News titles dominate Spotify’s top podcasts list for 2020

Spotify has released its annual data, revealing which music and podcast genres have been most popular amongst its users.

In Australia, the list of most-streamed podcasts is dominated by news titles, with the number one position going to News Corp’s From The Newsroom.

From The Newsroom was launched this year and features Andrew ‘Bucky’ Bucklow and Bronte Coy delivering the big stories of the day – from politics to pop culture – in under five minutes.

In second position is Mamamia’s The Quicky, a slightly longer daily news podcast which covers the top stories followed by a “deep dive” on one topic.

In third is Squiz Today, a “shortcut to the news” published each weekday at 6am, which runs for approximately 10 minutes.

The only international title to make to local list is The Joe Rogan Experience, which comes in at fourth. The podcast topped the global list, and became exclusive to the platform this month. Rogan’s long-form offering became available on Spotify in September, after it paid a reported US$100 million for the title.

And in fifth place locally was another daily news offering, Swartz Media’s 7am.

Despite the domination of news titles, Spotify said the most popular podcast genre in Australia was comedy, followed by society & culture, lifestyle & health, and then news & politics. In fifth position was education.

Globally, news & politics didn’t make the list, with the ranking as follows: society & culture, comedy, lifestyle & health, arts & entertainment, and education.

The most popular podcasts across the globe were: The Joe Rogan Experience, TED Talks Daily, The Daily, The Michelle Obama Podcast, and Call Her Daddy.