Home / Start years / 2021

748,538 podcasts published their first episode in 2021, and 26,398 of them (3.5%) published again in the last 90 days.

Source: Podcastquery, August 2026

The 2021 cohort is 15.9% of the 4,711,475 feeds in the Podcast Index and 6.0% of the 437,693 feeds active in the last 90 days.

Start year is the year of the oldest episode still in the feed. A show that trims its feed to recent episodes counts under a later year than its first episode.

Podcasts started in 2021, by hosting platformAnchor (Spotify for Creators)68.2%Spreaker7.0%RSS.com4.0%Buzzsprout2.5%SoundCloud1.4%Podbean1.4%Libsyn0.92%redcircle.com0.89%Acast0.65%Captivate0.64%
Podcasts started in 2021, by hosting platform

Source: Podcastquery, August 2026

Podcasts started in 2021, by categorySociety & Culture14.2%Education14.2%Arts10.4%Business9.0%Religion & Spirituality7.5%Health & Fitness6.2%Comedy5.7%News4.9%Leisure4.9%Music3.9%
Podcasts started in 2021, by category

Source: Podcastquery, August 2026

Starts and survival

Measure2021All feeds
Podcasts started 748,538 4,711,475
Still active 26,398 437,693
Survival 3.5% 9.3%

Source: Podcastquery, August 2026

Hosting platforms

PlatformPodcasts startedShare of the 2021 cohort
Anchor (Spotify for Creators) 510,405 68.2%
Spreaker 52,426 7.0%
RSS.com 29,954 4.0%
Buzzsprout 19,039 2.5%
SoundCloud 10,525 1.4%
Podbean 10,465 1.4%
Libsyn 6,853 0.92%
redcircle.com 6,673 0.89%
Acast 4,889 0.65%
Captivate 4,789 0.64%

Source: Podcastquery, August 2026

Other start years