✨The Best Podcasts of 2024 According to People Who Love Podcasts✨

🍭 👂It’s the most wonderful day of the year. 🌈 🤸‍♀️

Bonjour.

Bello Collective, which shut its doors in 2022, is where I made my first podcast friendships and where I first found community in audio. I am grateful for everything it brought me. Anyone who devoured The Bello 100 year after year sure did miss it and still does. For the last few years, Tink has tried to honor what Bello did for the audio world by recreating it in our own way. Audio Delicacies. There are other lists out there from much bigger publications. This one is the best, because it is full of the shows that are often hard to find and punch way above their weight. The ones the people who really, really love audio are really, really loving. While I was reviewing the final list I had my phone out and was excitedly subscribing to new things I had never heard of that I will be enjoying throughout 2025. I’m presenting twenty shows from the list that has launched in full today.

Thanks to everyone who participated! Pleaaaaaase join the comments section for shows you loved that are on this list and the ones you loved that aren’t.

xoxo lp

In The Dark

Podcast recommendations are my love language, and I usually curate them very precisely for specific people. Season 3 of In The Dark was different. It had me texting everyone I know: “This is a must-listen.” The show takes us to Haditha, Iraq — where, on November 19th, 2005, a group of U.S. Marines massacred 24 Iraqi men, women, and children. Over nine episodes, the In The Dark team investigates what really happened that day — and why, despite one of the biggest war-crime investigations in U.S. history, nobody involved was ever truly brought to justice. This show reeled me in, it made me angry, it brought me to tears multiple times, and it blew me away with the depth and empathy of its reporting.

- Rebecca Seidel (she/her)

Recommended episode: Episode 1: The Green Grass

Empire City

I followed Chenjerai's work from Uncivil because he has a habit of surprising me with the bits of history that I don't often hear about. This trend continued while I was listening to Empire City. I found that theories about policing that I thought were existential, like the origin of their existence, were actually literal. I found myself constantly being surprised by information about the history of NYPD and because of that I can't stop listening or recommending this show.

- Ronald Young Jr. (he/him)

Recommended episode: They Keep People Safe

Inconceivable Truth

Inconceivable Truth is a show about a reporter searching for his dad and along the way unravels a little-known practice of the fertility industry. The way Matt Katz investigates his own life while pulling the threads of this industry gives a whole new meaning to memoir and investigative journalism. I believe it demonstrates a great deal of professionalism, expertise, and journalistic integrity to successfully tell this story.

- Thomas Lu (he/him)

Recommended episode: Warren | Chapter 1

Cement City

While the rust belt town of Donora, Pennsylvania might be known for its legendary smog disaster or its historic experimental concrete homes invented by Thomas Edison himself, Cement City shows us a community today, as it builds its future and goes about living its life. This isn’t some extractive story of parachute journalism; host Jeanne Marie Laskas bought a house, moved in, and spent three years making the show with producer Erin Anderson. It’s a quiet, astonishing, understated series (Chapter 7 alone is worth the price of admission) and if you want more of S-Town’s poetry or Heavyweight’s heart, you should try Cement City. But don’t expect a central plot; expect a mosaic of the pitfalls of individualism and the need to do what you gotta do. Expect an empathetic account of industry, race, Politics, and politics in one post-industrial community. But most of all - in a world with enough loneliness and despair - expect a sincere portrait of how we all take on each new day inextricably together.

- Ian Fox (he/him), Harvard Business Review & Sound Scene Festival

Recommended episode: Cement City: Episode 1 | I’ll Die Here

Lowlines

"This is a sonic scrapbook, a passport to roam, following a pull to tune into the pulse of place. To get closer to the ground, befriending strangers along the way." From the moment producer Lina Prestwood gave me the privilege of listening to the opening episode of Lowlines, I was captivated. I'd never come across such a beautiful, engaging, rich exploration of what it means to be truly within a place and to engage with the people there. At a time when we live in a world where everything is fast and increasingly impersonal, this podcast series is a brilliant source of connection to places you might not have been: it's a sonic tour of - amongst others - New Orleans, Arizona, Louisiana, Mexico City and the Peruvian jungle that will make you feel alive and hopeful, and get you closer to the ground on which we live.

- Naomi Mellor (she/her), Everybody Media

Recommended episode: 01 |Second Line: Footwork in New Orleans

What’s Poppin’ Penny?

I love What's Poppin' Penny? because it resonates with me as a person from an intergenerational household. I also love Penny's sense of wonder and this episode and all its parts reminds me of my family – the ones that raised me and the ancestors that raised them.

- Keisha TK Dutes (she/her), Philo's Future Media

Recommended episode: A Magical Family Reunion (pt. 1)

Not Built For This - 99% Invisible

This podcast came to me like medicine in an achingly hot summer, while I dreaded a snowless winter. Climate change has almost become a cliche, albeit a terrifying one, but it feels like there's no way to talk about it. Not Built For This takes a hard rational look at our current moment, and tempers it with intrigue and kindness. It's not a lecture- it's a love letter to humanity, about learning to accept the world as it is, and to acknowledge that it is ... changing. And we (and our cities, and our infrastructure, and our legislatures and our insurance systems), must change with it.

- Avery Trufelman (she/her)

Recommended episode: Not Built For This #1: The Bottom of the Bowl

Personal Best

This show helps people tackle their ordinary, relatable challenges like... wanting to eat at a fancy restaurant alone, or becoming more mysterious. But the hosts tackle these challenges in the most round-about, zigzag way, taking listeners on a true journey every episode. This podcast is so silly, heartwarming, deep, and human. It reminds me that we are all just trying to figure it out, and that there are so many different ways to move through life, create meaning, and that there's joy in not taking ourselves so serious all the time.

