Are you looking for the best true crime podcasts of all time? We’ve gone in-depth to give you the most comprehensive list of best crime podcasts you can find on the internet.
True crime podcasts can put you in the mind of those affected and help you see things from a new perspective.
Another great thing about true crime podcasts is that they give you insights into how criminals think and teach you how to defend yourself in the unlikely event that you find yourself in a heated situation.
That said, let’s take you straight into the best true crime podcasts of all time that you can binge-listen to whenever and wherever you are.
Who listens to true crime podcasts?
Many people listen to true crime podcasts. These podcasts tell the stories of real-life crimes. People who listen to these podcasts include
- those interested in true crime
- people who have a specific interest in a crime in a particular location or time
- people who enjoy detective-type shows, and people interested in podcasts and audio in general.
Most podcasts have a loyal following, and the most popular true crime podcasts have hundreds of thousands of listeners.
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What is a true crime podcasts?
True crime podcasts are a series of podcasts that deal with real-life crimes. Podcasts are the radio shows put the internet or other digital methods.
They discuss different crimes in these podcasts like murder, rape, kidnapping, missing person, etc.
Is crime junkie podcast true?
Yes, the crime junkie podcast is true.
It is an Indiana Podcast with Brit Prawat and Ashley Flowers as hosts.
The podcast is highly addictive and exciting to listen to.
Although the show organizers were accused of plagiarism by a couple of podcast owners in 2019, they quickly took the episodes down. They attributed the case to missing or improperly cited sources.
What are the best true crime podcasts in 2022?
Here are the three best true crime podcasts to listen to in 2022.
- Unravel True Crime
- Death Of A Starlet
- Dr. Death
10 Best True Crime Podcasts Of All Time
Here are the 10 best true crime podcasts of all time.
1. Serial
This best true crime podcasts list would not be possible without Serial, which established the gold standard for crime podcasts and the whole genre of first-person, long-form audio journalism.
Serial’s first season was released in late 2014 as a spinoff of public radio favourite This American Life.
The crime podcast ignited a storytelling renaissance which provided optimism that an old-media genre (the serialized, week-by-week radio show) might find a whole new audience for long-form audio tales.
The crime podcast also sparked a change in popular attention away from criminal storylines with clear-cut “bad guys” and “good guys” and toward deeper storylines involving faulty investigations and miscarriages of justice.
And although Koenig’s unique approach has spawned a half-decade of detractors and imitators, no honest podcaster can deny her undeniable impact.
2. Criminal
Before Serial, one of true crime podcasts’ first real successes was the anthology series Criminal. It premiered nine months earlier.
Criminal, the brainchild of North Carolina-based public radio presenter Phoebe Judge and producer Lauren Spohrer, is a treat to the ears, in no brief part. This is because the tales it covers go well beyond murder and mayhem.
It also introduced true-crime podcast, a genre that had hitherto been confined to mass-market paperback shop shelves and networks like Investigation Discovery.
It introduced this genre to a sophisticated new audience that would eventually welcome it in the media mainstream. Even it’s the mesmerizing presenter who makes Criminal a must-see.
Notably, the crime podcast had a significant role in changing the listener’s viewpoint.
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3. My Favorite Murder
In the world, there are two types of people: Murderinos… and the rest of us. My Favorite Murder seemed like a strange sort of therapy when it first debuted in 2016.
It was a place where people who had long been fascinated with real-life murders could go to feel, well, a bit more normal about it.
It was also a novel structure for the true-crime podcast genre, combining the long-established comedy chat show to the usually depressing realm of true crime.
Since then, My Favorite Murder has become one of the best crime podcasts, breaking new ground and, for better or worse, spawning a slew of “friends who speak about crime” clones.
The crime podcast, hosted relatably and clumsily by comedians Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, delivers in spades on the promise of audio like the most personal of media.
The crime podcast is serious and funny, irreverent and crusading. It can lay claim to an unparalleled fan base that goes well beyond the podcast itself.
4. Up and Vanished
Many have wondered how a 20-something-year-old amateur who sold cookies to fund his podcast managed to become one of the best true crime podcasts of all time. Well, that is the story of Up and Vanished creator Payne Lindsey who, with the help of a private investigator, premiered his show’s first season.
The crime podcast was based on the unsolved disappearance of beauty queen Tara Grinstead in Georgia Town. At a point, the crime podcast host crawled under a house with his microphone where he thought a body was buried.
Whether his journalism approach was ethical, the podcast was a hit and even helped bring the case to a close at the end of the season premiere.
The alleged killer Ryan Alexander Duke came forward to confess to the crime, and this pushed Up and Vanished to the best true crime podcasts hall of fame that it is today.
5. Dirty John
When you look at Dirty John, you can’t help but wonder how this plot-twisting and sometimes infuriating crime podcast became a big hit. Well, no one can blame Dirty John for being this way because all these imperfections made it one of the best true crime podcasts of all time.
The crime podcast follows the life of wealthy California divorcee Debra Newell, who was duped by a love-bombing conman, John Meehanis.
It’s one of the first true crime podcasts that first started as a newspaper story straight to being a full-blown TV show.
Not only does it bring an important narrative about coercive control to the fore, but it also domestic abuse. Plus, it joined in setting the standard for what true crime podcasts should look like.
6. In The Dark
Perhaps no other crime podcast or otherwise has had a bigger influence on the real world than In The Dark.
It premiered in 2016 and studied the botched investigation into Jacob Wetterling’s tragic disappearance.
After hearing the substantial evidence discovered in the second season of the crime podcast, most listeners would agree with this claim, which centered on Curtis Flowers, a Mississippi man who was tried six times for four murders he most likely didn’t commit.
In The Dark’s journalism is second to none. It’s a collaborative effort that is openly presented to the listener.
