A decade after Serial put the genre on the map, the field has matured into rigorous investigative journalism, wrongful-conviction reporting, and a few comedic perennials. The shows that critics, listeners, and the rating platforms keep returning to.
The full ranking
A decade after Serial put the genre on the map, the field has matured into rigorous investigative journalism, wrongful-conviction reporting, and a few comedic perennials. The shows that critics, listeners, and the rating platforms keep returning to.
Serial
The genre-defining series that turned podcasts into appointment listening. Sarah Koenig's first season revisits the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee and the conviction of Adnan Syed, reporting in real time as new evidence surfaces.
Bear Brook
Investigative reporter Jason Moon traces a cold case from the discovery of four bodies in barrels near a New Hampshire state park to the forensic genealogy breakthrough that finally identified them. Season two pivots to a wrongful-conviction case driving national reform conversations.
Your Own Backyard
Musician Chris Lambert's one-man investigation into the 1996 disappearance of Cal Poly student Kristin Smart. The reporting helped revive the case and contributed to the eventual arrest and conviction of Paul Flores in 2022.
Bone Valley
Wrongful-conviction reporter Gilbert King reopens the 1987 murder of Michelle Schofield in central Florida and the case against her husband Leo, who has spent decades behind bars while another man claims responsibility. The reporting has reshaped public scrutiny of the prosecution.
Criminal
Phoebe Judge's anthology takes a single crime each episode and centers the people, not the gore. Every story is short, lyrical, and treated with unusual moral seriousness for the genre.
Dirty John
L.A. Times reporter Christopher Goffard's reconstruction of con man John Meehan, the businesswoman he targeted, and the chillingly fast spiral of deception that followed. The series helped define the modern Wondery pacing that countless imitators chase.
My Favorite Murder
Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark's comedy-and-crime hangout, the show that built the true-crime podcast fandom into a movement. Each episode pairs a researched case with the candid offstage commentary that made the format a hit.
S-Town
Brian Reed sets out to investigate a murder in Woodstock, Alabama, and ends up making something far stranger: a study of John B. McLemore, an antiquarian-clock restorer whose own life becomes the mystery. From the makers of Serial and This American Life.
Missing and Murdered
Cree journalist Connie Walker's reporting on Indigenous women and girls whose disappearances and murders have been ignored or mishandled. Season two, Finding Cleo, traces a young girl lost to the Sixties Scoop and earned a Peabody Award.
Cold
Investigative journalist Dave Cawley's deep-archive work on the disappearance of Susan Powell, told through unprecedented access to police records, family interviews, and Josh Powell's own writings. Among the most thoroughly reported cold-case podcasts ever produced.
Ranked across 6 sources: Rolling Stone · 25 Best True-Crime Podcasts of All Time; Time Out · 19 Best True Crime Podcasts; Podcast Review · 10 Best True Crime Podcasts 2026 (unordered); TODAY · 25 Best True-Crime Podcasts (unordered roundup); BuzzFeed · 28 Best True Crime Podcasts (reader picks, unordered); Apple Podcasts · Ranked by Rating (June 2026). Full scoring is on the Methodology tab above.
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