- Ilana Nevins (she/her), Tink Media

Recommended episode: Alone Day

Silvertongues

Silvertongues is the messed up pulp fiction love story of your dreams. It's fun, it's full of tropes, the romance is compelling and the villain is terrifying. It's fantastic seeing more audio dramas led by voice actors of color and I cannot wait to see more from leads Dan Johnson and Sabrina Dahlgren in this space. They both give such subtle, nuanced performances, you'll absolutely fall in love with them.

- Ella Watts (she/her)

Recommended episode: Episode 1 - The Limbo King

Dodger Blue Dream

I'm not a sports person, nor much of a sports podcast person. But I've been converted in this case, by Richard's contagious passion for baseball and love for the LA Dodgers that infuses this nearly impossible show. He's has been following their 2024 season IN REAL TIME since March. Despite how often these episodes drop, each one is highly crafted and sound designed, clearly structured, and anchored with Richard's elegant (and very funny) writing. Episodes range from portraits of the players to summaries of games, with many deviations along the way. The episode I've recommended exhibits perfect storytelling: high stakes, tension builds, explosive climax, and poignant denouement. Yes, I teared up, and challenge other non-sports-podcast-enthusiasts to listen without also feeling a deep pang of appreciation for the story that unfolds. It was the October 17th episode that sealed the deal for this recommendation, however. Besides describing game 3 of the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets*, Richard manages a metaphor that references both horses and Cormac McCarthy. [What?!] Plus, my 13 year-old loves Dodger Blue Dream as well, and even recorded an unsolicited promo for the show. So we've been listening together, and rooting hard for the Dodgers, who I'd never paid much attention to before. And even though one might think the show would lose value post-season, my son and I agree that these episodes have the power to inform, inspire, and charm listeners for years to come. *Dodgers crushed 'em, 8-0!

- Julie Shapiro (she/her), Audio Flux

Recommended episode: “40-40 Vision”

Visitations

My favorite way to get to know someone is through the funny little idiosyncrasies that ooze out subconsciously in conversation and Visitations DELIVERS on that front. Every episode is an achingly unvarnished conversation that starts when the hosts head out to meet their guest and ends with consent papers being signed. The Boots Riley episode is a stroll through 50 years of his life and career, weaving both artfully together in a way that wouldn't be possible on paper.

- Charlotte Cooper (she/her), Stillroom

Recommended episode: 11. Boots Riley

How To Destroy Everything

How to Destroy Everything immediately hooked me from the premise. It's a fascinating deep dive into the chaotic life of Richard Jacobs, told by his son, Danny. I love how it blends raw emotion with storytelling and performance, shifting between past and present in a unique way. The investigative approach and personal touch make it both heartbreaking and captivating and the non-traditional tone makes it an even more enjoyable and refreshing listen.

- Andreea Coscai (she/her), Tink Media

Recommended episode: Episode 4: How to Destroy a Courtship

CUTI

Who would have picked chronic urinary tract infections (CUTIs) as the topic for an incredible short docuseries combining emotions, science, social commentary and exquisite sound design? Essential listening, whatever the condition of your urinary tract.

- Helen Zaltzman (she/they), The Allusionist

Recommended episode: 1: Tests, Misogyny and Misconceptions

My Divo

I know I'm biased because I'm a queer Mexican immigrant artist from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico / El Paso, Texas listening to a story about two queer Mexican artists from the same borderlands, but even if I weren't, this is a MASTERCLASS on narrative podcasting. Maria Garcia (Anything for Selena) and her team strike again sharing, via just EXQUISITE reporting and writing, the life of one of music's most iconic legends, Juan Gabriel. And like any Juan Gabriel song, this podcast is accessible yet philosophical, joyful and poetic, spiritual, nostalgic, raunchy, gay, inherently political (whether we queers like it or not), and beautifully, wonderfully personal. Listen in English or in Spanish and then run and book yourself a karaoke room (and maybe a tarot reading!)

- Daniella Balarezo (she/they), TED Audio Collective

Recommended episode: The Light on My Skin

Inheriting

Most folks may recognize host Emily Kwong as host of NPR's science podcast Short Wave, but with Inheriting she has made it clear that she has a personal story to tell, and the very heart of it is about belonging. I love that Emily made a choice to not only work through her own history, but that she brought other Asian Americans along on their own oral history journeys. In general, the attention paid to the histories of marginalized identities in this country is lacking, and I say this as a Black American: Asian Americans are often left out of the conversation entirely. This is why I recommended starting with the episode on Japanese American incarceration, something that I'm sure many Americans are unaware of. And if you want to know more, Emily's team, in addition to providing how-to guides on how to do your own oral history, has incorporated curriculum materials from the Asian American Education Project into their show notes. Now that's impact.

- Ayo Oti (she/her), Sounds Like Impact

Recommended episode: Leah & Japanese American Incarceration

Covered

There need to be more fashion podcasts out there, and I am so into Covered by Ruby Redstone and Natalie Brennan. It's a chatty, accessible look at different parts of the fashion industry, from the history of denim jackets to a deep dive on a 2010 Alexander McQueen show. It's clear that both of them know so much about fashion, but it never feels superficial or too product-oriented. They are interested in a historical, intellectual exploration of the things we put on our bodies, and I look forward to every episode!

- Alex Sujong Laughlin (she/her), Defector Media

Recommended episode: There Are Endless Frontiers