These days, it can feel like everyone and their mother has already launched one of the “best podcasts ever”, meaning that there’s a real deluge of options. Wondering how to care for your succulents? There’s a podcast for that. Want to hear two music nerds do a deep dive on Lorde’s “Ribs”? Switched On Pop has you covered. Need to go to sleep, but ideally not to the sound of complete silence? Try giving Nocturne a spin.
The problem, as ever, is knowing exactly what to listen to. There are a gazillion true crime podcasts, for instance, and though some of them are high-calibre, others are, well, terrible. And sometimes even the cadence of someone’s voice, or the production quality of a podcast, or the fact its too upbeat, or not upbeat enough, is enough to make you want to switch off.
To that end, we’ve collated a list of only the crème de la crème of the podcast realm – no matter your interests or preferences. From genuinely gripping true crime pods like Kill List and In The Dark, to old classics like Esther Perel’s Where Should We Begin? and the New York Times’s Modern Love, read below for Vogue’s in-depth guide to the best podcasts to listen to in 2025.
The Best True Crime Podcasts
Crimetown
If Martin Scorsese made a podcast, it would probably sound something like Crimetown. Each season is devoted to analysing the history of mafia-related crime in a different American city, starting with Providence, and with the second focussed on Detroit. Hosts Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier’s investigation into the mob in Rhode Island’s capital brings to light truly staggering connections between the infamous Patriarca family and a number of high-profile politicians in the state – including former mayor Buddy Cianci.
Criminal
Vox Media’s Criminal has been running weekly for over a decade – a testament to its enduring popularity. It’s easy to see why: each week, host Phoebe Judge takes a look at a different crime throughout history and relays it in exceptionally lulling tones (“I’m Phoebe Judge and this is Criminal” is enough to relax even the most tightly wound among us). What differentiates Criminal from other podcasts is that these aren’t just brutal, salacious murder retellings, but any sort of crime. Sometimes they’re chilling, like the woman who found out her long-term boyfriend was an undercover police officer surveying her, and other times they’re idiosyncratic, like the guy who was the world’s most-wanted butterfly smuggler. One thing they all have in common is that they’re fascinating.
Room 20
In a nursing home in San Diego, a patient known only as Six-Six Garage lies in a vegetative state after a near-fatal car accident, with police labelling him only as an “undocumented” Mexican immigrant. Fifteen years after his initial crash, reporter Joanne Faryon dedicates herself to finding out the truth about his identity and the people he left behind – the beginning of a shocking investigation into the history of his case. Gripping, timely, and important.
Kill List
If you like being genuinely freaked out and chilled to the bone, then Kill List – from Wondery and British tech journalist Carl Miller – will make for intriguing listening. Here’s the premise: Miller discovers that there’s a murder-for-hire website with hundreds of peoples’ names on the dark web, all of which are completely unaware. When the police are slow to investigate, he then finds himself thrown into a race against time to warn as many people as he can – each in various corners of the world – about their names being on the list.
In The Dark
Produced by American Public Media, In The Dark combines truly masterful storytelling with powerful investigative journalism. Each series homes in on a crime with national significance, including that of African-American Curtis Flowers, who was convicted of murder by an all-white jury and sentenced to death in Mississippi in 2010, in spite of the fact that he maintained his innocence. In The Dark’s probing research into his trial brought to light key misconduct on the part of the District Attorney’s team, ultimately leading to the case going to the Supreme Court.
The Last Days Of August
At the end of 2017, 23-year-old adult film star August Ames committed suicide after her Tweets about refusing to work with men who shot gay porn were met with widespread backlash. In The Last Days of August, journalist Jon Ronson (The Psychopath Test) both delves into her backstory and explores the many hierarchies implicit within the porn industry today in a way that’s sensitive, enlightening, and deeply empathetic. Listen to it from start to finish, then download Ronson’s earlier podcast The Butterfly Effect, which looks at the tech industry’s transformation of the adult film world.
Believed
This astonishing NPR podcast centres on the case of Larry Nassar, the doctor to the USA Gymnastics team and a physician at Michigan State University, who is believed to have abused more than 250 victims over several decades. Following his conviction for seven counts of sexual assault against minors, reporters Kate Wells and Lindsey Smith look to the past to try and understand how Nassar’s crimes went unchecked for so long, and why those who did speak out about his behaviour were silenced. Not to be missed.
The Missing
Could you help locate a missing person? That’s exactly what this tense series hosted by Pandora Sykes asks of its listeners. Each episode focuses on a different case, stitching together beguiling clues about their last known whereabouts as well as the emotional testimonies of friends and family, and implores the public to come forward with more information. As theories are explored, dismissed and revisited, it will keep you on the edge of your seat and buoyed by the fact that the final piece of the puzzle might be found at any moment.
Sweet Bobby
The kind of podcast that will keep you up all night frantically Googling all of the details, this fascinating six-part series hosted by Alexi Mostrous follows a radio presenter named Kirat who falls for Bobby, a cardiologist she meets on social media. They enter into a tumultuous relationship and, a decade after their first interaction, Kirat discovers she’s being catfished by someone close to her for no apparent reason. It’s a word-of-mouth sensation that has inspired countless think pieces as well as a Netflix documentary, and ignited a national conversation around coercive control.
The Dropout
Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, who was found guilty of defrauding investors with her dubious blood-testing company, is placed under a microscope by ABC News reporter Rebecca Jarvis in this compelling 25-episode study. It takes us from the idealistic early days of the business to Holmes’s clashes with employees, the exposé that changed everything and the dramatic trial that followed. It’s the perfect companion piece to the Disney+ show of the same name, in which Amanda Seyfried dons a black turtleneck to play the grifter.
Can I Tell You A Secret?
The Guardian’s Sirin Kale dives headfirst into a riveting and, at times, deeply troubling true story in this seven-part investigative podcast: that of Matthew Hardy, a prolific cyberstalker who had hundreds of complaints lodged against him over the course of a decade. His strategy? To send seemingly innocent messages to his victims from fake accounts, mine them for information and use it to destroy their careers, relationships and families, driving many of them into hiding. We hear from the men and women affected who fought to bring him to justice, but then, Kale turns her attention to Hardy himself, examining his motivations and family background with a fine-tooth comb. What could have compelled him to target old classmates but also people with whom he had no discernible connection? An interview with Hardy’s distressed mother, who continues to defend him, offers some answers but raises even more questions.
Hoaxed
The latest investigation helmed by Sweet Bobby’s Alexi Mostrous opens with a harrowing recording of a police interview with two children who claim that they are being physically and sexually abused by their father and their teachers, whom they allege are at the heart of a Satan-worshipping paedophile ring in Hampstead. Predictably, the news sparks national and global outrage, but when the police begin making enquires, they fail to find any evidence. It soon becomes clear that the children are being abused – but not by the people they first accused. Across six startling episodes, we learn about the elaborate hoax, those whose lives were torn apart by it, and those who perpetuated it, including the mother of the children at its centre, and her manipulative partner. Mostrous’s explosive interview with the latter is jaw-dropping – and reason enough to binge the series immediately.
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