Getty Images For the fourth straight year, The Hollywood Reporter presents its tally of the on-air talent and dealmakers who are making the biggest waves in podcasting. The list - which considers chart position, deal size, and cultural cachet - captures the industry at a critical inflection point. The immersive, Serial type deep-dive investigations that once defined the medium are dropping out of the charts, ceding the mic (and, increasingly, the screen) to talk shows and camera-ready big personalities. "Podcasts are adulting, in other words," writes THR's James Hibberd in his accompanying analysis, "which signals the medium's maturity and increasing dominance." Related: • Who's Really Winning the Podcast Wars - and How• Are Top Podcasters Fudging Their Numbers?• In THR's annual survey, podcasting's power players reveal their proudest on-air moments, their biggest challenges, the most overrated trends in the industry and their fears for the future. Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes Image Credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for SiriusXM TALENT SmartLess What a year for the trio that turned a pandemic experiment into a power podcast with a $100 million deal at SiriusXM. They passed the 300-episode mark with a little help from their usual mix of celebrities (Ariana Grande), politicos (Gov. Tim Walz), moguls (Bill Gates) and musicians (John Mayer). They even managed to convince "white whale" Howard Stern to sit for a special taping in the Hamptons. Say

MORE: They launched SmartLess Mobile, a budget-conscious cellphone service to compete with giants like Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T. The kids call that dialed-in. Michael Barbaro, Natalie Kitroeff, Rachel Abrams Image Credit: Courtesy of Subject TALENT The Daily The New York Times' flagship podcast underwent a significant refresh in 2025 with the addition of two new co-hosts. Natalie Kitroeff and Rachel Abrams joined veteran Michael Barbaro after Sabrina Tavernise returned to full-time reporting. The trio now guides one of podcasting's most influential shows, delivering news analysis to 3 million daily listeners. What's something you wish more podcasters would stop doing? Abrams: "I'm not falling for that trap!" Chuck Bryant, Josh Clark Image Credit: Courtesy of Subject TALENT Stuff You Should Know For the past 17 years, the Atlanta-based duo, former senior editors at HowStuffWorks.com, have been podcasting's ultimate generalists, hopping week to week from champagne to satanism to the Stonewall Uprising, among other disparate topics. Their iHeartRadio podcast remains a perennial Top 10 powerhouse and 10-time Webby winner, having released more than 1,500 episodes that transform random trivia into essential listening, and spawned legions of imitators who don't seem to realize that there's more to it than repackaging Wikipedia entries. What's something you wish more podcasters would stop doing? Bryant: "Video podcasting. I know it's a popular thing, but to me podcasting works best as an audio medium, and minimizing a screen of people sitting in a generic studio doesn't serve much of a function." Joe Budden Image Credit: Noam Galai/Getty Images for Netflix TALENT The Joe Budden Podcast A decade after Joe Budden launched his namesake podcast, it remains the most influential in all of hip-hop. The rapper turned media mogul recently revealed that his podcast network is expected to generate more than $20 million in 2025 between subscriptions and ads, making him one of the most successful podcasters in the industry. Biggest challenge facing podcasting now? "It's us versus algorithms." Tucker Carlson Image Credit: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images TALENT The Tucker Carlson Show The show touts itself as a "beacon of free speech and honest reporting in a media landscape dominated by misinformation," for whatever that's worth. After a few years in the media wilderness, the former Fox News Channel personality has become a major player in the ascendant conservative-radio space. To his credit, he's not afraid to buck sectors of the right's establishment. In June, Carlson outed Sen. Ted Cruz mid-interview for not knowing the population of Iran - it turned out to be the podcast's most viral moment of 2025 (so far). Alex Cooper Image Credit: Courtesy of Subject TALENT Call Her Daddy The podcaster exploded into the mainstream last year with her Olympics commentary and her headline-making sit-down with Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris in October. (A THR cover didn't hurt, either.) Cooper boldly jumped ship from Spotify to SiriusXM for a $125 million three-year deal. She has continued to hover in the podcast charts' top 5, sometimes even topping Joe Rogan thanks to her pop culture savvy, and her insight that sometimes a Love Island contestant can be a bigger draw than any A-lister on SmartLess. How will podcasting evolve in the next five years? "Like classic talk shows, I think live content and audience interactivity will play key roles in the format's growth, especi