How to choose your podcast category in Apple Podcasts [full updated list]

January 18, 2021

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Melissa Guller

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When you launch a new podcast, you’ll be asked to list it under one or more podcast categories, like “Health & Fitness” or “Business.” In this post, I’ve included the updated list of all the Apple Podcasts categories to help you choose. [Updated January 2021]

But more than that, I’m going to explain why your podcast category matters so much, and how it can affect your chances to hit the top 200 charts.

Full list of Apple Podcasts categories

Here is the most recent list of podcast categories listed in Apple, as of January 2021.

Books
Design
Fashion & Beauty
Food
Performing Arts
Visual Arts

Careers
Entrepreneurship
Investing
Management
Marketing
Non-Profit

Comedy Interviews
Improv
Stand-Up

Courses
How To
Language Learning
Self-Improvement

Comedy Fiction
Drama
Science Fiction

No subcategories

Alternative Health
Fitness
Medicine
Mental Health
Nutrition
Sexuality

Education for Kids
Parenting
Pets & Animals
Stories for Kids

Animation & Manga
Automotive
Aviation
Crafts
Games
Hobbies
Home & Garden
Video Games

Music Commentary
Music History
Music Interviews

Business News
Daily News
Entertainment News
News Commentary
Politics
Sports News
Tech News

Buddhism
Christianity
Hinduism
Islam
Judaism
Religion
Spirituality

Astronomy
Chemistry
Earth Sciences
Life Sciences
Mathematics
Natural Sciences
Nature
Physics
Social Sciences

Documentary
Personal Journals
Philosophy
Places & Travel
Relationships

Baseball
Basketball
Cricket
Fantasy Sports
Football
Golf
Hockey
Rugby
Running
Soccer
Swimming
Tennis
Volleyball
Wilderness
Wrestling

No subcategories

After Shows
Film History
Film Interviews
Film Reviews
TV Reviews

How to choose your podcast category

1. Go with the obvious choice

When in doubt, it’s always best to choose the category where most listeners would expect to find you. They may be browsing in their app looking for new shows, and if your podcast is about motherhood, you shouldn’t choose swimming just because you have one episode on the subject.

2. If possible, it’s better to choose a subcategory (rather than a parent podcast category)

You may notice that there are parent categories – like “Business” – and subcategories – like “Marketing.” In almost every case, it’s better to choose a subcategory rather than a parent category.

Why? The parent categories will be the most crowded, because they’re an umbrella category for everything underneath. For example, a podcast in “Business > Marketing” is actually in the “Business” parent category, too.

So if you do have the option, it’s better to choose a subcategory, which is both more descriptive and less crowded than the parents. Which means your chances of hitting the charts could be slightly higher.

(Some categories, like True Crime or Technology, have no subcategories.)

3. You can only chart in your primary podcast category

When you publish your podcast using your podcast hosting platform, most hosts will give you the opportunity to choose up to three categories for your show.

However, what most new hosts don’t realize is that the “First Category” – sometimes called the “Primary Category” – is the only one that you’re eligible to chart in for Apple Podcasts.

What are the most popular podcast categories?

In 2020, Dan Misener from Pacific Content analyzed the Apple Podcast categories to see which were the most crowded. At the time of his study (Feb 2020), the #1 category was Religion & Spirituality, and you can see the full breakdown visualized here:

Summary: which Apple Podcasts category should you choose?

Overall, I recommend choosing the subcategory that most closely matches your podcast’s topic as the first (primary) category for your podcast. If there’s not a fitting subcategory, then you’ll choose the best-fitting parent category.

However, if your podcast could fit equally in two different categories, it’s worth asking, “Which category is the least crowded?” To break the tie, I recommend setting the less popular category as your #1 choice, and the more popular option as #2.