Best of

The best podcasts, ranked from real data

Eight lists, built from a directory of more than 20,000 shows. Each entry says whether the show still publishes, whether it interviews guests, and whether it lists a contact, which is the part every other list leaves out.

The number beside each is how many shows in that field you could realistically pitch: they publish their own contact, sit outside the national chart, come from an independent publisher and have released an episode in the last year.