The 16 Best Podcasts We Listened To This Year

I’ve been thinking a lot about a piece from Nicholas Quah in Vulture this fall about how podcasting had failed to produce a zeitgeisty, water-cooler show since the heights of “Serial,” when it seemed everyone — your co-workers, your friends, strangers on the subway — had a theory on the murder of Hae Min Lee. Podcasting has soared since then in volume, if not popularity. There’s always a new show to recap the latest TV series or a reality TV star with a modest Instagram following who just bought a mic. The top podcasts on Apple’s charts are almost always the same few with massive followings. There are also the solid everyday listens — “The Daily,” “Today Explained” and “Up First,” among others — that consistently repopulate one’s feed, maybe pushing down the more niche series and experimental listens that might have taken hold a decade ago.

That’s not to say no one’s trying anything new or unearthing a story that hasn’t yet been told. It just might be harder to find it.

Anecdotally, it seems like the best way to discover a new show is by word of mouth — I’ve had several people recommend the delightful “Normal Gossip,” which appears on the list below, IRL. Others I downloaded just because the premise seemed interesting.

Not every show on this list was started this year — there are some established podcasts still doing great work that deserved nods — while others are some of our favorite new offerings. Some of the shows below regularly update, while others are self-contained seasons. All in all, they’re the best things the HuffPost staff has listened to in 2022. We hope you’ll find a new favorite among them. — Jillian Capewell

I have laughed, cried and furiously taken notes throughout my time listening to Monica Padman and Liz Plank’s new podcast, “Race to 35.” The two chronicle their egg-freezing and retrieval journey on the pod, which is devoted to insightful conversations about womanhood, fertility, parenthood and Monica’s reluctance to do TikToks.

I’ve loved how both serious and silly this podcast is, as the two give themselves permission to ask guests entry-level questions (that we all want to know the answer to), admit when they’re scared about certain parts of the process, talk through their unease and discomfort and joy around possibly becoming a parent, and really pioneer a new conversation around egg freezing. The two have had such amazing guests — Emily Oster, Chelsea Handler and…