iHeartRadio Podcast Awards: the 2022 winners

Everyone’s favorite podcasts were celebrated during the 2022 iHeartRadio Podcast Awards, as the very best in podcasting throughout the year and the most innovative talent and content creators in the industry were honored.

Some of this year’s winners included “SmartLess” for Best Comedy Podcast, “Scam Godess” for Best Crime Podcast, “The Daily” for Best News Podcast, Sam Sanders for Best Male Overall Host and Nicole Byer for Best Female Overall Host, among so many others.

Taking home the coveted title of Podcast of the Year, which was decided by the fans via voting on Twitter, is “You’re Wrong About” hosted by Sarah Marshall and Michael Hobbes. Also nominated in the category this year were “Code Switch,” “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” “Crime Junkie,” “Louder Than a Riot,” “Office Ladies,” “SmartLess,” “Stuff You Should Know,” “The Daily,” and “The Midnight Miracle”.

Below, Podnews details more information about the winning entries.

Podcast of the Year (Socially Voted Category): You’re Wrong About
From: Sarah Marshall
Hosted by: Buzzsprout

Best Comedy Podcast: SmartLess
From: Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett
Hosted by: ART19

Best Crime Podcast: Scam Goddess
From: Earwolf & Laci Mosley
Hosted by: Simplecast

Best Music Podcast: Song Exploder
From: Hrishikesh Hirway
Hosted by: PRX

Best News Podcast: The Daily
From: The New York Times
Hosted by: Simplecast

Best Sports Podcast: The Bill Simmons Podcast
From: The Ringer
Hosted by: Megaphone
• Best Overall Host: Sam Sanders (NPR), Nicole Byer (Team Coco)

Best Business and Finance Podcast: How I Built This with Guy Raz
From: Guy Raz | Wondery
Hosted by: ART19

Best Pop Culture Podcast: Keep It!
From: Crooked Media
Hosted by: Simplecast

Best Food Podcast: Doughboys
From: Headgum / Doughboys Media
Hosted by: ART19

Best Wellness & Fitness Podcast: Therapy for Black Girls
From: iHeartPodcasts and Joy Harden Bradford, Ph.D.
Hosted by: Omny Studio

Best History Podcast: Throughline
From: NPR
Hosted by: Megaphone

Best Kids & Family Podcast: Story Pirates
From: Story Pirates
Hosted by: Megaphone

Best Fiction Podcast: Bridgewater
From: iHeartPodcasts and Grim & Mild
Hosted by: Omny Studio

Best Science Podcast: Ologies with Alie Ward
From: Alie Ward
Hosted by: Simplecast

Best Technology Podcast: There Are No Girls On The Internet
From: iHeartPodcasts
Hosted by: Omny Studio

Best Ad Read: SmartLess
From: Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett
Hosted by: ART19

Best Political Podcast: Pod Save America
From: Crooked Media
Hosted by: Simplecast

Best TV & Film Podcast: How did this get made?
From: Earwolf and Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas
Hosted by: Simplecast

Best Spanish Language Podcast: Radio Ambulante
From: My Cultura, Radio Ambulante and iHeartPodcasts
Hosted by: Omny Studio

Best Advice/Inspirational Podcast: We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle
From: Glennon Doyle and Audacy
Hosted by: Megaphone

Best Beauty and Fashion Podcast: Forever 35
From: Doree Shafrir & Elise Hu
Hosted by: Acast

Best Travel Podcast: Women Who Travel
From: Condé Nast Traveler
Hosted by: PRX

Best Spirituality and Religion Podcast: On Being with Krista Tippett
From: On Being Studios
Hosted by: Simplecast

The Best Green Podcast: Living on Earth
From: World Media Foundation
Hosted by: Megaphone

Best Branded Podcast: Inside Trader Joes
From: Trader Joe's
Hosted by: Libsyn

Best Emerging Podcast: Films To Be Buried With with Brett Goldstein
From: Big Money Players Network and iHeartPodcasts
Hosted by: Omny Studio

Best International Podcast: Morbidology
From: Morbidology
Hosted by: Spreaker

Audible Audio Pioneer Award: My Favorite Murder
From: Exactly Right Media – the original true crime comedy network
Hosted by: Megaphone
• Innovator Award: Descript

Social Impact Award: Force Multiplier
From: iHeartPodcasts
Hosted by: Omny Studio

Podcast hosting companies

• Megaphone hosted 11 winners
• Simplecast 6
• NPR 3
• All others hosted either one or two.

Countries and Languages

Only one podcast was from outside the US - the winner of the international award. Morbidology’s host, Emily G. Thompson, is from Belfast in Northern Ireland. Similarly, only one podcast was in a different language than English; Radio Ambulante winning the Best Spanish Language Podcast. Excepting these two categories, all winners were US-based and English-speaking.

Gender split

Of the winning podcasts, not double-counting, we counted 24 male hosts, and 15 female hosts: a gender split of 38% female.

iHeart Podcasts

Only 4 podcasts this year were produced or distributed by iHeartRadio: the same as in 2021.

Indie/Non-Indie Podcasts

There isn’t a definition of “indie”; but out of the 29 winners, we counted nine podcasts who are not part of, or distributed by, a large media owner.

The above list of podcasts is available as an OPML file for your podcast player