10 Best Podcasts of the Decade

Podcasts are everywhere these days. They provide millions of individuals with entertainment and information based on just about any subject they could possibly be interested in. Whether it’s true crime, politics, pop culture, or even just some good old fashioned nerdery, podcasts have some of the most diverse programming of any medium. Some of our favorite writers, filmmakers, podcasters, artists, and more have given us the podcasts they enjoyed the most throughout this decade. Be sure to check them out!



The Adventure Zone

I've binged podcasts before, but none so quickly as The Adventure Zone's first story, Balance. What started off as a silly D&D adventure with the McElroy brothers and their father Clint become something deep and impactful, becoming a cultural phenomenon that now includes live shows and comic adaptations. Creating a story like that is no small feat, and essentially writing it on the fly for years is impressive. I came in at the end of the Balance arc and couldn't stop listening until it all wrapped up. While the subsequent stories of The Adventure Zone have been hit or miss, Balance remains one of my favorite podcast memories and got me interested in playing D&D.

Chuck Thomas is a screenwriter, producer, and podcaster in the Atlanta area. Check out his work at atlantascreenwriter.com, his production company hootyhooproductions.com, and his podcast Atlanta Film Chat at atlantafilmchat.com.

The Daily 

Not to get political, but it has been a very divisive and existential decade for our country and the world. There is a lot going on, and quite frankly, it’s exhausting to keep up with. The New York Times has kept me updated and informed for the latter half of this decade with The Daily. Michael Barbaro and his team somehow manage to put together half hour podcasts EVERY DAY to keep their listeners informed on news, both domestic and abroad. As we rocket into a new decade during a very turbulent political climate, do yourself a favor and stay informed. Listen to my Podcast of the Decade: The Daily!

Alex Oakley is an aspiring actor, an amateur content creator, and all around enthusiasm enthusiast based in Atlanta. One of the co-hosts of the Shot for Shot Podcast.

U TALKIN’ U2 TO ME? 

When I told my boyfriend I was going to write about Mystery Show, he looked confused. “I thought the prompt was about your FAVORITE podcast.” He got me. Mystery Show is objectively a GREAT podcast, which I thought would showcase my emotional depth and intellect. But the truth is, as intellectual as I’d like to be, I have an undeniable love for all things silly. The silliest of which being U Talkin’ U2 To Me? Jokingly billed as the ”comprehensive and encyclopedic compendium for all things U2,” hosts Scott Aukerman and Adam Scott (aka Scott and Scott) spend most episodes talking about Harry Potter, Huey Lewis and the News, The Godfather … and occasionally U2. Likely infuriating for the band’s fanatics, the derailments are half the fun—ranging from stories of attending The US Festival, to surrealist, non-sequitur subpodcast episodes, such as What’s Your Deductible, Bro?, I Love Film, and even the sub-subpodcast, I Love ‘I Love Film’. And when the show DOES focus on U2 (and later R.E.M. in the spinoff R U Talkin’ R.E.M. Re: Me?), even for someone with indifference toward the band, the themes of fandom are universal. The glow of falling in love and poring over lyrics, anxiously awaiting that first new album after the obsession has festered, and the betrayal when they reach stardom by going a different direction. Listening to Scott Aukerman, the skeptic, and Adam Scott, the purist, passionately debate the works of a band they both love, feels so familiar and cozy, like sitting on a couch between two tipsy friends arguing whether “The King of Limbs should just be a Thom Yorke album since it doesn’t sound like Radiohead anyway, Kevin!” This faux feeling of intimacy makes the payoff all the more rewarding when after 21 episodes and 1.5 years, the two fanboys sit down with U2 themselves for a charmingly nervous interview. U Talkin’ U2 To Me? is not for everyone, but it is very much for me, and I have so loved listening and relistening to it for the past six years.

Lara Morgan watches and occasionally makes movies in Austin, Texas.  

The Moth

There is something transformative about hearing entertaining stories by regular people about their real lives. The Moth has exposed me to profound perspectives from people all over the world. I’ve never consumed any other type of media that brings me so intimately into someone else’s story, be it funny, tragic, or simply bizarre. It’s a snapshot of humanity that I think could change the world if more people listened.

Susan Cooper is a podcaster and creative project manager in Atlanta. She has the superpower of resourcefulness and hopes to use that power for the greater good.

