Shameless tops the Australian Podcast Ranker, podcast listening up 33%

There is a lot to like in this month’s Triton Australian Podcast Ranker.

Shameless, the podcast for “smart people who love dumb stuff” hosted by Australian journalists Zara McDonald and Michelle Andrews, is No 1 after consistently being in the top 10 since it debuted on the ranker around this time last year. It is independently owned and published under Shameless Media and for those who have been following US podcast and company SmartLess’s similar rise to a $100 million contract, Shameless was three years ahead of them after the duo quit Mamamia.

Casefile True Crime drops to second with not a single new episode released in January and the ABC‘s Conversations is up three to third with 3.4 million downloads, more than double anyone else.

Shameless was the only podcast with more than half a million monthly listeners. Hamish and Andy dropped two spots to fifth, but again with no new episodes in January. Kyle and Jackie O‘s return to the airways saw them return to the top ten at 6th. The Ben Fordham and Marty Sheargold Shows respectively jumped 33 and 89 places too.

There were two US podcasts in the top ten – Stuff You Should Know at 7 and Crime Junkie at 10. There was a big jump into the top 20 for Darling, Shine and the highest debut was The ABC Tennis Podcast at 61 off the back of the Australian Open.

LiSTNR represented the most podcasts in the Ranker reaching more than 6.7 million people in January. ARN/iHeart was the top publisher with 4.5 million listeners.

The most exciting statistics for the future of audio and podcasting were that Australians downloaded 90.3 million podcasts in January, up 33% from January 2023’s 67.8 million, and up an impressive 11% from the previous month.

Ford Ennals, Chief Executive Officer of CRA said:

“Today is Valentine’s Day, and one relationship that we know will last the distance is our collective affection for podcasts. Australian listeners are dedicated to home grown as well as the best of international content. Four out of the five most listened to podcasts in January were produced locally.”