The Golden Globes Best Podcast Race Expands: 30 Contenders Vie for the 84th Annual Ceremony
As the audio entertainment landscape continues to rival traditional Hollywood film and television in cultural footprint and revenue generation, the 84th Golden Globes is officially doubling down on the medium. The eligibility list for the coveted Best Podcast category has officially expanded for its sophomore outing, growing from 25 contending shows last year to an impressive 30 for the upcoming 2027 ceremony.
With 11 fresh faces entering the fold and six prominent names dropping off, the competition looks significantly different than it did in January, when Amy Poehler accepted the category’s inaugural trophy for her hit show, Good Hang With Amy Poehler.
Main Facts: The 2027 Podcasting Landscape at the Golden Globes
The expansion of the Best Podcast field underscores the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Dick Clark Productions’ ongoing commitment to honoring digital-first audio creators. The top 30 qualifying podcasts were determined by Luminate, the official data partner for the Golden Globes. Luminate compiled and ranked the eligible field by analyzing direct platform data, measuring critical metrics such as audience reach, listener engagement, overall revenue, and chart rankings.
The stakes are high for the 30 selected shows, which now face an official submission deadline of October 30 to officially enter themselves for consideration. Any eligible show that fails to submit by this cutoff will be removed from the running.
Following the submission window, Golden Globes voting members will receive their official nomination ballots on November 16. The field will then be narrowed down to just six official nominees, which will be announced on December 7. The 84th Golden Globe Awards ceremony is scheduled for January 10, 2027, broadcast live on CBS and streaming on Paramount+, with comedian Nikki Glaser returning to host the star-studded night.
Chronology: The Evolution of the Golden Globes Podcast Category
The introduction of the Best Podcast category at the 83rd Golden Globes marked a historic bridge between traditional prestige entertainment and the booming creator economy.
- January 2026: Amy Poehler’s Good Hang With Amy Poehler takes home the inaugural Best Podcast trophy at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards. In her acceptance speech, Poehler delivers a memorable joke targeting NPR’s Up First, jokingly calling its team "a bunch of celebs phonin’ it in."
- October 2026: Luminate and the Golden Globes reveal the expanded list of 30 eligible contenders for the 84th Golden Globes, featuring 11 newcomers and six departures from the previous year’s 25-show list.
- October 30, 2026: The strict deadline for the 30 shortlisted podcasts to officially submit themselves for consideration.
- November 16, 2026: Golden Globe voting bodies receive their official nomination ballots.
- December 7, 2026: The official announcement of the six Best Podcast nominees for the 84th annual ceremony.
- January 10, 2027: The 84th Golden Globe Awards air live on CBS and Paramount+, hosted by Nikki Glaser.
Supporting Data: The Complete List of Eligible Podcasts
The 30 shows competing for a nomination span comedy, true crime, sports, news, and deep-dive conversational interviews. The complete list of eligible podcasts for the 2027 Golden Globes, in alphabetical order, includes:
- Bad Friends
- Behind the Bastards
- Call Her Daddy
- Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
- Crime Junkie
- Dateline NBC
- Good Hang With Amy Poehler
- Las Culturistas With Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
- Love Trapped
- Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast
- Morbid
- MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
- My Favorite Murder With Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
- New Heights With Jason and Travis Kelce
- Pardon My Take
- Pod Save America
- Revisionist History
- Rotten Mango
- SmartLess
- Stuff You Should Know
- The Bill Simmons Podcast
- The Daily
- The Joe Rogan Experience
- The Megyn Kelly Show
- The Mel Robbins Podcast
- The Shawn Ryan Show
- The Toast
- The Tucker Carlson Show
- This American Life
- This Past Weekend With Theo Von
Official Responses and Notable Shuffles: What’s New and Who’s Out
The Newcomers: Star Power and Genre Diversity
The 11 new additions to the eligibility pool inject massive mainstream star power and fresh genre perspectives into the race. Comedy heavyweights Conan O’Brien—who has spent the past two years commanding the stage as an Oscar host—is now in a position to add a Golden Globe to his mantle with Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. Similarly, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, renowned for hosting their annual live Culture Awards, bring the cultural zeitgeist of Las Culturistas into the Hollywood awards conversation.
Sports entertainment makes a massive splash with the inclusion of Jason and Travis Kelce’s New Heights, capitalizing on the NFL brothers’ unprecedented cross-media dominance.
The comedy space expands further with the addition of Bad Friends and Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast. Meanwhile, the true-crime sector welcomes the powerhouse audio brand My Favorite Murder With Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, joining an already robust crime lineup that features Crime Junkie, Morbid, Rotten Mango, MrBallen, and Dateline NBC.
Public radio and high-concept journalism also secure a firmer foothold with the inclusion of public radio titan This American Life and Malcolm Gladwell’s intellectual storytelling vehicle, Revisionist History. Rounding out the newcomers are Behind the Bastards, Love Trapped, and The Toast.
The Casualties: High-Profile Exits
Despite the expansion to 30 shows, several prominent programs failed to make the cut or were dropped by Luminate’s data-driven algorithm. Among the most surprising omissions are two of last year’s official nominees: Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert and NPR’s Up First. With Up First out of the running, defending champion Amy Poehler will have to find a new target for her playful barbs after famously roasting the NPR team during her 2026 acceptance speech.
Traditional newsmagazine formats also took a hit, with last year’s contenders 20/20 and 48 Hours dropping off the list.
Furthermore, the political podcast arena sees notable shakeups. When the category debuted, political pods generated significant headlines and debate over whether partisan commentary belonged alongside entertainment-focused audio. Last year, voters ultimately sidestepped political commentators in favor of actors and mainstream culture makers. While high-profile figures like Joe Rogan, Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, Theo Von, and Shawn Ryan return to the eligible pool, conservative political heavyweights Candace and The Ben Shapiro Show are entirely absent from this year’s lineup. Ben Shapiro famously sat down for an exclusive interview with Gold Derby last year to discuss his inaugural eligibility, but he will not be in contention for the 2027 trophy.
Implications: What a Larger Field Means for the Future of Audio Awards
The decision by Luminate and the Golden Globes to expand the Best Podcast category from 25 to 30 contenders speaks volumes about the health and velocity of the podcasting industry. As traditional boundaries between film, television, and digital audio continue to blur, major Hollywood institutions are racing to capture the attention of digital-native audiences.
The presence of heavy-hitting multi-platform creators—from elite athletes and late-night talk show hosts to independent comedians and veteran journalists—creates a unique voting dynamic. Last year’s results proved that Hollywood voting bodies lean heavily toward charismatic personalities, entertainment industry insiders, and pop culture staples over rigid news aggregation or hardline partisan commentary.
However, with a larger, more diverse field featuring heavyweights in sports (New Heights, The Bill Simmons Podcast), deep-dive investigative journalism (Revisionist History, The Daily), and massive comedy networks, the race for the six available nomination slots on December 7 is wide open. As the October 30 submission deadline approaches, creators and network executives must actively campaign to secure their spot on the final nomination ballots, setting the stage for an unpredictable and high-stakes showdown on January 10, 2027.
(Disclosure: Golden Globes producer Dick Clark Productions is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge and Penske Media Corporation, which owns Gold Derby.)
