Podtrac: iHeart Still Leads as Crime Junkie Tops September

Podtrac’s September 2026 publisher rankings show continued audience gains across most measured U.S. networks, with the iHeart Audience Network still No. 1 and Audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” atop the individual-show list for a fourth straight month, Inside Radio reported Oct. 9. RADIO ONLINE published the same Podtrac release on Oct. 8, matching the top-line listener and download figures.

Eleven of Podtrac’s 19 U.S. ranking participants increased unique monthly audience versus August, while eight posted gains in downloads and streams, Inside Radio said. That followed an especially strong August in which 18 publishers reported audience growth. The iHeart Audience Network reached 57.6 million U.S. monthly listeners — down about 2% from August — while downloads and streams rose 7% to 285.6 million, both outlets reported. iHeartPodcasts held No. 2 with 32 million listeners (up nearly 3%) and 162.3 million downloads and streams (up 8%).

NPR Sales Network remained third with 18 million monthly listeners and 93.7 million downloads and streams, followed by Libsyn at 12.7 million listeners, RADIO ONLINE and Inside Radio said. The Walt Disney Company climbed two spots to No. 5 with 6.9 million listeners (up nearly 3%) and 23.7 million downloads and streams (up nearly 7%). Barstool Sports jumped three places to No. 7; Vox Media slipped to sixth, with PodcastOne, Fox Audio Network and DailyWire+ rounding out the top 10.

On the show chart, “Crime Junkie” stayed No. 1 after first taking the top spot in June, Inside Radio reported. “The Daily,” “NPR News Now,” “Up First from NPR,” “Dateline NBC” and “Fox News Hourly Update” filled the next slots, with the first nine positions unchanged from August. “This American Life” moved up one place to No. 10. RADIO ONLINE also listed climbers including “My Favorite Murder” to No. 15, ABC’s “20/20” to No. 17 and DailyWire’s “Morning Wire,” which jumped six spots to No. 19.

Podtrac’s global multi-channel ranking continues to show video reshaping distribution even as audio remains primary for several large networks. Inside Radio said the iHeart Audience Network stayed No. 1 globally with 529.1 million combined downloads, streams and views of full episodes in September (up about 4%), including 457 million audio and 72.1 million video. Meidas Media Network ranked second with 142.3 million, nearly 92% of it video. Sonoro climbed to No. 4 with 62 million combined plays (up nearly 56%), while Barstool’s global total rose about 35% to 30.3 million.

For several publishers, video now accounts for most full-episode distribution: Inside Radio cited Paramount at roughly 67% video, The Volume at about 59% and DailyWire+ as majority video. RADIO ONLINE noted Podtrac’s rankings cover participating shows measured for the full reporting month. Together the reports frame September as another month of broad publisher gains even as individual networks mix listener dips with download spikes — and as video keeps rewriting how the same “podcast” audience is counted.

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Verification: U.S. publisher gains (11/19 audience, 8/19 downloads), iHeart/iHeartPodcasts/NPR/Libsyn/Disney listener and download figures, Barstool move, Crime Junkie four-month lead, show-chart climbers and global video mix come from Inside Radio (Oct. 9, 2026). Matching Podtrac top-line publisher and top-20 show rankings, including Morning Wire’s six-spot jump, are from RADIO ONLINE (Oct. 8, 2026).