Australia
Brazil
Canada
Germany
India
Ireland
Japan
Mexico
New Zealand
Philippines
South Africa
United Kingdom01 / Sources
Where the data
comes from
Pod is Life combines public podcast charts from the apps listed below. Each app measures popularity its own way and covers a different set of shows. What we collect is a chart position, nothing more. We don't have download numbers, listener counts, or any way to measure shows that aren't on a chart.
The table describes the United States configuration: current source weights, mapped chart types, import method, and freshness windows. International coverage can differ by country. A source only counts toward a chart if it is configured for that country and chart, and has a usable snapshot. Genre and trending counts are actual mapped charts, not catalogue categories.
| Provider | Weight | Overall | Genre charts | Import | Fresh for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Podcasts | 1 | Mapped | 19 | Scheduled | 3 days |
| Spotify | 1 | Mapped | 17 | Scheduled | 3 days |
| YouTube | 1 | Mapped | 0 | Manual | 11 days |
| Castbox | 0.05 | Mapped | 19 | Scheduled | 3 days |
| Pocket Casts | 0.05 | Mapped | 19 | Scheduled | 3 days |
These are configured coverage and freshness limits, not proof that a fresh snapshot arrived today. A provider may be mapped and still sit out a calculation when its latest snapshot is empty or beyond its freshness window.
Scheduled sources are collected on their configured schedule. YouTube is the exception: its US Top 100 podcast chart is a weekly list ranked by watch time, imported by hand, and configured for the US overall chart only. It has no genre or trending charts. Its week-ending date marks the reporting period, not the import date; each Monday-to-Sunday chart is published the following Wednesday.
YouTube ranks shows by total watch time, so before combining we scale each show's YouTube rank by how many minutes of content it publishes in a typical week; a show with the chart's median weekly minutes is unchanged.
02 / Matching
Treating the same show
as one show
Apps don't always spell or identify a show the same way. To line them up, we match on provider IDs, RSS feed URLs, and cleaned-up titles and publisher names. When a match is uncertain, we leave the records separate instead of forcing them together.
Once matched, a show counts at most once per source. If the same show somehow appears twice on one provider's chart, we use its better position.
03 / The calculation
How positions turn into
a Pulse Score
The method is called weighted reciprocal-rank fusion. For any given chart, every usable provider where the show appears adds some points. Higher positions are worth more, and the gaps are bigger near the top: moving from #10 to #1 is worth far more than moving from #70 to #60. A constant, currently k = 15, controls how steep that curve is.
Each source also has a weight. At the same position, a source with twice the weight contributes twice the points. Good positions on several apps add up, so a show that charts everywhere tends to beat a show that charts in one place. That said, a very high position on a heavily weighted source can still outweigh several low positions elsewhere. We apply this same formula and configured weights independently to each country's charts; we do not combine countries into one global ranking.
Σ weightk + rank
Summed over the sources that have a usable snapshot for this chart.
If a show is missing from a provider's chart that we otherwise have, that provider adds zero for it. If we don't have a usable chart from a provider at all, because it's stale, empty, or not mapped, we leave that provider out of both the score and the maximum possible score. That way a missing chart doesn't drag a show down.
round(100 × raw score ÷ perfect-score denominator)
Kept between 1 and 100. The denominator is Σ weight ÷ (k + 1), again only over the providers with usable snapshots for this chart.
So the Pulse Score is the show's raw score as a share of the best possible score on that chart, on that day. A 100 would mean #1 on every usable source. It is not a percentile, a market share, or a listener count, and it doesn't estimate how many people pressed play. The weights are relative multipliers; they are not audience share and don't translate into a fixed percentage of any show's score.
A worked example
This is made up, not live data. It uses the United States overall-source configuration shown above. Suppose a show sits at #10 on every enabled overall chart. Here is what each source adds, and the best possible score alongside it.
| Provider | Rank | Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Apple Podcasts | #10 | 0.0400 |
| Spotify | #10 | 0.0400 |
| YouTube | #10 | 0.0400 |
| Castbox | #10 | 0.0020 |
| Pocket Casts | #10 | 0.0020 |
| Combined raw score | 0.1240 | |
| Perfect-score denominator | 0.1937 | |
| Resulting Pulse | 64 | |
The numbers above use the home-country weights and k currently in effect, so they change if the settings do. The example assumes every configured overall source has a fresh snapshot.
