Top 25 New Podcasts of 2024

#1 - Mortal Sin - NBC News

Dawn and Nick Hacheney are the perfect couple: spiritual, loving, and devoted to the church where Nick is a pastor. When Dawn is killed in a house fire the day after Christmas, the pastor and his flock are devastated. What few knew at the time was the dark prophecy that foretold it. The latest podcast from Dateline and Josh Mankiewicz is about sex, lies, religion… and murder.

#2 - Blood is Thicker: The Hargan Family Killings - Paramount

Millionaire businesswoman Pamela Hargan and her youngest daughter Helen are found dead in their family home in McLean, Virginia. The strange and haunting crime scene puzzled investigators – was it a murder-suicide or was it staged to look like one? There was conflicting evidence all around. 48 Hours correspondent Peter Van Sant examines the suspenseful case in this 6-episode series, "Blood is Thicker: The Hargan Family Killings". Detectives try to untangle mixed motives from mother-daughter discord, to sibling rivalry, jealousy and a family fortune.

#3 Murder in the Hollywood Hills - NBC News

Kristi Johnson was shopping at a mall in Los Angeles when a man invited her to a photo shoot for the next Bond film. That afternoon, the 21-year-old got into her little white sportscar and drove to the shoot location up in the Hollywood Hills. She was never seen alive again. In Dateline’s latest podcast, Keith Morrison takes us to the city of dreams for the story of a smooth-talking predator who lured young women into a nightmare with promises of fame and fortune. It’s the story of how he evaded justice for years. But most of all, it’s the story of a group of women who banded together to lock him up for good.

#4 - Happily Never After: Dan and Nancy - Wondery

Nancy Brophy fills her novels with romantic betrayals and murder. It’s a far cry from her quiet life in the suburbs, where she and her chef husband, Dan, are living out their golden years. But when Dan is shot dead, Nancy finds herself at the center of a murder case that could be ripped from the pages of her novels.


#5 The Rise and Fall of Ruby Franke - Wondery

Ruby Franke, a Utah mom turned YouTube “momfluencer” who amassed 2.6 million subscribers, was known for her strict disciplinarian parenting style. But authorities now say that her "tough love" was actually child abuse. Ruby Franke's son escaped from the Utah home of her self-help business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt. The boy was reportedly starved and tied up with duct tape along with his 10 year old sister. As law enforcement dug deeper, they uncovered injuries, torture, and emotional harm inflicted by both Franke and Hildebrandt. Law&Crime takes you behind the scenes, from Ruby and Jodi's path to internet stardom, to the investigation that brought them down.

#6 - Murder 101 - iHeart Podcasts

In a small Tennessee town, a local serial killer was caught by the most unlikely investigators: A group of high school students, led by their teacher, Alex Campbell. Throughout the course of one school semester, the class pieced together a 30-year-old mystery and identified the killer behind at least six brutal murders. Shockingly, while the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations publicly agrees with their theory, no charges have been filed against the murderer. While some sleuthing students already have graduated, they, along with a fresh crop of current high schoolers, still want to finish the assignment, once and for all.

#7 - Kill List - Wondery

Every day, hundreds of people go about their lives with no idea that someone has paid to have them killed. In the depths of the dark net, tech journalist Carl Miller makes a disturbing discovery: a secret “kill list” targeting hundreds of innocent people on a murder-for-hire website. When the police are slow to investigate, Carl is thrown into a race against time to warn those in danger and uncover the truth before it’s too late. From Wondery and Novel comes a shocking true story about obsession, control and the price of life and death.

#8 - The Man in the Black Mask - NBC News

A rising young director is shooting a frightening film about a serial killer in a hockey mask. But when a man goes missing near the set, a real-life horror story unfolds. Keith Morrison’s latest Dateline original podcast series takes us into a mysterious netherworld of illusion, fantasy, deception and death.

#9 - The Price of Paradise - Wondery

When ex-Bunny girl Jayne Gaskin spots the desert island of her dreams for sale online, she decides to risk it all. Trading in their English village home, Jayne and her family relocate to their own private paradise, just off the coast of Nicaragua. And a reality TV crew follows them to film a new show, No Going Back. But soon they all discover that paradise has its secrets. The locals claim the island belongs to them, and it’s been sold illegally. Jayne’s not leaving without a fight. A fight that will soon turn deadly.

