True Crime, like podcasting, is sometimes hard to describe. Many people might say that you know it when you hear it. Many of the largest podcasts, like Crime Junkie, MrBallen and Rotten Mango, are often classified as True Crime podcasts. Q2 2026 data from Edison Podcast Metrics shows that True Crime is now the most popular topic among U.S. weekly podcast consumers.

Since 2019, we have asked podcast listeners which topics they ever listen to from a long list of possibilities. “Comedy” has been the most popular topic since the start of Edison Podcast Metrics in 2019. But in the first half of 2026, there is new leader, with True Crime edging ahead of Comedy to take first place.

This rise to the top is part of a long pattern of increased popularity for True Crime.  In 2019, True Crime ranked fifth.  As the nearby graph shows, this rank has steadily climbed.

Full subscribers to Podcast Metrics have access to rankings for all podcast genres and topics. Edison Podcast Metrics also has the unique capability to capture unaided podcast listening among weekly listeners, which can then be mapped back to Apple’s API for assigned primary and subgenres. Genre ranking using that measurement tool is also available to Edison Podcast Metrics Subscribers