It is hosted by the calm and confident Madeleine Baran. And this earned In The Dark its spot on the best true crime podcasts list. Why? Because the US Supreme Court recently reversed Flowers’ latest conviction due to a history of prosecutorial misconduct revealed in the podcast, among other factors.
It is a unique crime podcast that successfully combines shoe-leather research, comprehensive sourcing, and ground-breaking data dives, all delivered with uncommon accuracy and a healthy dose of compassion.
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7. Bear Brook
One of the best true crime podcasts of all time, Bear Brook delves into a complex story about an unknown serial killer and the many detectives who worked tirelessly on the case for decades.
The crime podcast follows the investigation of four unidentified bodies found stuffed in a pair of barrels in a wooded New Hampshire park.
Even though the narrative covers over two decades and involves victims and investigators on both coasts, it was the sheer existence of Bear Brook that shifted the needle on the inquiry, resulting in real-world disclosures that altered the course of the case.
Although the Golden State Killer case was solved in April 2018, the podcast’s exploration of genetic genealogy is perhaps its most significant contribution to the genre.
Genetic genealogy is a forensic technique that has been used to solve dozens of cold cases since then, and it is explored in-depth on the podcast.
However, Bear Brook became one of the best crime podcasts for another reason.
According to In The Dark executive producer Samara Freemark, “it’s such a fantastic example of how to be measured and journalistically responsible while also producing a suspenseful tale that will have you on the edge of your seat.”
8. Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo
Missing & Murdered became one of the best true crime podcasts of all time, thanks to its second series, “finding Cleo.”
The follow-up series analyzed the story of Cleo Nicotine Semaganis, a young girl snatched from her Saskatchewan Cree family in the 1970s by government welfare workers as part of a horrific program called Sixties Scoop.
What actually pushed Missing & Murdered to the true crime podcasts heights that it is today was the fact that it found the truth of what really happened to her way before the season went halfway.
This was a feat that none of the best true crime podcasts has ever achieved.
9. Believed
Believed achieved a feat that the best true crime podcasts of all time find difficult to attain.
The crime podcast follows the story of Larry Nassar, a former Michigan State and USA Gymnastics doctor who sexually abused women and girls for decades.
Believed managed to put the victims front and center, pushing listeners to flinch as they heard the stories of how they were groomed and molested.
The hosts Kate Wells and Lindsey Smith achieved this because they had previously reported it since 2016 for Michigan Radio.
Additionally, Believed manages to humanize Nassar — not so much as to elicit sympathy, but rather, enough that we can comprehend how he could get away with his crimes for such a long time.
In the end, and perhaps most shockingly, Believed is unapologetically riveting, if not downright enjoyable, as it depicts one of the most viscerally painful true-crime podcasts of all time.
The series, which was released at the peak of the Me Too movement, also has one of the finest podcasting landings. Allowing us to listen in as more than 150 women testify during Nassar’s sentencing, a type of justice that we dearly need but seldom get to see.
10. Undisclosed
Undisclosed went above and beyond what Serial accomplished in Adnan Syed’s case – literally.
Rabia Chaudry, who appeared in Serial as the family friend who brought Syed’s case to Sarah Koenig’s attention, partnered with an unlikely pair of bloggers and proceeded to tear apart, bit by bit, the state’s case against Syed.
They also touched many aspects of the Serial narrative, picking up where the genre’s greatest podcast left off.
In the first few episodes, the Undisclosed trio gathered information concerning reward money, police corruption, and prosecution malpractice.
They were able to identify the “tap tap tap” on a taped interview during which investigators persuaded witness Jay Wilds into saying something by pointing to a map.
They helped make the phrase “Brady violation” a part of the everyday lexicon of their listeners.
But probably the most surprising development is that Undisclosed has survived the post-Serial hysteria surrounding the Syed case and has remained a popular title.
Since that first set of episodes, the show has chronicled the tales of wrongly convicted people throughout the country. Where there is the practice of collecting money for defence teams and even assisting in the exoneration of wrongfully condemned individuals.
Undisclosed reflects our contemporary time, in which listeners are interested in hearing tales about innocent individuals who have been wrongfully accused and imprisoned by an unfair and harsh system. And positions itself as the closest thing podcasting has to the Innocence Project.
Has any podcasts solved a crime?
Yes. For instance, several popular true crime podcasts have helped solve several cases. One of the most recent examples is the podcast “Up and Vanished,” which helped solve the disappearance case of Tara Grinstead.
What is a good podcast to listen to?
A good podcast to listen to is Serial. It is a podcast about a true crime that happened in 1999.
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Why are true crime podcasts so popular?
One of the main reasons why true crime podcasts are so popular is because people want to understand how and why these crimes occur.
Most individuals have a need to empathize with other people, and true crime stories enable them to do so without having to go through the pain themselves.
What should I listen to if I like crime junkie?
True Crime Podcasts to Listen to If You Like Crime Junkie include;
- RedHanded hosted by Suruthi Bala and Hannah McGuire.
- Casefile hosted by Anonymous.
- Someone Knows Something hosted by David Ridgen.
- Supernatural with Ashley Flowers hosted by Ashley Flowers.
- Criminal hosted by Phoebe Judge.
- Park Predators hosted by Delia D’Ambra.
What are the best crime junkie episodes?
The following are the five best crime junkie episodes to listen to
- MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF: Kendrick Johnson.
- MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF: Holly Bartlett.
- MISSING: Maura Murray (Part 1).
- WANTED: Monster in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
- MISSING: Bryce Laspisa.
Conclusion
Here are the best true crime podcasts of all time and everything you need to know if you’re new to the genre. So sit back, relax and make your next trip exciting by listening to the crime podcasts we’ve added to this list.
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