Myths & Legends 

Being a total nerd for anything to do with myths, legends, and fables, it’s a no-brainer that my favorite podcast of the decade is Myths and Legends. This podcast retells and breaks down folklore from countries all over the world in an easy to understand manner. Everyone knows the basic Greek myths or the Legend of King Arthur, but the host, Jason, digs deeper into those same myths and uncovers folklore that most have never even heard of. He covers everything from Romanian, Chinese, Irish, Persian, Native American, and Scandinavian folklore to your typical, and not-so-typical fairy tales. The best part is he doesn’t make any of it up. They have all of their sources for most episodes available to double check on their website. So for some easy and interesting listening for your commute, be sure to check out Myths and Legends.

 Sonya May is a video editor and aspiring screenwriter living in the greater Atlanta area.

Hidden Brain 

My favorite podcast is NPR’s Hidden Brain with Shankar Vedantam.  I’ve always been fascinated with psychology and this podcast explores different topics each episode.  From work, family, politics, to relationships, they do a deep dive into how and why we live life the way we do.  The discussions not only inspire self-reflection, but they also identify social conventions that can potentially be redefined by understanding the patterns that created them.

Michelle Caruso is an independent film Writer/Director who strives to create films with themes and characters that audiences can empathize with, learn from, and will resonate with their life experience.

Why is This Happening? with Chris Hayes

 I wasn’t historically prone to news consumption. So when America charted an unexpected course the fall of 2016, I, for one, found myself in need of a ballast to make sense of what suddenly seemed nonsensical. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? is a conversation show about life in America and how we made our way down any number of paths. It acknowledges the likely valid outrage of a given headline informing the history of our arrival in these strange times. From the census or climate change, to racial dynamics and judicial appointments, it paints a cogent and accessible picture for understanding our current national moment by examining the breadth of our sometimes wretched, sometimes inspiring past. 

Nathan Rouse, occasional theater producer, frequent podcaster, father and husband lives in Charlotte, NC, with his wife and 3 kids, foolishly hoping and hopefully foolish that all of our best days are still to come.

Binge Mode

Take a deep breath and remind yourself—it's OK if you don't care about Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, or Star Wars. (Honestly, you should care about Harry Potter, but ... it's fine … ) The 2010s are the decade where fandom took a stranglehold over popular culture and didn't let go. Finding a podcast that gives the uninitiated —or even the very initiated—a deep dive into a world they're semi-familiar with is absolutely valuable. That's not what makes Binge Mode great. Hosts Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion knew one another when the podcast was thrown in their laps, but listening to their mad first dash of cataloging every episode of Game of Thrones is to be transported directly into the experience of finding your best friend. The show continues to be a wonderful exercise in pop cultural dissection, even when the original property falls off a bit, (Spoiler alert for the final episode of Game of Thrones: THEY HATED IT!) but nothing will ever replace that first year, when Jason and Mal found creative partners in one another and everyone listening to the pod was lucky enough to bear witness to it.

Jacob York is a writer and actor from Benton, Kentucky who has lived in Atlanta for most of his professional career. @jkobbster on Twitter.

Last Podcast on the Left

Like so many others, this decade was all about discovering our collective obsession with true crime, and I wish I could say I was different, but alas, I too love true crime. It began for me as a morbid fascination with horror movies in the early 2010s, and slowly shifted into the world of podcasting with the rise of popular shows like Serial, My Favorite Murder, and Sword and Scale, among many others. But for me personally, it was a podcast that I discovered quite out of nowhere a few years ago called Last Podcast on the Left, and it was everything I wanted in a true crime show. It was well researched, laugh out loud funny, and was able to satisfy my true crime needs with its "heavy hitter" series, where they take a few episodes to dive deep into the lives and horrible actions of the most infamous serial killers in history. In the years since I found them, the Last Pod guys have continued to amass a huge following in the podcast community, going on multiple live tours and culminating in a book being released in April of 2020. 

Colby McHugh is a writer who loves pop culture in all of its many mediums, who also would like to write comics one day. Any artists interested in talking ideas or just shooting the shit can email him at showandtellwords@gmail.com

10 Things That Scare Me

Fear has been a bit of a throughline in my life. I’ve always been a little obsessed with it. For some mysterious reason even within my safe, suburban, happy childhood I was obsessed with fear and much of that carried over into adult life. I’m not as intensely scared of things now as then but it’s still something I grapple with. But our true fears are a vulnerability that I feel we rarely talk about. That’s why this show is so amazing. Honestly, I haven’t listened to all of the episodes yet because I save them for when I might need them. Most are around 6 minutes or so and I find them incredibly inspiring, fascinating, moving, refreshing, comforting, and beautiful. Sharing our fears is an act of openness and trust. This show is so simple. Just people of all walks telling us, and audience of peers, ten things that scare them. Brilliant. 

Jordan Noel is a director/editor/artist/dad/husband/ friend best known for not keeping his website, jordan-noel.com, up to date.