#10 - To Die For - Tenderfoot TV & iHeart Podcasts

Imagine you were a fly on the wall at a dinner between the mafia, the CIA, and the KGB. That’s where this unprecedented story begins. A journey through the dark world of Russian intelligence where, for the first time, a professed “sex spy” tells her story. All of it.


#11 - Bongino Report Early Edition with Evita - Dan Bongino

Evita Duffy-Alfonso is a journalist who's been on the front lines of today's most pressing stories. From confronting left-wing insanity and thought policing on college campuses, to exposing the harsh realities of blue city crime in places like Chicago, she brings you the news the corporate media won't touch. Evita reported on the ground during the BLM riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and faced down the authoritarian measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. She won't back down. She won't cower to speech police. And she speaks the truth, no matter the cost. Evita defends traditionalism and the values our country was founded on. Get ready for hard-hitting news, uncensored opinions, and stories that need to be told.

#12 Fallen Angels: A Story of California Corruption - iHeart Podcasts

A mysterious drug overdose at a posh Pasadena hotel leads our host and LA Times investigative reporter, Paul Pringle, into Los Angeles’ darkest corridors of power and wealth. Pringle discovers that the dean of the University of Southern California's medical school is leading a secret double life. As Pringle and his team at the LA Times untangle a sordid web of lies, drugs, and greed, they encounter obstacles and resistance at every turn—from USC, law enforcement and even within their own organization. Fallen Angels explores how money and privilege can corrupt our most important institutions and destroy people's lives.

#13 - The Butterfly King - Exactly Right Media

When King Boris III of Bulgaria dies amid mysterious circumstances during World War II, there's no shortage of suspects. But eighty years later, his death remains unsolved. Award-winning journalist Becky Milligan follows a trail of dissidents, poisoners, soldiers and spies to unravel eighty years of lies and cover-ups. This tragic family saga of a doomed royal dynasty is a story of treachery, deceit and a quest for the truth. Who killed the Butterfly King?

#14 - Three - Wavland

After midnight on July 6th, 2012, three teenage girls walked into the thick Appalachian woods somewhere along the Mason-Dixon line. Hours later, under the glow of a nearly full moon, only two walked out.
The very last time Dave and Mary Neese saw their only child Skylar was in a grainy black-and-white video. In it, she's sneaking out of her ground-floor bedroom in the middle of the night, her purse over her shoulder, her brown hair swinging as she hurries across the small parking lot to a waiting car.
What happened to Skylar Neese has become gothic American lore: the odd girl out in a vicious teenage triangle. But in the ten years since that fateful night beneath the West Virginia stars, a fuller portrait of what happened has emerged. From award-winning journalists Justine Harman and Holly Millea comes a gripping 10-part series featuring Skylar's family, closest friends, and law enforcement who lived the case—and are still living it.

#15 - If All Else Fails - NCPR

Far-right extremism is thriving in small, rural communities across the country, gaining the support of mainstream voters and local law enforcement. In this podcast from North Country Public Radio, reporters Emily Russell and Zach Hirsch investigate extremist groups and militia movements in northern New York State, why they're drawing support, and what kinds of threats they pose at a pivotal moment for democracy in the United States.


#16 - Criminal Attorney - Wondery

Paul Bergrin is a hotshot criminal defense attorney in Newark, New Jersey. Seemingly unstoppable and with unorthodox methods, he’s built a reputation for getting his clients off the hook. But as Paul's legend grows, so do the suspicions swirling around him.

When FBI Agent Shawn Brokos starts investigating a major drug ring, she makes a shocking discovery: the gang's most powerful player is none other than Newark’s star attorney. Has the ex-federal prosecutor crossed the line and started committing crimes himself?

