Believe it or not, it's time to look back at the podcasts that made our commutes, chores, and sundry daily tasks more entertaining, if not downright educational, in 2024. With topics ranging from nostalgic TV rewatches to dating hijinks, aging, life hacks, and long-form investigations into gun violence, there's something for everyone in our best-of list.
So peruse our list, and get ready to fill your podcast queue.
Here are the 20 best podcasts of 2024.
20. Life Kit
If you're looking for a primer on how to get things done, everything from the existential (dealing with climate anxiety) to the ordinary (eliminating fruit flies from your kitchen/life), then Life Kit is for you. In each episode, you'll hear from an expert who will answer your questions and help you tackle tasks and situations that you might be loath to ask for help with in real life. Life Kit is here to fortify your confidence when it comes to daily tasks, as well as those things you thought you were the only one who didn't know how to do.
How to listen: Life Kit is on Apple Podcasts.
19. Chess Piece: The Elián González Story
In November 1999, 5-year-old Elián González was rescued after he was found floating alone at sea on an inner tube, his mother and the other migrants he was traveling with from Cuba to Miami having died when their boat capsized. What ensued was a much-publicized custody battle between Gonzalez's relatives in Miami and those in Cuba. Chess Piece's host Peniley Ramirez talks to those directly involved in the events of November to March of 1999, when all eyes were on Gonzalez, when the question of whether or not he would return to Cuba was both a volatile political issue and a deeply personal one for Cuban-Americans, reviving questions of exile and identity.
How to listen: Chess Piece: The Elián González Story is on Apple Podcasts.
18. Finally! A Show
Here's a podcast that allows us to do the impossible: spy on someone else's life without getting in trouble for it. From creators Jane Marie and Joanna Solotaroff, Finally! A Show features women living extraordinary lives, and taking us along with them. In their own voices, these guests let us in on their stories of change, growth, and endurance. Hear from an abortion provider with the Satanic Temple, a very young chess master, a cat wrangler, and other women who spend their days doing things you might not even have thought were real. Each episode is reflective, intimate, funny, and unwaveringly real, so give yourself the gift of immersion into a new life, usually for far less than an hour.
How to listen: Finally! A Show is on Apple Podcasts.
17. Flightless Bird
How would you explain unique U.S. phenomena like Costco, storm chasers, and RVs to someone who doesn't live here? Journalist David Farrier, a New Zealander stuck in the U.S. due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, has some questions about what makes the States tick. What are these cultural phenomenon about? What's changing about them, and how is the country changing as a result? One thing that fascinates Farrier is the chain restaurant phenomenon, so check out the episode about Olive Garden, in which he asks people how they "emotionally" connect with it, summoning feelings of nostalgia, comfort, and familiarity — it may give you the strange yet understandable urge to tattoo a picture of cheese grater onto your body.
How to listen: Flightless Bird is on Apple Podcasts.
16. Why Won't You Date Me?
Nicole Byer wants to hear about the gory details of dating, plus all its moving parts and euphemisms. Every week, she talks to a different comedian, friend, and/or ex about ghosting, situationships, getting engaged/married/pregnant, having a life with kids, birth control, and so much more. Check out the episode with Riki Lindhome to hear about "dating scraps," fertility, and falling in love right before becoming a parent. It turns out that, in spite of us all thinking we're alone in our wild journeys "on the streets" of dating, there's probably someone who's been there — at least kind of.
How to listen: Why Won't You Date Me? is on Apple Podcasts.
15. My So-Called Midlife
Every week, My So-Called Midlife host Reshma Saujani welcomes a guest to wonder along with her about the truth of midlife. What does it mean to "feel your age"? How often do women like Chelsea Clinton, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus really think about being middle-aged? Perhaps, Saujani suggests, the mindset that comes with middle age is keeping us trapped — we're so busy worrying about if we're irrelevant, if it's too late to do something that we'll never actually do it, and we need other voices to tell us that we can. Regardless of your age, My So-Called Midlife is an important listen, a funny and sobering reminder to be on your own team, regardless of whether or not you can still rage or take a red-eye like you used to.
How to listen: My So-Called Midlife is available on Apple Podcasts.
14. Hidden Brain
Hidden Brain is a podcast about human behavior — namely, why we do the things we do, even when we can't explain them. Host Shankar Vedantam dives deep into loneliness, trying too hard, feeling empty, balking when it comes to political conversations, and more. Every episode is a clever and comforting opportunity to glimpse the reasoning behind our most common, and complicated, experiences of being humans.
How to listen: Hidden Brain is available on Spotify.
