Apple celebrated 20 years of Apple podcasts on Thursday by unveiling a curated assortment of 20 exhibits that it stated helped form the medium into what it’s immediately. The primary podcasts in iTunes debuted again in 2005, earlier than the identify “Apple Podcasts” grew to become a factor. This new record is sort of a roadmap to high quality content material that goes again in time.
“This record is a love letter to the podcasts that left an enduring affect on us and those we proceed to advocate repeatedly,” the streamer wrote. “They’re exhibits with hosts that really feel like buddies, and exhibits that make us press play instantly on the newest episode to listen to what occurs subsequent. These exhibits have measurably improved our lives and helped outline this medium we all know and love.”
Celebrating 20 years of Apple podcasts with 20 favourite exhibits
The Apple Podcasts milestone celebration honors a maturing medium. Podcasts emerged a number of years earlier than iTunes help got here alongside. The phrase “podcast” credited to journalist Ben Hammersley. He referred to “podcasting” in a 2004 article in The Guardian. The time period is a portmanteau of “iPod” and “broadcast,” highlighting Apple’s instrumental position in bringing podcasting to mainstream audiences. This new record of 20 favorites, is just the newest of its sort from the iPhone large. Apple’s editorial groups for companies aren’t any strangers to creating lists of favorites from over time, with Apple Music selecting its prime 100 albums of all time final 12 months.
A love letter to podcasting’s evolution
This human-curated strategy contrasts with purely data-driven suggestions. Apple’s group particularly selected exhibits that “finest exemplify how far podcasting has come — and the place it may go within the subsequent 20 years.”
Every of the 20 exhibits consists of its personal editorial notice on Apple’s devoted anniversary web site. The notice explains why the present bought chosen and what makes it important to the medium’s improvement. This contextual info helps customers perceive not simply what to take heed to, however why these specific exhibits matter in podcasting historical past.
Apple’s editorial group stated the gathering showcases exhibits spanning from the early days of the medium by means of 2025. The record demonstrates how podcasting has advanced from experimental audio initiatives to mainstream leisure.
As per the quote above, the corporate emphasised how a private connection between hosts and listeners has turn into a defining attribute of profitable podcasts throughout the two-decade span.
From experimental audio to cultural phenomenon
Picture: Apple
The anniversary assortment displays podcasting’s transformation from Nick van der Kolk’s early audio experiments in Love and Radio to immediately’s celebrity-hosted exhibits and deep-dive investigative sequence like. This evolution mirrors the medium’s journey from area of interest hobbyist content material to a multi-billion greenback trade that influences information, leisure and cultural conversations.
The exhibits vary from “devoted followers within the truest type” like Las Culturistas hosts Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, who “started the present as burgeoning comedians and, with the present, have ballooned into large stars,” to established journalism codecs which have formed how thousands and thousands devour every day information.
Apple’s celebration acknowledges each the intimacy that makes podcasting distinctive and its rising affect on broader media landscapes. The corporate notes that exhibits like The Day by day have turn into “a part of the on a regular basis routine for thousands and thousands of individuals in search of to make sense of the world — and their place inside it.”
Numerous exhibits throughout five-year durations
The 20 chosen podcasts are organized chronologically into 4 distinct eras, every representing a distinct part in podcasting’s improvement.
- 2005-2010 period options pioneering exhibits like Love and Radio, This American Life and 99% Invisible. They symbolize the medium’s experimental roots and early narrative storytelling.
- 2011-2015 interval consists of breakthrough sequence like Serial. It introduced true-crime podcasting to the mainstream, alongside exhibits like Music Exploder, The Reality and Thriller Present. In addition they pushed artistic boundaries.
- 2016-2020 choices spotlight the medium’s growth into every day information codecs with The Day by day, comedy with Las Culturistas and conversational codecs like Name Her Daddy. They present podcasting’s rising cultural affect.
- 2021-2025 up to date picks function latest hits like Huberman Lab, with its science-focused content material, plus investigative sequence like Candy Bobby and personality-driven exhibits resembling Child, That is Keke Palmer and Therapuss with Jake Shane.
The entire anniversary assortment is accessible on Apple’s devoted web site and throughout the Apple Podcasts app.
