The Atlantic: The 50 Best Podcasts of 2019, compiled by Laura Jane Standley and Eric McQuade. They've recused The Atlantic's own podcasts.

[see also 2018]

1. Finding Fred
2. The Ballad of Billy Balls
3. Dolly Parton's America
4. 1619
5. Anthem (Homunculus)
6. Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia
7. Headlong: Running from COPS
8. Confronting: O.J. Simpson with Kim Goldman
9. Still Processing
10. The Daily
11. This American Life
12. BROKEN: Jeffrey Epstein
13. This Land
14. Ear Hustle
15. Man In The Window: The Golden State Killer
16. Making Gay History (Stonewall 50)
17. Fiasco
18. Uncover (The Village)
19. Radiolab
20. Fatwa
21. Why Is This Happening? with Chris Hayes
22. You Must Remember This (Six Degrees of Song of the South)
23. School Colors
24. The Longest Shortest Time
25. Gay Future
26. Sick
27. 30 For 30 Podcasts (The Sterling Affairs)
28. Embedded
29. Mobituaries with Mo Rocca
30. Throughline
31. The Hurricane Tapes
32. Blackout
33. The Dropout
34. Slow Burn (Season 3)
35. Switched on Pop
36. Sonic Boom
37. The Moment
38. The Stakes
39. The Open Ears Project
40. Rough Translation
41. The Big One
42. Love + Radio
43. Scattered
44. Mogul
45. Sooo Many White Guys
46. Spooked
47. Tell Them, I Am
48. The Last Days of August
49. Freaknik: A Discourse on a Paradise Lost
50. StartUp (The Final Chapter)

Sarah Larson: The Best Podcasts of 2019, as published by The New Yorker

[see also 2018]

1. Dolly Parton's America
2. Headlong: Running from COPS
3. Uncover (The Village)
4. Intrigue (Tunnel 29)
5. 1619
6. Reply All
7. Anthem (Homunculus)
8. The City (Reno)
9. Richest Hill
10. Trump, Inc.

Huffington Post: The Best Podcasts of 2019

• Headlong: Running from COPS
• 1619
• Underunderstood
• Tell Them, I Am
• We Share The Same Sky
• Scattered
• Julie: The Unwinding of the Miracle
• Nice Try!
• Dolly Parton's America

Associated Press: Top 10 Podcasts of 2019

1. To Live and Die in LA
2. 22 Hours: An American Nightmare
3. Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
4. Confronting: O.J. Simpson with Kim Goldman
5. Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc.
6. 1619
7. Believed
8. The Viall Files
9. Armchair Expert
10. Office Ladies

Nicholas Quah: The Best Podcasts of 2019, as published by New York Magazine’s Vulture

[see also 2018]

1. Lost Notes
2. 1619
3. Moonface
4. The WALKING podcast
5. Bundyville
6. Have You Heard George's Podcast?
7. Headlong: Running from COPS
8. 10 Things That Scare Me
9. The Last Days of August
10. The Hottest Take Sports Podcast

Time Magazine: The 10 Best Podcasts of 2019

[see also 2018]

1. 1619
2. You're Wrong About...
3. Blank Check
4. The Last Days of August
5. Moonface
6. Decoder Ring
7. Scattered
8. Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
9. Mobituaries with Mo Rocca
10. Spectacular Failures

Wired UK: The 33 Best Podcasts of 2019, a list that includes their own podcast

• Heavyweight
• The Wired UK Podcast
• Binge Mode: Star Wars
• Brexitcast
• You're Dead to Me
• Call Your Girlfriend
• Citations Needed
• Hit Parade
• The Dream
• The Secret History of the Future
• Ear Hustle
• Against the Rules
• Articles of Interest
• Exponent
• The Week Unwrapped
• The Political Party
• Full Disclosure
• Eat Sleep Work Repeat
• Bombshell
• Believed
• Lovett or Leave It
• 99% Invisible
• The Adam Buxton Podcast
• The Dollop
• How Did This Get Made?
• The Tip Off
• Caliphate
• The Habitat
• Exponential View
• Reply All
• How I Built This
• Ctrl Alt Delete
• No Such Thing As A Fish

Paste Magazine: The 30 Best Podcasts of the 2010s

1. This American Life
2. WTF with Marc Maron
3. S-Town
4. Dirty John
5. Serial
6. Planet Money
7. Limetown
8. Stuff You Should Know
9. Homecoming
10. How Did This Get Made?
11. Comedy Bang Bang
12. Doughboys
13. The Best Show
14. Chapo Trap House
15. Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
16. Ear Hustle
17. Lore
18. Buffering the Vampire Slayer
19. You Made It Weird
20. Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!
21. Harmontown
22. Race Chaser
23. Game Studies Study Buddies
24. Who? Weekly
25. Welcome to Night Vale
26. Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People
27. Blank Check
28. Last Podcast On The Left
29. The Daily
30. In the Dark

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