Joe Rogan no longer king of Spotify after controversial new podcast takes number one spot

‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ has been the most popular podcast on Spotify for four years, but a controversial new audio show has just taken over.

The new podcast, called ‘The Telepathy Tapes’, is co-hosted by filmmaker Ky Dickens and psychiatrist Dr. Diane Hennacy Powell.

During the show, Dickens and Dr. Powell the “profound abilities of non-speakers with autism,” according to The Telepathy Tapes website.

The presenters claim that these skills include “telepathy and alien perceptions,” citing experiments with nonverbal autistic children and others with similar disorders.

The podcast has become so popular that Joe Rogan’s has been pushed to second place on Spotify’s podcast charts, but not everyone is loving it.

The sweeping claims have led to skepticism among some listeners and experts who question the validity of Dickens and Dr. questioning Powell, and the conclusions they draw from it.

That said, the show must be doing something right to have dethroned Rogan, whose podcast has captured the attention of Spotify listeners since he sold the exclusivity rights to the streaming service in 2020.

That $100 million deal reportedly brought in 14 million new subscribers to Spotify.

Since then, Rogan’s podcast has largely maintained its strong position at the top of the charts, with a few brief exceptions.

For example, he briefly lost his number one spot to “Not Gonna Lie,” a podcast hosted by Kylie Kelce, the wife of former Kansas City Chiefs center Jason Kelce.

But Rogan quickly regained his position. His podcast is now downloaded up to 190 million times a month.

How long The Telepathy Tapes will maintain its top spot remains to be seen.

But for now, it’s taking Spotify by storm.

“Has anyone else listened to THE TELEPATHY TAPES podcast yet? I devoured it in one day last week and can’t stop thinking about it,” one X user wrote.

“Okay, I gave in and listened to The Telepathy Tapes. Absolutely 100 percent stunning,” wrote another.

The podcast has received a perfect five-star rating from over 1,400 reviewers since its debut on September 3, 2024.

Despite the new competition, Rogan said he’s actually a fan of the show too.

On a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, he said he listens to the show and believes “some telepathy is real.”

“I’m only on episode two, but he’s a really fascinating man,” he told American actor and stand-up comedian Duncan Trussell, who appeared as a guest on the show.

Rogan is not someone who shies away from controversial ideas.

He has been criticized for promoting conspiracy theories and hosting guests who spread misinformation and pseudoscience on his show.

In 2022, he publicly responded to criticism that he was claiming misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic on The Joe Rogan Experience, arguing that the claims were untrue and that he was merely sharing “opinions.”

Despite the varying opinions about Rogan and his podcast, he has achieved record-breaking fame and fortune through his show.

According to Forbes, he is currently the highest-paid podcaster in the world, with an estimated annual income of $30 million.

So if history teaches us anything, it won’t be long before Rogan is back at the top of the Spotify charts.