

[see also 2018]

• Twenty Thousand Hertz
• Once Upon a Time… at Bennington College
• The Dropout: Elizabeth Holmes on Trial
• Absolutely Not
• Love is a Crime
• Hell of Presidents
• The Plot Thickens: Lucy
• Marvel's Wastelanders: Old Man Star-Lord
• Cerebro
• Black Girl Songbook

Nicholas Quah: The Best Podcasts of 2021, as published by New York Magazine’s Vulture

[see also 2020 • 2019 • 2018]

1. Aack Cast
2. The Ezra Klein Show
3. Anything for Selena
4. Through The Cracks
5. Maintenance Phase
6. Storytime with Seth Rogen
7. S***hole Country
8. Time to Say Goodbye
9. Hot White Heist
10. Suspect

Honorable Mentions

• Spectacle
• Welcome to Your Fantasy
• The Line
• The Improvement Association
• Unread
• Decoder Ring
• 9/12
• The Lazarus Heist
• Bandsplain
• Death at the Wing
• How Long Gone
• The Just Enough Family

Eliana Dockterman: The 10 Best Podcasts of 2021, as published by Time Magazine

[see also 2020]

1. 9/12
2. S***hole Country
3. Sway
4. Fighting In The War Room
5. The Just Enough Family
6. Poog
7. Spectacle
8. StraightioLab
9. The Sporkful
10. Criticism Is Dead

Reggie Ugwu: The 10 Best Podcasts of 2021, as published by The New York Times

• 9/12
• Forever is a Long Time
• La Brega
• The Midnight Miracle
• One Year: 1977
• The Plot Thickens: The Devil’s Candy
• Resistance
• Rough Translation: Home/Front
• The Sporkful: Mission Impastable
• Welcome to Your Fantasy