Australia’s podcast landscape saw a shake-up in January 2025, with The Mel Robbins Podcast claiming the top spot on the Australian Podcast Ranker. The SiriusXM-backed podcast, represented by LiSTNR (SCA) in Australia, surged 19 places to reach 719,444 monthly listeners, edging out December’s leader, ABC News Top Stories, which slipped to second with 702,309 listeners.
Despite the dip, ABC News Top Stories remains a juggernaut in total downloads, clocking 2.23 million across 394 new episodes, a stark contrast to The Mel Robbins Podcast, which published just 11 episodes. This raises familiar questions about how the ranker accounts for podcast format differences, as news podcasts tend to have far more frequent uploads than long-form conversational or storytelling series.
[click to enlarge] Australian Podcast Ranker – Top Podcasts 2025.
Casefile and Hamish & Andy continue to slide
Meanwhile, December’s big story, Casefile True Crime and Hamish & Andy seeing drops due to inactivity, continued into January. Casefile remained in the top five but fell another three places to #5, down to 388,972 listeners. Hamish & Andy took a steeper fall, dropping five spots to #10 with 317,487 listeners—a number that reflects its lack of new content.
Conversely, Mamamia Out Loud and Shameless held steady at #3 and #4, respectively, proving the ongoing strength of personality-driven conversation podcasts in Australia.
Following its official entry into the ranker last month, the BBC is making its presence known. BBC Global News Podcast debuted at #30 with 189,195 listeners and 699,265 downloads, reflecting growing demand for international news content in Australia.
What’s next?
With the continued decline of older flagship shows and the rise of international powerhouses like The Mel Robbins Podcast and BBC offerings, Australia’s podcasting landscape is evolving. Personality-driven and news-based content still dominates, but the ability to maintain audience engagement beyond a seasonal format is proving to be the real challenge for many legacy brands.
Check out the full January 2025 Podcast Ranker here.