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Joe Rogan’s podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience, has consistently been Spotify’s most popular podcast since the company acquired it in 2020 - until Thursday.
Tucker Carlson’sTucker Carlson Show replaced Rogan at the top of the Spotify'spodcast charts on Thursday. Carlson — who was fired by Fox News last April after spending years as its top personality — debuted his podcast last December as part of his "Tucker Carlson Network."
His show took the top spot, but his time in the sun was short-lived; the Call Her Daddy podcast was sitting at No. 1 on Friday morning, with Carlson in second and Rogan at third.
Carlson’s show is not unlike his Fox News program; Carlson rants about politics and talks to whichever conservative media figures are currently relevant.
Carlson isn't the only right-wing commentator whose podcast is doing well on Spotify — Candace Owens' podcast is the 8th most listened to on the platform. Owens regularly pushes anti-semitic views and has engaged in Holocaust denial. Kanye West famously appeared in Paris with Owens shortly before his wildly anti-semitic public freakout last year.
Carlson, Owens and Rogan were all popular before their moves to Spotify.
Rogan signed an exclusivity deal with Spotify in 2020 for $200 million over 3.5 years. He renewed earlier this year for $250 million.
Spotify and Rogan faced intense criticism during the Covid-19 pandemic when the podcaster was accused of promoting vaccine and medical misinformation on his show. Neil Young pulled his music off the platform in January 2022 after Spotify did not reconsider its deal with Rogan.
Eventually, Young returned to the platform after it became clear none of the podcasting hosting platforms would consider banning the former comedian’s show.
Despite of — or maybe thanks to — the various controversies surrounding his show, Rogan has maintained a massive following for more than a decade.
As of March of this year, Rogan's show had 14.5 million followers on the podcasting platform, according to Bloomberg. That doesn't necessarily mean 14.5 million people listen to Rogan regularly, just that that many accounts have opted to follow his page on Spotify.
Both Rogan and Carlson have major presences outside of Spotify as well.
Rogan's podcast also appears on YouTube, where he has 17 million subscribers. Approximately 19.2 million people follow Rogan on Instagram and 12.6 million do the same on X. Carlson's digital following is a bit less substantial, with 2.6 million YouTube subscribers, 13.3 million X followers, and 3.9 million Instagram followers.
