Joe Rogan has once again topped Forbes’ annual ranking of the highest-paid podcasters, pulling in an estimated $82 million and cementing his position as the most lucrative voice in an increasingly crowded industry.
“The Joe Rogan Experience” easily outdistanced the rest of the field, with the newcomer duo of John Coogan and Jordi Hays landing at No. 2 with their business-focused show “Technology Business Programming Network” at $70 million. Steven Bartlett’s “The Diary of a CEO” rounded out the top three at $45 million, followed by Ashley Flowers’ true-cr[]me staple at $42 million and the celebrity trio of Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes on “SmartLess” at $37 million.
The list stretches from Mel Robbins and the Kelce brothers’ “New Heights” in the mid-tier to familiar names like Alex Cooper, Charlamagne Tha God, Dax Shepard, Amy Poehler and Bill Simmons filling out the middle of the pack. Andrew Huberman, the “Pardon My Take” duo, and the “Giggly Squad” pairing of Hannah Berner and Paige DeSorbo close out the top twenty.
But none of that changes the fact that Rogan remains in a class of his own. According to Edison Research’s podcast rankings, “The Joe Rogan Experience” was the No. 1 podcast in the country for the first quarter of 2026, a position he has held since 2019. Edison’s data also shows his listenership skews heavily male, with roughly 78% of his audience identifying as men.
What makes this run notable is the direction Rogan has taken politically over the past year. He endorsed Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 election after interviewing him, a moment widely credited with helping the campaign reach younger male voters who don’t necessarily follow traditional news outlets. Since then, though, Rogan has grown openly skeptical of the administration he once championed, and it hasn’t dented his audience one bit.
His frustration has centered largely on the war in Iran. Rogan has pointed out how far the conflict strayed from the “America First” message Trump ran on, calling the outcome “exactly the opposite of what we were told leading into this administration.”
He’s gone further, warning listeners about where this kind of escalation could lead: “really ugly, because that’s how you start a World War III.”
He’s also taken aim at parts of the movement that helped put Trump back in office, drawing a sharp line between people he respects and those he doesn’t. “A lot of them are dorks,” he said of certain MAGA figures, going on to describe some as “really weird, uninteresting, unintelligent people.” At the same time, he was careful to separate that group from what he sees as “real, genuine patriots” within the same political camp.
The administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files hasn’t escaped his commentary either. Rogan called the redactions in the released documents “terrible for Trump,” a line that reflects a broader distrust he’s expressed toward how the White House has managed the story.
Trump hasn’t stayed quiet about podcasters turning on him. In a Truth Social post that also targeted Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens and Alex Jones, the president singled out Tucker Carlson directly: “Tucker is a Low IQ person – Always easy to beat, and highly overrated!!!”
That post lines up with a shift happening in the Edison rankings. Carlson, once a fixture near the top, fell from No. 20 to No. 29 between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026. Kelly dropped even further, sliding from No. 13 to No. 19 over the same stretch. Owens moved in the opposite direction, climbing from No. 35 to No. 34, while Dan Bongino’s show debuted in the rankings at No. 43 following his return to podcasting after leaving the FBI.
Rogan is the clear exception to that downward trend among Trump skeptics. So is Theo Von, another podcaster who sat down with Trump before the 2024 election and has since become an outspoken critic of the administration and its approach to Iran. Von’s own program, “This Past Weekend,” ranked No. 8 in the first quarter, and a conversation between him and Rogan criticizing the Iran war pulled in more than 3 million views on YouTube.
That wasn’t even Rogan’s biggest moment of the year online. His January conversation with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, done to promote their film “The Rip,” became his most-watched episode of 2026 on the platform. An interview with Bradley Cooper also drew millions of views, while an episode built around extraterrestrial life, featuring a filmmaker alongside a man claiming ties to an alien-related Area 51 project, reached 6 million views on its own. His guest list this year has ranged just as widely, from comedians Dave Smith, Duncan Trussell and Mark Normand to political figures including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Rand Paul and Canadian politician Pierre Poilievre.
Not everyone is thrilled with the size of Rogan’s payday. Comedian Chelsea Handler weighed in after Forbes posted its list to Instagram, questioning who exactly is funding the number. “WHO IS PAYING JOE ROGAN $82 Million?” she wrote, before adding, “Give that to our vets, or our children!!! 82 million to be completely uninformed and say ‘whoopsie doodle,’ every time he’s wrong, which is FREQUENT?”
Rogan didn’t let the comment slide, especially given Handler’s own financial standing. “That’s funny. She’s rich,” he said. “That’s crazy. That’s what she said? I make too much? Is there a certain number I should make?”
Whatever the answer to that question, the numbers from Forbes and Edison tell a consistent story. Rogan’s politics have shifted, his tone toward the White House has hardened, and none of it has loosened his grip on the top spot. Nearly seven years after first claiming the No. 1 ranking, he’s still the biggest name in podcasting, both in audience and in paycheck.
Forbes’ Highest-Paid Podcasters of 2026
- Joe Rogan “The Joe Rogan Experience” $82 million
- John Coogan & Jordi Hays “Technology Business Programming Network (TBPN)” $70 million
- Steven Bartlett “The Diary of a CEO” $45 million
- Ashley Flowers “Crime Junkie” $42 million
- Will Arnett, Jason Bateman & Sean Hayes “SmartLess” $37 million
- Mel Robbins “The Mel Robbins Podcast” $35 million
- Jason Kelce & Travis Kelce “New Heights” $35 million
- Alex Cooper “Call Her Daddy” $32 million
- Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer & Tommy Vietor “Pod Save America” $28 million
- Charlamagne Tha God “The Breakfast Club” $27 million
- Dax Shepard “Armchair Expert” $25 million
- Amy Poehler “Good Hang” $24 million
- Bill Simmons “The Bill Simmons Podcast” $22 million
- Jay Shetty “On Purpose” $21 million
- Joe Budden “The Joe Budden Podcast” $20 million
- Tucker Carlson “The Tucker Carlson Show” $20 million
- Scott Galloway “The Prof G Pod” $19 million
- Andrew Huberman “Huberman Lab” $18 million
- Dan Katz & Eric Sollenberger “Pardon My Take” $18 million
- Hannah Berner & Paige DeSorbo “Giggly Squad” $18 million
