Year-End Lists

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

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 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

Sarah Larson: The Best Podcasts of 2021, as published by The New Yorker

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018]

• Radiolab: Mixtape
• The Paris Review
• Stay Away from Matthew MaGill
• Forever is a Long Time
• Southlake
• 9/12
• Suspect
• Cocaine & Rhinestones
• La Brega
• Resistance

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

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 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

[see also 2023 • 2022]

• 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

Shondaland: The Best Podcasts of 2020

• Nice White Parents
• Dr. Death Season 2: Dr. Fata
• Slow Burn: Season 4
• MusicalSplaining
• Code Switch
• You're Wrong About...
• Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment
• The Daily

The Atlantic: The 50 Best Podcasts of 2020, selected by Laura Jane Standley and Eric McQuade

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2019 • 2018]

1. Rumble Strip: Our Show
2. Somebody
3. Reveal: American Rehab
4. The Other Latif
5. The Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow
6. Nice White Parents
7. Forgotten: Women of Juárez
8. California Love
9. Rabbit Hole
10. Wind of Change
11. The Heart
12. Canary: The Washington Post Investigates
13. Lost Notes: 1980
14. Blindspot: The Road to 9/11
15. Back Issue
16. Verified
17. Home Cooking
18. Broken: Seeking Justice
19. Grouse
20. The Chronicles of Now
21. Where the Bodies Are Buried
22. Driving the Green Book
23. Tom Brown’s Body
24. Jacked
25. Lies We Tell
26. Dissect
27. The Dream
28. Boomtown
29. Slow Burn: David Duke
30. Boom/Bust: The Rise and Fall of HQ Trivia
31. Dirty Diana
32. Asking For It
33. No Compromise
34. Crisis: Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church
35. Unfinished
36. The Fault Line
37. Against the Rules
38. Folxlore
39. The Edge: Houston Astros
40. No Dogs in Space
41. Wild Thing
42. Dying For Sex
43. Extra Spicy
44. Two Minutes Past Nine
45. The Cut
46. Bunga Bunga
47. Foundering: We Work
48. The Cam Chronicles
49. Couples Under Lockdown
50. Seen and Not Heard

The New York Times: The Best New Podcasts of 2020

• Wind of Change
• Into the Zone
• Floodlines
• Passenger List
• Appearances
• Octavia's Parables
• Goodbye to All This
• My Year in Mensa

Rolling Stone: Best Podcasts of 2020

• Somebody
• Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen
• Floodlines
• Home Cooking
• Staying In with Emily & Kumail
• Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out
• Motive: Season 3
• Unspooled: Season 2
• Nice White Parents
• Borrasca
• Rabbit Hole
• Dead Eyes
• Slow Burn: David Duke
• Wind of Change
• You Must Remember This: Polly Platt
• The Last Archive

Nicholas Quah: The Best Podcasts of 2020, as published by New York Magazine’s Vulture

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2019 • 2018]

1. Floodlines
2. Lost Notes: 1980
3. My Year in Mensa
4. Nice White Parents
5. Reply All
6. You're Wrong About...
7. Home Cooking
8. You Must Remember This: Polly Platt
9. Appearances
10. Field Recordings

Other 2020 Podcast Highlights

• Articles of Interest: Season 2
• The Cam Chronicles
• Dead Eyes
• Oh, Hello: the P'dcast
• Planet Money
• Reveal: American Rehab
• Staying In with Emily & Kumail
• Slow Burn: Season 4
• Wind of Change
• This is not a Drake podcast
• Welcome to LA

Sarah Larson: The Best Podcasts of 2020, as published by The New Yorker

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2019 • 2018]

1. Floodlines
2. Reveal: American Rehab
3. Unfinished: Short Creek
4. Lost Notes: 1980
5. Nice White Parents
5. Fiasco: The Battle for Boston
5. The Promise
6. Articles of Interest
7. Wind of Change
8. Dead Eyes
9. LBJ and the Great Society
10. This Sounds Serious: Grand Casino