“The Joe Rogan Experience” was the most popular podcast on Spotify in 2022, according to the streaming platform’s annual charts.
Spotify released its yearly Wrapped feature Wednesday, giving users data about their listening habits and the most popular content on the platform. Rogan’s podcast was the number-one podcast in the world for the third year in a row based on listener data.
Joe Rogan’s controversial podcast The Joe Rogan Experience was the No. 1 podcast on Spotify in 2022 globally. https://t.co/OICawjXC0B
— Forbes (@Forbes) November 30, 2022
His show features longform conversations with a wide variety of guests on subjects ranging from comedy and mixed martial arts to politics and current events. Rogan airs his podcast exclusively on Spotify as part of a contract worth over $200 million that he signed in 2020, according to the New York Times. (RELATED: Rogan: ‘Woke’ Left Wants Censorship Because The Right Got Good At Social Media)
Rogan’s podcast became a source of controversy in February when rock legend Neil Young pulled his music from Spotify to protest to Rogan’s alleged peddling of COVID-19 misinformation. Rogan hosted COVID vaccine skeptic Dr. Robert Malone in a January podcast episode on which the two discussed “mass formation psychosis” and other public health topics.
Several other artists, including Joni Mitchell and India Arie, removed their music from the platform. In response to the criticism, Spotify added COVID-19 content advisory labels to episodes of Rogan’s show following the controversy.
Rogan faced further controversy when a video compilation of him using a racial slur in old podcast episodes was released in February. Rogan issued a lengthy apology on Instagram, calling his use of the n-word “the most regretful and shameful thing that I’ve ever had to talk about publicly.”