The first podcasts nominated for a Golden Globe were revealed Monday, with six popular shows getting the nod, but with the most popular podcast of 2025 — as well as all overtly political shows — shut out.
The nominated podcasts for the inaugural best podcast award were: Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard, Call Her Daddy, Good Hang With Amy Poehler, The Mel Robbins Podcast, SmartLess and Up First. Notably, The Joe Rogan Experience did not receive a nomination despite being the most popular podcast on all major podcast platforms in 2025.
Additionally, despite having several conservative podcast titles on the short list, including The Megyn Kelly Show, The Tucker Carlson Show, Candace (hosted by Candace Owens) and the Ben Shapiro Show, none made the list. Shapiro had been campaigning for the nod with billboards in Times Square.
In fact, none of the political podcasts on the shortlist, which also included liberal-leaning Pod Save America, received the nod. Up First, from NPR, was the only news-driven show on the list, which also excluded The Daily from the New York Times. The other popular category shut out of the nominations was the true-crime genre, with Crime Junkie, Morbid, Rotten Mango and more up for the nomination.
The nominated shows largely skewed toward personality-driven content, including Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy, which has spawned its own podcasting empire as well as The Mel Robbins Podcast, the interview-driven self-help show that has catapulted to the top of several podcast lists this year. Three of the nominated titles came from SiriusXM, while one came from Amazon, one from Spotify and one from NPR.
This was the first year podcasts were an awards category at the Golden Globes. The initial shortlist of 25 shows was determined by the Globes data partner, Luminate, and based on popularity of the show.
“When I launched this podcast just three years ago, I was in my fifties, starting something completely new at a stage in life when the world often tells you the best days are behind you. To be nominated for this award is surreal. It is also proof of a simple truth: It is never too late to change your life. Your age, your past, and your doubts do not determine what you can create next,” Robbins said of the nomination.
“When we started our show 8 years ago, the idea of it leading us here would have been unfathomable. So, to be included in this group representing the podcast medium for the first time at the Globes is a true honor,” Shepard and his Armchair Expert cohost Monica Padman said of the nomination.
The 2026 Golden Globes, hosted by returning emcee Nikki Glaser, air live on Sunday, Jan. 11 at 5 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT on CBS and Paramount+. See the full list of nominations.
Golden Globes producer Dick Clark Productions is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge that also owns The Hollywood Reporter.
