Young Men’s Favorite Female-Hosted Podcasts
Picturing a young man walking down the street with earbuds in, you might assume he’s listening to Joe Rogan, Logan Paul, or another prominent “manosphere” podcast–and you may be right. However, we at YMRP were curious to explore which female-hosted podcasts are most frequented by this demographic, and how their genres differ.
Using Edison Podcast Metrics data from the most recent quarter (Q2 2025), we analyzed which female-hosted podcasts have the highest listenership of young men aged 18-29. The results reveal a hodgepodge of favorites spanning true crime, pop culture, relationship advice, and conspiracy-driven political commentary.
Leading the pack is Crime Junkie, a true crime juggernaut produced by Audiochuck that claimed Apple Podcasts’ #1 overall show in 2022 and 2023. Hosts Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat have cultivated a devoted following since the show’s launch in 2017, covering murder mysteries and missing persons cases while utilizing their platform to support various justice-related organizations.
The true crime fervor extends to Rotten Mango, the fourth ranked female-hosted show among young men. Stephanie Soo’s podcast appeals to those seeking “all things spooky,” from criminal psychology to lesser-known international crime stories. Rotten Mango, which is hosted by SiriusXM’s Podcast Network, has amassed 5.65 million YouTube subscribers and has recently released episodes like “I Sat Down With a Killer” or stories of vigilante justice.
Second place belongs to Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy. The show, initially launched under Barstool’s umbrella before the highly publicized split, started with what some call “female locker room talk” on dating and relationships, but has since ventured into pop culture and even politics in recent years. Ahead of the 2024 election, Cooper famously hosted Kamala Harris on the show, justifying the show’s deviation into politics because of the centrality of abortion and women’s bodily choice in the campaign.
Talk Tuah with Haliey Welch is certainly the most improbable of the top-ranking podcasts; nonetheless, hundreds of thousands of young men report tuning in. Welch gained notoriety after a viral street interview and parlayed her newfound fame into a massively popular show– guests include Mark Cuban, KSI, and Wiz Khalifa. Her recent episodes–including “HALIEY WELCH TELLS ALL - CRYPTO INCIDENT” to “HOW TO AVOID GETTING CANCELLED”–certainly overlap with the interests of young men.
Rounding out the top five is Candace Owen’s eponymous show, Candace, where she delves into political and pop culture conspiracy theories and features right-wing firebrands like Tucker Carlson and Milo Yiannopoulos. Her controversial takes–ranging from the Epstein files to claims that Brigitte Macron is actually a man (which has prompted a defamation suit)–have kept Owens in the public eye following her departure from The Daily Wire.
Of these top shows, only Talk Tuah with Haliey Welch draws a predominantly male audience, and the gender gap is indeed significant (76 percent to 24 percent). Talk Tuah and Candace are also the only two with Republican-plurality audiences, though Owens’ show exhibits a far wider Republican-Democrat divide (58 percent to 8 percent). By contrast, Rotten Mango has the strongest Democratic lean (47 percent versus 11 percent Republican) and the most female-dominated listenership (77 percent). Among this group, Candace stands out as the only explicitly political show.
We look forward to providing more reports on the top channels young men and women are listening to, what they’re hearing, and how these conversations are shaping today’s social and political gender gaps.
