Spotify’s Wrapped helps us look back at the moments that made up our lives in 2021. By Team Viva
2021. What a year it has been! A year of mixed emotions that gave us the opportunity to discover ourselves in a world that continues to keep us on our toes. As we look to end the year and reflect upon what a year it has been, Spotify’s Wrapped helps us look back at the moments that made up our lives. And needless to say, podcasts have played an important role more than ever before in this audio journey for most listeners in India.
The growing affinity for this medium stems from a sense of a strong connection between the narrator of a podcast and the listener. In 2021, it became a medium that let listeners learn more, stay entertained, or escape into a fictional realm, all experienced as we found new routines.
Based on the listening trends on Spotify this year, the audio streaming platform is recognising the ‘class of 2021’, or the podcasts and creators that really stayed with its listeners. Across languages, genres, and formats, podcasts have diversified as millennials and Gen Z from across the country leverage the medium to share their opinions and represent their communities.
This year we saw an interesting mix of genres like mythology, motivation, thriller and educational in the top podcasts list. The Mythpat Podcast took top spot in the most popular podcasts this year, followed by:
#2 The Ranveer Show
#3 The Stories of Mahabharata
#4 Naallanaa Murukku — The RJ Balaji Podcast
#5 Srimad Bhagavad — Gita Adhyaya 1
#6 The Joe Rogan Experience
#7 Speak Better English with Harry
#8 On Purpose with Jay Shetty
#9 Bhaskar Bose (Hindi Thriller Podcast)
#10 Unconventional Ghalib
Similar to last year, 50 per cent of the top 10 podcasts listened to were originals and exclusives from the app.
While The Ranveer Show is the most popular podcast in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune. Meanwhile, local content stands out in Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kolkata where PURIJAGANNADH (Telugu), Naallanaa Murukku — The RJ Balaji Podcast (Tamil) and Sunday Suspense (Bengali) are most popular, respectively.
When it comes to the most streamed podcasts by age groups, the three most popular podcasts are:
24 years or below - The Mythpat Podcast
24 to 44 years old - The Ranveer Show
45+ years old - Suhaana Safar with Annu Kapoor
The five cities that listened the most to podcasts were Delhi/NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, and Pune.
Four of the top 10 most streamed episodes are from The Mythpat Podcast, while seven of the top 10 most streamed episodes are from Spotify Originals.
The most listened to podcasts voiced by female talents include:
Virus 2062 with Ali Fazal & Richa Chadha
Gita for the Young and Restless
What’s Up Sister?
Poems To Calm Down To by Megha Rao
I Hear You with Aahana Kumra
Thefive popular podcast genres for female listeners in India are: Arts, Education, Society & Culture, Fiction, and Health & Fitness.
(If you are just starting out listening to podcasts, check out Spotify’s podcasts’ playlists such as — Best Episodes of 2021, Top Spooky Stories of 2021, Best Crime Stories of 2021 and more. Stream for free.)