#17 - Candyman: The True Story Behind The Bathroom Mirror Murder - CBS News

On April 22, 1987, 52-year-old Ruthie Mae McCoy called 911 to report that someone was trying to enter her Chicago housing project apartment through the bathroom medicine cabinet. Police thought she was imagining things, but when authorities finally checked on McCoy two days later, they found her dead with four gunshot wounds. Candyman: The True Story Behind the Bathroom Mirror Murder, revisits the real-life account of McCoy's strange death – one of the inspirations for the Candyman horror film. Hosted by journalist and Chicago native Dometi Pongo, this 6-episode limited series – produced by 48 Hours and CBS News – explores why McCoy's desperate calls for help were ignored, the surprising outcome of her murder trial, and the broader systemic issues of racial injustice, housing inequality, and the stigma of mental illness that surround this tragic event.

#18 - Work It Out Wombats! Podcast - GBH & PBS Kids

Hey Wombuddies - come join your favorite Wombats on eight super fun podcast playdates! The Work It Out Wombats! Podcast invites YOU, the listener, to join Zadie, Zeke and Malik as they sail a pirate ship through the Crashing Cliffs, fly to the sky in a make-believe Cloud Ship, enjoy a spooky campout, and build a super-strong fort that NO wind can blow down. You won’t just be listening to the fun, you’ll be having fun - singing, dancing, jumping, clapping, making, and creating right alongside your favorite Wombats.


#19 - Where's Dia? - Pushkin Industries

n the beautiful mountain town of Idyllwild, a wealthy widow named Dia Abrams suddenly vanishes from her home. She leaves behind her idyllic ranch, estranged children and a messy legal battle. Two men in her life, her son and a man who claims to be her fiance, launch public campaigns to find her. But soon, their efforts – and stories – begin to unravel.

#20 - Radioactive: The Karen Silkwood Mystery - ABC News

Karen Silkwood’s death 50 years ago this November continues to haunt Oklahoma and the nation. The 28-year-old plutonium plant worker died in a fatal crash while driving to meet a reporter with The New York Times allegedly to deliver evidence documenting unsafe conditions at the plant. Two reporters who covered the Silkwood story in 1974 have spent years trying to piece together what many in Oklahoma speculate: Karen Silkwood may have died for what she knew. Fifty years later, hear newly-discovered investigative tapes, deathbed conversations and long-awaited interviews reexamining what happened that night.

#21 - Landslide - NPR

In the mid-1970s, the Republican Party looked on the verge of self-destruction. Until 1976. A political earthquake: A cutthroat, razor-close, deeply personal battle for the Republican nomination, and the party's identity. It resurrected the GOP, remade it as a conservative party, and pulled the country sharply to the right. Landslide is the story of the closest presidential primary race in American history, what followed, and how it reshaped the political parties — opening the partisan rifts that divide us today.

#22 - Prof G Markets - Vox Media

Prof G Markets breaks down the news that’s moving the capital markets, helping you build financial literacy and security. Tune in every Monday and Thursday for no mercy, no malice insight from Scott Galloway and Ed Elson on high flying stocks, booming sectors, and master of the universe CEOs. Like it or not, we live in a capitalist society. The key to navigating it? Talk about money.

#23 - REDACTED: Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana - Wondery

Behind the closed doors of government offices and military compounds, are hidden stories and buried secrets from the darkest corners of history. Each week, Luke Lamana, a Marine Corp Reconnaissance Veteran, pulls back the curtain on what once was classified information exposing the secrets and lies behind the world’s most powerful institutions.

#24 - Lost Patients - NPR

Lost Patients takes you into new spaces most people have likely never experienced before — the inside of someone's psychosis, mental health court rooms, and the past and present streets of Seattle

#25 - Dateline Originals - NBC News

Dateline Originals – your podcast destination to discover and binge more than a dozen true crime mini-series told as only Dateline can. Includes award winning series like “The Thing About Pam,” “Mommy Doomsday,” “Motive for Murder” and so many more.

 In addition to the Top New Shows year-end ranking, Podtrac also publishes these monthly Rankings:

Top New Shows of 2024 Ranking Methodology

  • To qualify as “new”, a show must have published its first episode between December 1, 2023 and November 30, 2024.

  • Ranking is based on average downloads per episode from December 1, 2023 to November 30, 2024 as measured by Podtrac.

  • Episodes marked by publisher as Bonus or Trailer episodes are excluded from the calculations.