13. The Secrets We Keep
Is there something you've never told anyone? What would it take for you to reveal that secret? In this five-part series from New England Public Media, host Karen Brown talks to folks about the secrets they have around topics considered taboo, including abortion, money, and sexuality, and how keeping their secrets has impacted their lives, especially for those who come to occupy the political stage. Here's a podcast that can help us feel less alone as we ask ourselves the question: Do we ever have a responsibility to tell our secrets?
How to listen: The Secrets We Keep is available on Spotify.
12. How to Know What's Real
What are the things we've come to believe? Why do we believe them, even if and when we know we're constantly confronted with false information every second of the day? Join The Atlantic's Andrea Valdez and Megan Garber as they investigate how our brains process avalanches of disinformation and how we can become more critical. They tackle the idea of "prebunking," how not to perpetuate the spread of bad information, the role of emotion in getting us to click that link, and how your Vanderpump Rules addiction could be impacting your real-life relationships. In a world where we don't always know what to believe, Valdez, Garber, and their expert guests are here to give us the tools to read between the lines.
How to listen: How to Know What's Real is available on Spotify.
11. Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there were 134 mass shootings in the first four months of 2024. In the most recent season of Long Shadow, host Garrett Graff contemplates how we got here. Starting with the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, Graff traces the origins of the Second Amendment and the rise of the NRA and its response to widespread gun violence, as well as the impact on a generation of kids who were raised with lockdown drills. This season will surprise you, as it answers questions you didn't know you had about guns in the U.S. and why, when it comes to keeping each other safe, we can't seem to get out of our own way.
How to listen: Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust is available on Spotify.
10. Playing Anne Frank
In 1955, 10 years after the end of World War II and the Holocaust, the stage version of The Diary of Anne Frank premiered on Broadway. In seven episodes, the Forward's executive editor Adam Langer traces the movement of Frank's diary from the family's hiding place in Amsterdam to a piece of art that forced producers, directors, actors, and audiences alike into confrontation with the not-so-recent past, as well as questions of what it means to dramatize the life of a person who, in many ways, came to represent the murders of six million. Playing Anne Frank uses archival footage to introduce us to the makers and stars of the play, the film, and those who continue to revive it today, encouraging us to ponder how we view ourselves as consumers of art, culture and history.
How to listen: Playing Anne Frank is available on Apple Podcasts.
9. Fire Escape
Fire Escape is a 10-part series about Amika Mota, a midwife and mom who, in 2008, awoke to find herself handcuffed to a hospital bed after a car accident that killed one man. During her time in the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, Mota eventually qualified to join the Fire Girls, a group of incarcerated women who work as first responders and firefighters in the prison and within 30 miles of it, thanks to a unique mutual-aid agreement with Madera County. The all-female team live together in Firehouse Five, which is still part of the prison but situated just outside the gates, and at the time Mota earned $.53 an hour for her work. In Fire Escape, Mota tells host/creator Anna Sussman how she struggled to navigate the everyday grief and trauma of being incarcerated, separated from her family, her identity suddenly changed from that of a trusted human to someone seen by others for only her crime. Fire Escape details how fire-fighting changed her ability to survive, how she came to understand justice, and what happened after she left Firehouse Five for good.
How to listen: Fire Escape is available on Wondery.
8. Radio Rental
Remember, if you can, the sound of a videotape sliding into a VCR (if you don't know what I'm talking about, here you go). If that sound makes you feel nostalgic and ready to watch some movies that will make your blood curdle, do yourself a favor and listen to this horror-comedy podcast. In it, Terry Carnation (Rainn Wilson) is the owner of Radio Rental, an '80s video store that houses a collection of strange, scary, and true stories told from the point of view of the people who experienced them. In each episode, Carnation narrates the goings-on inside the store — sometimes there's a void; sometimes a creepy little girl; almost always his very vocal cat, Malachi — setting the scene for tales of the macabre. So grab your fanny pack, get comfortable in your beanbag chair, and don't forget to rewind.
How to listen: Radio Rental is available on Spotify.
7. Pretendians
Why would you pretend to be someone you're not? Not in the "I lied about my height on my Hinge profile" sense, but in the "fabrication of a racial and/or ethnic identity" sense. That's the question Pretendian hosts Robert Jago (Kwantlen First Nation and Nooksack Indian Tribe) and Angel Ellis (Muscogee (Creek) Nation) are exploring in this podcast about people who commit Indigenous identity fraud. Who are the people pretending to be Native, and what do they hope to gain? Jago and Ellis investigate and interview those who lead with an identity that's not their own, to the detriment of actual Native people. Pretendians is a vital listen for anyone who wants to understand how far people will go to hijack identity, why, and the implications for those whose lived existences are not up for debate or sale.
