Joe Rogan's reign as king of the podcasts is finally over
According to YouTube 's list of the most popular podcasts, the Joe Rogan Experience was dethroned from its number one spot last week by Tony Hinchcliffe's 'Kill Tony' show.
Rogan, known for his hours-long interviews with high-profile guests who discuss everything from UFO conspiracies to global politics, had been atop the charts since late May.
The show has consistently spent weeks and months as the number one podcast on multiple platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
However, the timing of Rogan's ratings defeat is raising eyebrows, as the podcast star has recently begun criticizing the Trump Administration for its handling of deportations, the conflict with Iran, and the Jeffrey Epstein case.
In November, Rogan famously endorsed Trump for president days after the two men sat down for an interview that's been viewed more than 59 million times on YouTube.
Meanwhile, Hinchcliffe, an insult comic known for his dark humor, has kept his show in the realm of comedy, primarily booking fellow comedians, many who openly support Trump and MAGA Republicans.
Kill Tony's rise to number one during the week of July 7 to July 13 is not without controversy, as the president actually disavowed knowing Hinchcliffe after he called Puerto Rico a 'floating island of garbage' during a Trump rally.
'I apologize to absolutely nobody. Not to the Puerto Ricans, not to the Whites, not to the Blacks, not to the Palestinians, not to the Jews, and not to my own mother, who I made fun of during the set,' Hinchcliffe said on his podcast after the October 27 rally.
He did admit that Trump's event at New York's Madison Square Garden 'wasn't the best f****** place to do this set.'
'That's what I do, and that's never going to change,' Hinchcliffe added.
The comedian's doubling down on his Trump rally jokes has seemingly been the fuel to his post-election success.
In March, Hinchcliffe signed a deal with Netflix to turn the Kill Tony show into three comedy specials. The first one aired on April 7.
While Rogan is by no means struggling in the ratings like other Trump critics have since the election, the timing of his show's decline lines up exactly with his recent attacks on the White House.
On July 2, Rogan unleashed on the Trump Administration's move to target places of work during their crackdown on illegal immigration while interviewing Amjad Masad, the co-founder of cloud-based coding platform Replit.
'It's kind of disappointing. It's insane... There's two things that are insane. One is the targeting of migrant workers. Not cartel members, not gang members, not drug dealers, just construction workers showing up in construction sites and raiding them... Like really?' Rogan said.
A week earlier, Rogan came out against US involvement in the conflict between Israel and Iran.
Speaking with Senator Bernie Sanders on June 24, Rogan claimed that Trump's MAGA coalition was on the brink of a civil war, citing the president's promise to keep America out of foreign wars.
'I think the whole MAGA thing right now is very divided, particularly because one of the things they voted for was no war. Well, now it seems like we're in a war,' Rogan told Sanders, another fierce Trump critic.
'It's quick, we're six months in and that's already popped off and then people are very concerned with now what happens to our troops overseas that are in these bases that are in vulnerable positions,' the podcast host added.
On Tuesday, Rogan may have made his most controversial claims about the Trump White House's decision to attack Iran's nuclear facilities - alleging that the move took attention away from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
Rogan was quoting a news report on the case that mentioned the mystery still surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein files after US Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed to have tens of thousands of videos featuring the infamous financier and minors.
'The comment made to reporters at the White House days after a similar remark [was made] to a stranger with a hidden camera raised the stakes with President Donald Trump's administration to prove it has in its possession previously unseen compelling documents or... just bomb Iran and everybody forgets about,' Rogan said.
'Just bomb Iran. Yeah, everybody forgets about it,' he claimed.
Rogan joins other Trump allies who eventually disagreed with the president and saw their businesses take an immediate dip, including Elon Musk.
Musk famously saw his companies, namely Tesla, take a massive market hit following his public falling out with President Trump in late May.
The public war of words between Musk and Trump intensified in early June and it had a direct impact on Tesla's stock price.
Investors expressed concerns over the potential loss of federal support for Tesla and Musk's other ventures like SpaceX, as well as the perceived political risk tied to Musk feuding with the president.
By the close of trading on June 6, 2025, Tesla's stock had fallen approximately 14 percent, resulting in a loss of over $150 billion in market value. It was the largest single-day drop in Tesla's history.
For Rogan, his podcast also sits in second place on Apple Podcasts, trailing ABC News' true crime series 'Devil in the Desert.'
On Spotify, the Joe Rogan Experience podcast still holds the number one spot, followed by another MAGA supporter that has recently criticized Trump and Bondi's handling of the Epstein case - The Tucker Carlson Show.
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