iHeart Announces 2022 Podcast Award Nominees

This is an archived page from 2021. Find out more

The iHeartRadio Podcast Awards ceremony will take place on January 13, 2022 at the iHeartRadio Theater Los Angeles. Voting will begin December 13 and run through January 2, 2022.

More information can be found at iHeart.com/podcast-awards.

“We are excited to be back live for year four of the iHeartRadio Podcast Awards to recognize all the amazing content and talent that the podcasting medium has produced this past year,” said Conal Byrne, CEO of iHeartMedia’s Digital Audio Group. “Podcast listening has continued to soar across the U.S., seeing a nearly 60% increase in monthly listeners since our first awards show was announced in 2018, filling this industry with more diversity and innovation than ever before. We look forward to honoring these major advancements in-person during the 2022 iHeartRadio Podcast Awards this January.”

Here are all the 2022 nominees:

Podcast of the Year (Socially Voted Category)

• “Code Switch” (NPR)
• “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” (Team Coco/Earwolf)
• “Crime Junkie” (audiochuck)
• “Louder Than a Riot” (NPR)
• “Office Ladies” (Earwolf/Jenna Fischer & Angela Kinsey)
• “SmartLess” (Wondery/Amazon)
• “Stuff You Should Know” (iHeartRadio)
• “The Daily” (The New York Times)
• “The Midnight Miracle” (Luminary, Dave Chappelle, Talib Kweli, and Yasiin Bey)
• “You’re Wrong About” (Aubrey Gordon/Michael Hobbes)

Best Comedy Podcast

• “Comedy Bang Bang: The Podcast” (Earwolf/Scott Aukerman)
• “Las Culturistas” (Big Money Players)
• “My Brother, My Brother, and Me” (The McElroys)
• “SmartLess” (Wondery/Amazon**)**
• “The Read” (Loud Speakers Network)

Best Crime Podcast

• “Crime Junkie” (audiochuck)
• “Dr. Death” (Wondery)
• “Jensen & Holes: The Murder Squad” (Exactly Right)
• “Scam Goddess” (Earwolf/Team Coco/ Laci Mosley)
• “To Live and Die in LA” (Tenderfoot TV/Cadence13)

Best Music Podcast

• “Broken Record” (Pushkin Industries)
• “Louder Than A Riot” (NPR)
• “Questlove Supreme” (iHeartRadio)
• “Song Exploder” (Hrishikesh Hirway)
• “Toxic: The Britney Spears Story” (Witness Docs)

Best News Podcast

• “Pod Save America” (Crooked Media)
• “The Daily” (The New York Times)
• “The Rachel Maddow Show” (MSNBC)
• “Today, Explained” (Vox)
• “Up First” (NPR)

Best Sports Podcast

• “All The Smoke” (The Black Effect)
• “Pardon My Take” (Barstool Sports)
• “Summer of Gold” (Dear Media)
• “The Bill Simmons Podcast” (The Ringer/Bill Simmons)
• “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” (iHeartRadio)

Best Overall Host – Male

• Conan O’Brien (Team Coco/Earwolf)
• Michael Hobbes (Independent)
• Sam Sanders (NPR)
• Sean Hayes (Amazon/Wondery)
• Wesley Morris (The New York Times)

Best Overall Host – Female

• Anna Sale (WNYC)
• Kara Swisher (The New York Times)
• Laverne Cox (Shondaland Audio)
• Nicole Byer (Team Coco)
• Sarah Marshall (Michael Hobbes/Sarah Marshall)

Best Business & Finance Podcast

• “Bloomberg Businessweek” (Bloomberg)
• “Brown Ambition” (Westwood One)
• “Business Wars” (Wondery)
• “Earn Your Leisure” (The Black Effect)
• “How I Built This with Guy Raz” (NPR)

Best Pop Culture Podcast

• “Keep It!” (Crooked Media)
• “Pop Culture Happy Hour” (NPR)
• “Still Processing” (The New York Times)
• “The Read” (Loud Speakers Network)
• “You’re Wrong About” (Michael Hobbes/Sarah Marshall)

Best Food Podcast

• “Doughboys” (Headgum)
• “Bon Appétit Food People” (Bon Appétit)
• “Gastropod” (Independent)
• “Home Cooking” (Samin Nosrat/Hrishikesh Hirway)
• “The Splendid Table” (American Public Media)

Best Wellness & Fitness Podcast

• “Body Stuff with Dr. Jenn Gunter” (TED Audio Collective)
• “Maintenance Phase” (Aubrey Gorden/Michael Hobbes)
• “On Purpose with Jay Shetty” (Jay Shetty)
• “POOG with Kate Berlant and Jacqueline Novak” (Big Money Players)
• “Therapy for Black Girls” (Joy Harden Bradford/iHeartRadio)

Best History Podcast

• “Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History” (Dan Carlin)
• “Dark History” (Audioboom Studios)
• “Lore” (Aaron Mahnke/Grim & Mild)
• “Revolutions” (Mike Duncan)
• “Throughline” (NPR)

