2022 Media Review: Top Podcasts

We are wrapping up our January series today as we take a look at the most streamed podcasts from last year and discover what they can tell us about relationships. The top 5 most streamed podcasts on Spotify of 2022 were:

5. Crime Junkie

4. Caso 63

3. Anything goes with Emma Chamberlain

2. Call Her Daddy and

1. The Joe Rogan Experience

Allie – Potentially more than any other medium, podcasts actually have a lot to show us about healthy relationship behaviors, but not necessarily what you might have in mind. We’ll break it down for you today!

So, the top 3 most streamed podcasts on Spotify were all podcasts with a host format built around conversations and engaging with different ideas and individuals. Anything goes with Emma Chamberlain is a podcast where the host, Emma Chamberlain, will literally talk about anything without any strong structure or scripting. Her unfiltered and unpolished approach have helped her to garner a following with millions of listeners who tune in simply to hear what she has to say that day. Call her daddy, on the other hand, is much more typical of a syndicated talk radio show with guests and a typical outline for each episode. If you don’t know about the Joe Rogan experience by this point, I don’t know where you’ve been. Rogan’s podcast has been building a massive following for years now and he is known for bringing on guests from all sides of the political, sociological, and even religious perspectives in order to have long form conversations about often-times controversial topics. Crime Junkie is, obviously, a true crime podcast and caso 63 is a thriller podcast about a psychiatrist and her time travelling patient. So, that’s the rundown, but what can we learn?

One of the fundamental lost arts in our society is how to talk to people that have different views and opinions than you. There are a few key reasons why so many of us have lost this ability, so we are going to allow the top podcast of last year to help us figure out what we’re missing. It’s clear that Joe Rogan has struck a chord with so many people because, no matter how controversial his guests or even his own views, people still keep listening. One of the first things that Joe does well is that he invites people on who know what they’re talking about. The more informed we are about whatever topic we are discussing, the more enjoyable that conversation will be to those in it and everyone else who listens. Even the most shy and introverted person will come out of their shells when they are presented with the right topic. While Joe may not be a world renowned psychologist, an economist, an astrophysicist, or a billionaire businessman, he has invited all of these types on and allowed them to share their points of view. On the other hand, he also does enough of his own research to be able to ask thought provoking and even challenging questions to his guests. In the real world, credentials will only get you so far but it’s through testing and challenges that our theories are able to develop legs to stand. Sadly, many times today, we are too afraid to offend that we don’t ask the hard questions.

Another area that Joe gets right is that he seems to genuinely be interested in finding truth. Especially when it comes to religion, he hasn’t usually been the most fair or unbiased host and his verbal attacks on Christianity specifically over the years have been less than charitable, however, as he has invited more professing Christians onto his podcast in recent months, his demeanor towards them is clearly shifting, as well. The ability to recognize when you were wrong, when you have overstepped your bounds and said something unneccesarily out of turn, is a sign of growth and maturity. Owning your past mistakes and changing behaviors in the future allows others to engage with you more freely without feeling like they’re walking into the lions den just to have a conversation with you.

Finally, we don’t need to agree in order to leave the conversation on good terms. Many times, Joe has gotten into very heated debates with his guests only to have them back on the show a few weeks or months later. As Christians, we know that we have the truth that the world needs to know and we are driven by our love for them to want to convince them into believing it. The result of this has sometimes been that we end up only seeing people as projects and conversations as roadblocks on the way to sharing the gospel with this person. If we can remember to love people the way that Christ did, meeting us in our sin when we didn’t even know we needed Him, and then leading us towards Him – sometimes abruptly and sometimes gradually over a long period of time – we can remember that there is no cut and dry way that we are supposed to reach others. If we can allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, He will use those conversations to build bridges so that He can draw them to Himself through us.