Credit: Elijah Merrell via Unsplash
Mamamia Out Loud has claimed the top spot in the Australian Podcast Ranker for May 2026, overtaking last month's leader Hamish & Andy.
The Mamamia podcast finished the month with 1,133,138 listeners, jumping from second place in April.
Hamish & Andy came in second, up from 832,058 listeners in April to 864,800, continuing to demonstrate strong audience loyalty for the LiSTNR (SCA) comedy duo.
Third and fourth place went to Sky News Australia Update and Conversations, with 493,026 and 452,235 listeners respectively.
In fifth place was Life Uncut at 428,354 listeners.
The most popular genres were News, Society and Culture, Sports, Comedy and True Crime.
CRA highlighted the commercial strength of the news podcast audience, noting that News has held Australia's number one podcast genre since the beginning of 2026.
Nearly 80% of news podcast listeners are the primary grocery shopper in their household, while almost half are planning domestic travel this year and 41% are planning international travel. Over a third have a new phone or home tech on their shopping list.
CRA said travel, tech, telco, home and FMCG advertisers have a direct line to high-intent household decision-makers through the genre.
Overall, 55% of Australians are now consuming podcasts each month, up from 52% in 2025.
"With 55% of Australians now consuming podcasts each month, the growth of this medium is undeniable,” CEO of CRA, Lizzie Young, said.
“The Ranker is the industry's response to that scale: verified, independent measurement that gives publishers, agencies and advertisers a single source of truth to plan and invest with confidence.”
LiSTNR placed multiple titles in the top 15, with Life Uncut (428,354), The Imperfects (339,201) and The Howie Games (183,320) all recording month-on-month growth. Investigative podcast Secrets We Keep was a standout, growing 133% month-on-month to 160,053 listeners.
"LiSTNR remains the leading commercial podcast network. With more titles in the Australian top 15 and strong year-on-year growth across its original titles, LiSTNR continues to drive the market," Southern Cross Media Group's managing director, audio, John Kelly told AdNews.
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