Best Kids & Family Podcast

• “Brains On! Science Podcast for Kids” (American Public Media)
• “Circle Round” (WBUR)
• “Goodnight Stories For Rebel Girls” (Rebel Girls)
• “Story Pirates” (Gimlet)
• “Wow in the World” (Wondery Kids)

Best Fiction Podcast

• “Blackout” (QCODE/Endeavor Content)
• “Bridgewater” (iHeartRadio/Grim & Mild)
• “Edith!” (QCODE/Crooked Media)
• “In Strange Woods: A Musical Podcast” (Atypical Artists)
• “Welcome to Night Vale” (Night Vale Presents)

Best Science Podcast

• “Hidden Brain” (Hidden Brain Media)
• “Invisibilia” (NPR)
• “Ologies with Alie Ward” (Alie Ward)
• “StarTalk Radio” (Neil deGrasse Tyson)
• “Stuff To Blow Your Mind” (iHeartRadio)

Best Technology Podcast

• “Pivot” (New York Magazine)
• “Rabbit Hole” (The New York Times)
• “Reply All” (Gimlet)
• “Science Vs” (Gimlet)
• “There Are No Girls On The Internet” (iHeartRadio)

Best Ad Read

• “Chatty Broads with Bekah and Jess” (Independent)
• “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” (Team Coco/Earwolf)
• “Literally! With Rob Lowe” (Stitcher/Team Coco)
• “My Brother, My Brother And Me” (The McElroys)
• “SmartLess” (Wondery/Amazon)

Best Political Podcast

• “FiveThirtyEight Politics” (FiveThirtyEight/538/ABC News/Nate Silver)
• “Gaining Ground: The New Georgia” (Tenderfoot TV/Crooked Media)
• “Pod Save America” (Crooked Media)
• “The NPR Politics Podcast” (NPR)
• “The Rachel Maddow Show” (MSNBC)

Best TV & Film Podcast

• “Chatty Broads with Bekah and Jess” (Independent)
• “How Did This Get Made?” (Earwolf/Paul Scheer/June Diane Raphael/Jason Mantzoukas)
• “Office Ladies” (Earwolf/Jenna Fischer & Angela Kinsey)
• “Pop Culture Happy Hour” (NPR)
• “The Bechdel Cast” (iHeartRadio)

Best Spanish Language Podcast

• “Anything for Selena” (WBUR/Futuro Studios)
• “Cuentos Increíbles” (Sonoro)
• “Latinx Therapy” (Adriana Alejandre, LMFT)
• “Leyendas Legendarias” (Sonoro/All Things Comedy)
• “Radio Ambulante” (NPR)

Best Advice/Inspirational Podcast

• “Dare to Lead with Brené Brown” (Spotify/Parcast)
• “Don’t Ask Tig” (American Public Media)
• “Super Soul” (Oprah)
• “Unlocking Us with Brené Brown” (Parcast Network)
• “We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle” (Glennon Doyle/Cadence 13)

Best Beauty & Fashion Podcast

• “Add to Cart” (Lemonada Media)
• “Forever 35” (Kate Spencer/Doree Shafrir)
• “Gloss Angeles” (Kirbie Johnson/Sara Tan)
• “Natch Beaut” (Jackie Johnson)
• “The Business of Fashion” (Independent)

Best Travel Podcast

• “Armchair Explorer” (Aaron Millar)
• “JUMP with Traveling Jackie” (Independent)
• “Let’s Go Together” (Travel & Leisure)
• “Women Who Travel” (Condé Nast Traveller)
• “Zero to Travel” (Jason Moore)

Best Spirituality & Religion Podcast

• “Almost 30” (Independent)
• “May I Elaborate with Krista Williams and Lindsey Simcik” (Team Coco)
• “On Being with Krista Tippett” (On Being Studios)
• “Tara Brach” (Tara Brach)
• “The One You Feed with Eric Zimmer” (Wondery)

The Best Green Podcast

• “EV News Daily – The E-Mobility Podcast” (Independent)
• “Factually! With Adam Conover” (Earwolf)
• “How To Save A Planet” (Gimlet)
• “Living on Earth” (PRX)
• “Science Rules! With Bill Nye” (Stitcher)

Best Branded Podcast

• “Camp Monsters” (REI Co-Op)
• “Humans Growing Stuff” (ScottsMiracle-Gro)
• “Inside Trader Joes” (Trader Joe’s)
• “Now, What’s Next?” (Morgan Stanley)
• “Your Attention Please” (Hulu)

NEW!** Podcast To Watch**

• “Films To Be Buried With with Brett Goldstein” (Independent)
• “Maintenance Phase” (Aubrey Gorden/Michael Hobbes)
• “Murder in Alliance” (Obsessed Network)
• “Revolutions” (Mike Duncan)
• “Rotten Mango” (Stephanie Soo/Audioboom)

**_NEW! _**Best International Podcast

• “Así como suena” (Así Como Suena)
• “CreepsMcPasta Creepypasta Radio” (Creeps McPasta)
• “Fuera de Series” (Fuera de Series)
• “Mamamia Out Loud” (Mamamia)
• “Morbidology” (Morbidology)