NPR Maintains Lead in Triton's September Podcast Ranker

RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, October 23, 2025 | 4:17pm CT

Triton Digital

Triton Digital's U.S. Podcast Ranker for September 2025 shows NPR continuing its stronghold atop the charts, with NPR News Now holding the No. 1 position for the month, followed by Up First at No. 2. Both titles are represented by NPR and distributed through National Public Media, underscoring NPR's dominance in the daily news category.

Salem Media Group's The Charlie Kirk Show climbed three positions to No. 3, marking the highest-ranked conservative commentary podcast of the month. Rounding out the top five were Stuff You Should Know from iHeart's Audience Network at No. 4 and Audacy's 48 Hours at No. 5.

Among notable movers, FantasyPros -- Fantasy Football Podcast jumped 11 spots to No. 23, while iHeart's Betrayal: Weekly surged 13 spots to No. 24, reflecting strong audience growth for both shows. Audacy's Fifteen: Inside the Daniel Marsh Murders made its debut at No. 73, while Cumulus and Westwood One maintained multiple entries including The Shawn Ryan Show (No. 8) and VINCE (No. 13).

In total, iHeartMedia again dominated network representation with more than half of the Top 50 entries, spanning entertainment, talk, sports, and faith-based programming. NPR, Audacy, and Cumulus continued to hold strong multi-show presences across the ranker.

The September 2025 report, covering the period from September 1-28, measures average weekly downloads for U.S. listeners and includes 150 podcasts across participating networks. The full results are available at tritonrankers.com.