How to listen: Pretendians is available on Apple Podcasts.
6. Hysterical
In the fall of 2011, a group of teenage girls at the same high school in upstate New York began presenting with uncontrollable neurological symptoms — tics, barks, stutters, even screeches and meows. Was it somehow related to stress, or perhaps the effect of long-buried trauma? Was it an example of a mass psychogenic illness, also known as mass hysteria? Or was it very much none of the above? Get ready for a wild ride through a community facing a scary medical phenomenon that caused divisions as it continued to spread. Along the way, there are celebrity appearances, debates about salad, and reminders of the unrelenting tumult that is being a young girl.
How to listen: Hysterical is available on Wondery.
5. Three
On July 6, 2012, 16-year-old Skylar Neese disappeared into the woods in Wayne Township, Pennsylvania, across the state line from her home in Star City, West Virginia. In December 2012, Neese's best friend, Rachel Shoaf, confessed that she, along with Neese's other best friend, Sheila Eddy, had stabbed Neese to death that night in July. Created and hosted by journalists Justine Harman and Holly Millea, Three is a 10-episode series about the events that led up to Neese's murder. Harman and Millea interview Skylar's family and close friends, as well as investigators on the case, about the chilling dynamic at the heart of this teen triangle — and how it reached its sinister pinnacle.
How to listen: Three is available on Spotify.
4. Again With This
A great rewatch podcast enables a listener to engage with their nostalgia, while also making sure they don't take it too seriously. Again With This is hosted by Tara Ariano and Sarah D. Bunting, co-creators of Television Without Pity and Previously.TV; this podcast returns us to the days when our TVs brought us the weekly magic that was Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place, and most recently, Dawson's Creek. Ariano and Bunting revisit every episode with an unflinchingly shrewd eye toward the details we either never noticed or pretended we didn't see (i.e., the felonious relationship between young Pacey Witter and his teacher). Prepare to see the blush fall off the rose of your youth, and get ready to laugh boisterously in public.
How to listen: Again With This is available on Spotify.
3. We Live Here Now
Micki Witthoeft, mother of Ashli Babbitt, the only rioter killed by the Capitol Police on January 6th, moves into the same Washington, D.C. neighborhood as two journalists for The Atlantic, Lauren Ober and Hanna Rosin. Naturally, they decide to knock on Witthoeft's door and find out what she's up to. If it sounds like it should be the premise for a TV tragicomedy, that's because it already sort of is, and it might be again. The six parts of We Live Here Now dropped before Trump's recent re-election, which means it's both harder and even more important to hear. It's an examination of our collective memory, our neighborhoods, our fears and grief, and what we might be capable of as human beings who aspire to listen.
How to listen: We Live Here Now is available on Apple Podcasts.
2. Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)
Do you remember that time a lot of people on the social media platform then known as Twitter got mad at a woman for her Tweet about how lovely it was to drink coffee in the morning with her husband? No? Good, you're probably better off. But also, consider having Sixteenth Minute (of Fame) host Jamie Loftus tell you all about it, what it actually says about women's ability to exist on the Internet, and people's desperate need to direct their ire at something or someone. In each episode of this podcast, Loftus examines those who became internet sensations, whether they meant to or not. Along with guests like journalist Taylor Lorenz, Loftus tackles the reality of the algorithm, the trap of online discourse, and the "internet rage machine." If you're chronically online, or just want to sound smart when talking to those who are, check this one out.
How to listen: Sixteenth Minute (of Fame) is available on iHeart.
1. The Competition
Each year, 50 extraordinary young women (think researching cancer in your "spare time") from every state in the country spend two weeks in Mobile, Alabama, competing for a $40,000 scholarship and the title of Distinguished Young Woman. This — the desire to win it all combined with the desire to be liked by your peers while constantly being watched by moms and camera crews — is a fascinating premise for an investigative podcast.
Journalist Shima Oliaee returned to Mobile to be a judge for the Distinguished Young Woman competition 20 years after she herself was the contestant from the state of Nevada. Then Roe v. Wade was overturned, shoving the nation — and these thoughtful, extraordinary teen girls — into political turmoil. There's nothing out there quite The Competition; with plenty of heart-tugging moments and quirks, you'll savor every detail in every riveting episode.
How to listen: The Competition is available on Apple Podcasts.
Additional reporting by Jenni Miller.
