You’ll Never Guess Who Won The Best Podcasts Of The Year

It was the night of nights for podcasters when the IHeartPodcast aired its award earlier this year and the annual event was hosted by ‘The Office’ star Brian Baumgartner in New York.

More people are listening to podcasts than ever. According to a 2023 Infinite Dial Australia Report, 43% of Australians age 12+ have listened to a podcast at home in the past two months; and 33% have listened to a podcast in the last week.

There were 29 different categories judged including entertainment, news, crime, sports, comedy, food, and the newest category Best Overall Ensemble. Check out the winners below.

2023 iHeartPodcast Awards Winners

Podcast Of The Year (Socially Voted):

• “Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend” 
• “Crime Junkie” 
• “Fly On The Wall”
• “Las Culturistas” – WINNER
• “Love and Noraebang”
• “Maintenance Phase” 
• “Morbid” 
• “On Purpose with Jay Shetty”
• “Scam Goddess” 
• “SmartLess” 

Best Overall Ensemble: 

• “Best Friends with Nicole Byer & Sasheer Zamata”
• “Conan O’Brian Needs a Friend”
• “Just Between Us”
• “Let’s Make a Sci-Fi!”
• “SmartLess” – WINNER

Best Business & Finance Podcast:

• “Earn Your Leisure”  
• “How I Built This”  
• “Odd Lots”  
• “Planet Money” – WINNER
• “The Indicator”

Best Comedy Podcast:

• ”Distractible”
• “Las Culturistas” 
• “SmartLess” 
• “The Read” 
• “Why Won’t You Date Me” – WINNER

Best Crime Podcast:

• “Believe Her” – WINNER 
• “Crime Junkie” 
• “Morbid”  
• “Scam Goddess” 
• “Sympathy Pains” 

Best Pop Culture Podcast:

• “Decoder Ring” – WINNER 
• “Keep It”  
• “The Video Archives with Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avery” 
• “Vibe Check”  
• “Watch What Crappens”

Best Food Podcast: 

• “Naked Lunch”  
• “Proof”
• “Recipe Club”
• “The Dave Chang Show”
• “The Sporkful” – WINNER

Best Wellness & Fitness Podcast:

• “Huberman Lab”
• “HypochondriActor”
• “Maintenance Phase” – WINNER 
• “Ten Percent Happier”
• “Therapy For Black Girls”

Best History Podcast:

• “Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History”
• “History Daily”
• “Noble Blood”
• “You Must Remember This”
• “You’re Wrong About” – WINNER

Best Kids & Family Podcast: 

• “Brains On!”
• “Good Inside with Dr. Becky”
• “Greeking Out from National Geographic Kids”
• “Story Pirates”
• “Wow In The World” – WINNER

Best Music Podcast:

• “Broken Record” 
• “Drink Champs” 
• “Listening” 
• “Questlove Supreme” – WINNER 
• “Song Exploder”

Best News Podcast:

• “Morning Wire”
• “Pod Save America” 
• “The Daily” – WINNER 
• “Today Explained” 
• “Up First” 

Best Fiction Podcast:

• “Blood Thirsty Hearts”
• “Echo Park”
• “Love and Noraebang”
• “Princess of South Beach”
• “Welcome To Night Vale” – WINNER 

Best Sports Podcast: 

• “All The Smoke” 
• “The Bill Simmons Podcast” 
• “The Draymond Green Show” – WINNER
• “The Fantasy Footballers”
• “The Lowe Post”

Best Science Podcast: 

• “Huberman Lab”
• “Invisibilia” 
• “Ologies with Alie Ward”  
• “Radiolab” – WINNER
• “Science Vs”

Best Technology Podcast:

• “20000 Hertz”
• “Darknet Diaries”
• “On With Kara Swisher”
• “Pivot” – WINNER 
• “Reply All” 

Best Ad Read Podcast: 

• “Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend” – WINNER 
• “My Brother, My Brother, and Me” 
• “Office Ladies”
• “Unlocking Us with Brene Brown”
• “Why Won’t You Date Me with Nicole Byer”

Best Overall Host: 

• Ashley Flowers
• Jay Shetty 
• Kara Swisher 
• Nicole Byer – WINNER 
• Sarah Marshall 

Best Political Podcast: 

• “Here’s Where It Gets Interesting”
• “NPR Politics Podcast” – WINNER 
• “Pod Save America” 
• “The Ben Shapiro Show”
• “The Daily Zeitgeist”

Best TV & Film Podcast:

• “Fake Doctors, Real Friends”
• “Films to be Buried With”- WINNER
• “How Did This Get Made?” 
• “Into It”
• “Watch What Crappens”

Best Spanish Language Podcast: 

• “Ciudad Mágica”- WINNER
• “Crónicas Obscuras”
• “Escuela Secreta”
• “Idolo”
• “Leyendas Legendarias” 

Best Advice & Inspirational Podcast: 

• “Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People”- WINNER
• “Chiquis and Chill”
• “I Weigh with Jameela Jamil”
• “On Purpose with Jay Shetty” 
• “We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle”

Best Beauty & Fashion Podcast: 

• “Add to Cart” 
• “Forever35” 
• “Natch Beaut”- WINNER 
• “POOG”
• “Pretty Basic”

Best Travel Podcast:

• “Atlas Obscura”- WINNER
• “Behind The Baller Podcast with Ben Baller”
• “Not Lost”
• “Travel with Rick Steves”
• “Women Who Travel” 

Best Green Podcast:

• “Climate of Change with Cate Blanchett and Danny Kennedy”
• “Climate One”
• “Hot Take”
• “Living on Earth” 
• “TED Climate”- WINNER

Best Spirituality & Religion Podcast: 

• “Awakened Underground”
• “Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield”
• “May I Elaborate? Daily Wisdom from JB Smoove”  
• “On Being”- WINNER
• “The Joel Osteen Podcast”

Best Branded Podcast: 

• “Force Multiplier”
• “Hazlo Por La Chela”
• “Inside Trader Joes” 
• “Now What’s Next?” 
• “Smart Talks with IBM”- WINNER

Best Emerging Podcast:

• “MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories”
• “Significant Others”
• “Sounds Like A Cult”- WINNER
• “The Video Archives Podcast”
• “TV, I Say with Ashley Ray”

Best International Podcast:

• “British Villains” (UK)
• “El Viaje” (Mexico)- WINNER
• “Feu de Camp” (France)
• “La Mia Smemo” (Italy)
• “RedHanded” (UK)