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How is Joe Rogan so firmly at the top of the UK podcast charts?

Posted by tooktherhombus@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 20 comments

It's been that way for so long and I'm trying to get my head around it

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20 Comments

Billy_Rizzle@reddit

Joe Rogan is a talented interviewer and has been doing podcasting for well over a decade now. He has a huge amount of brand recognition, and he always manages to keep a conversation flowing smoothly even with some of the most difficult people. He also gets many interesting guests on his show. Haven’t watched him in years.
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HeftyPlenty5772@reddit

Despite his politics, he's entertaining and seems to draw his guests out of themselves well. The eps he did with Glenn and Sue from Life Below Zero are excellent.
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NorthernSoul1998@reddit

He stopped being entertaining 6 years ago at the earliest, now it's just non stop boomer MAGA slop with no irony or dissenting points of view
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HeftyPlenty5772@reddit

I should have phrased that a bit better - the show itself is entertaining, not necessarily Joe himself. Very much - as with any pod - depends on the guests. The raving loony right wingers can obviously GTFO
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draenog_@reddit

Not many people listen to podcasts to start with, and there's lots of podcasts out there so listenership is very spread out and it doesn't take a crazy amount of people to become number 1. Podcast listening is normally spread out across lots of different platforms, because it's an RSS feed technology. But Joe Rogan has an exclusive deal with Spotify and his podcast is *only* on their platform.  So while numbers 2-10 on the top ten might be available elsewhere, and their listeners will be spread between Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Overcast, Pocket Casts, etc, any podcast with an exclusive Spotify deal will have all their listeners concentrated on Spotify and appear higher on the Spotify charts. That said, I'm just looking at the UK Spotify podcast chart now, and it's telling me that The Rest Is Politics is number 1 and Joe Rogan is number 2.  Which presumably means that The Rest Is Politics is *significantly* more popular than Joe Rogan, given they've never been exclusive to any platform.
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Griffincorn@reddit

Because he is the biggest podcast in the world, what even is the 2nd nd 3rd place in this catagory? We have no idea because Joe's lead is so great
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HMS_Northumberland@reddit

Alrite? He’s a little demicky simian fella. He’s got nothing on the K-Man baybee. Big up the XFM/RGS Massive. Now, here’s Radiohead.
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bduk92@reddit

He has some interesting guests, and he's been around long enough to have an established audience. I'll listen to maybe 1 or 2 a month depending on who the guest is. The Russel Crowe episode was good, so was John Cena. He has a lot of pretty big names, and it's a relatively casual format so it's easy to listen to.
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chewmypaws@reddit

His politics are awful but a 3 hour long interview with an interesting guest is so much more interesting than 3 minutes on the BBC One Show.
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jaymatthewbee@reddit

Most popular podcasts are still only 45-60 mins long. Joe Rogan episodes are often 3 hours long, so if he has a guest on you find interesting then you’re going to get into stuff you’ve never heard them talk about.
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NorthernSoul1998@reddit

Because American far right culture is being deliberately astro turfed to every bit of the globe by billionaires who have a vested interest in selling this dog shit to us
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Plenty-Height5405@reddit

This 👆
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Lammtarra95@reddit

There are lots of charts based on different sources but Rogan is near the top in all of them. Why do people listen? Good guests, entertaining talk. It is probably telling that Rogan also does stand-up. It's a bit like a cross between a chat show and an interview. Rogan is also popular with the American alt-right crowd so probably gets a few listeners that way.
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BenMatthews__@reddit

I think part of the reason people struggle to understand it is because Joe Rogan isn’t really a *podcast* anymore — he’s become a place people go when they don’t trust filtered conversations elsewhere. A lot of listeners aren’t tuning in because they agree with everything he says (most don’t), but because it’s one of the few spaces where people talk for hours without obvious scripting, editing, or corporate polish. In a media environment where everything feels managed, that rawness is genuinely exciting — even when it’s uncomfortable. There’s also an element of quiet rebellion to it. Listening to Rogan feels like opting out of what you’re *supposed* to listen to. Some people tune in out of curiosity, some out of scepticism, some because they’re annoyed by him — but they still listen. Controversy doesn’t just bring attention, it brings *commitment*. And honestly, part of it is that he’s willing to let guests say things that would never survive on mainstream radio or TV, for better or worse. People want to hear those conversations uncut and make up their own minds, rather than being told what the “correct” takeaway is. So his position at the top isn’t just about popularity — it’s about being one of the last big, unsanitised spaces in modern media. That kind of thing attracts loyalty, outrage, curiosity, and debate all at once… and all of that counts as listening.
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f_trumpp@reddit

I know we can be in our own social bubble of like-minded people, but when you look at political/opinion polls, popular music and podcasts or influences, it quickly becomes apparent we are the outliers in the trend. I know 0 reformers, but then pls show huge support. However, the vast majority of folks i know have PhDs and work in academia, so I am in a bubble.
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mikeghb89@reddit

The same reason Mrs Brown's Boys is still on TV
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RetroRegretso@reddit

There's a strong uprise in his sort of people coming through the cracks. Podcasts are easy to access.
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etymoticears@reddit

Is something you don't like popular? How weird
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LewisMileyCyrus@reddit

because UK https://preview.redd.it/95odpn4hiadg1.png?width=318&format=png&auto=webp&s=1186c3720c65d985c3df790fcd5d0b393736417b
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