04 / Reading the charts
What the numbers
on the page mean
Each combined chart shows up to 200 positions, with 101–200 tucked behind an expander where there's enough data. Since the source charts are finite, a podcast that isn't on any of them isn't on ours either. We don't attempt to rank every podcast in existence.
Shows are ordered by the full, unrounded raw score. If two shows tie exactly, the one with the better single best position across sources goes first, and if that ties too, the better Apple position wins. There are no other tie-breakers. Because the Pulse is rounded for display, neighbouring positions can show the same Pulse number.
Movement arrows compare against the previous available chart for the same country, genre and source, which isn't always yesterday. They show how many places a show moved up or down. NEW means the show wasn't in the previous chart (Top 200 for Combined). It doesn't mean the podcast is new. When you view a single source, the order comes straight from that provider's chart, and movement compares its two latest available charts. YouTube movement compares weekly charts. Any Pulse shown next to it is still the combined score, not a score for that app alone.
Genre charts only use the providers' own genre charts. A show doesn't qualify just because its metadata says it belongs to a category.
How Trending works
Trending is the one chart we calculate entirely ourselves. We don't import any app's trending list. Every day, for each country, we compare where each show sits on our combined charts (Top Podcasts and every genre) with the previous ranking day and with about a week earlier.
A climb is measured proportionally, so moving from #80 to #40 counts the same as #10 to #5, and a new entry counts as arriving from just below the chart. The weekly climb carries 70% of the weight and the latest day 30%, so breakouts show up quickly without the list jumping around. Climbs on genre charts count at 75% of a climb on Top Podcasts, and a show climbing on several charts at once can earn up to half again on top of its best climb. A show needs a real move, roughly a 13% climb, to appear. In a country's first week of history, the daily change is used on its own.
Below the Trending list, Biggest climbers and New entries show the plain week-over-week moves on each chart.
05 / Coverage
Rankings, country
by country
Each country has its own configured set of providers and charts. We calculate a separate ranking for each country using the same weighted reciprocal-rank formula; country charts are never pooled into one global list. This directory shows configured coverage only—it does not confirm that a fresh daily snapshot is available.
13 configured countries
United States
Apple Podcasts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Spotify
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
YouTube
No genre charts configured for this provider.
Castbox
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Pocket Casts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
United Kingdom
Apple Podcasts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Spotify
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Castbox
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Pocket Casts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Australia
Apple Podcasts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Spotify
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Castbox
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Pocket Casts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Brazil
Apple Podcasts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Spotify
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Castbox
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Pocket Casts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Canada
Apple Podcasts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Spotify
No genre charts configured for this provider.
Castbox
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Pocket Casts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Germany
Apple Podcasts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Spotify
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Castbox
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Pocket Casts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
India
Apple Podcasts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Spotify
No genre charts configured for this provider.
Castbox
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Pocket Casts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Ireland
Apple Podcasts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Spotify
No genre charts configured for this provider.
Castbox
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Pocket Casts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Japan
Apple Podcasts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Spotify
No genre charts configured for this provider.
Castbox
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Pocket Casts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Mexico
Apple Podcasts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Spotify
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Castbox
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Pocket Casts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
New Zealand
Apple Podcasts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Spotify
No genre charts configured for this provider.
Castbox
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Pocket Casts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Philippines
Apple Podcasts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Spotify
No genre charts configured for this provider.
Castbox
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Pocket Casts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
South Africa
Apple Podcasts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Castbox
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
Pocket Casts
- Arts
- Business
- Comedy
- Education
- Fiction
- Government
- Health & Fitness
- History
- Kids & Family
- Leisure
- Music
- News
- Religion & Spirituality
- Science
- Society & Culture
- Sports
- Technology
- True Crime
- TV & Film
06 / LIMITS
Caveats
Not being on the chart doesn't mean a show has no audience. The apps measure different things, cover different shows, and update on different schedules. We report their charts as they are, and we never fill a gap with a guessed position.
Daily sources and the weekly YouTube chart can describe different stretches of time, since YouTube's week-ending date marks its reporting period rather than our import date. The freshness windows in the table above decide how long an observation stays eligible. Once a provider's snapshot passes that window, the whole provider drops out until a new one arrives.
Plenty of things on this site have no effect on the numbered positions: Spotify episode charts, Podcast Index trending data, publisher metadata, editorial lists and featured picks, sponsorships, show claims, and support or Patreon counts. We don't sell chart positions. Paid sponsored placements are labelled and kept apart from the ranking.