What you need to know
- Spotify is rolling out new podcast charts.
- Two new charts will show 'Trending' and 'Top' titles.
- The charts are available in 26 countries including the U.S. and UK.
Spotify is rolling out new podcast charts to track both trending and top titles on the platform.
The two initial podcast charts will be called Trending and Top. Trending, which is based partially on the speed of growth in listener numbers, includes 50 rising shows, while Top will be the 200 most popular shows overall and will be localized by region. Top, which already exists in a much smaller form currently, can also be separated into categories, like business, comedy, and technology, in certain regions. The charts will be available in 26 countries, including the US, Mexico, the UK, Brazil, and Germany. Both will be updated daily.
Spotify says it will use "overlapping systems" to prevent fraudulent activity and bad actors that might skew the rankings.
Spotify has made other big changes to its platform in recent weeks, back in May it removed the 10,000 song library limit. More recently, Spotify updated its standalone Stations radio app, expanding the service to the U.S..
Whilst the new podcast charts might encourage more people to try and boost their rankings and ratings, both a top and a trending chart will allow users to see not only the most popular shows outright, but also smaller, less prevalent shows with more active user bases, or shows that are growing in popularity. Hopefully, the new change will reward podcast makers who are creating good content but haven't yet garnered the traction and listener base enjoyed by more established shows.
