Joe Rogan is by far the biggest podcast in the (English-speaking) world. The JRE podcast, of course, is not only the biggest but also among the first podcasts in the world, started back in 2009 when most people didn’t even know what a podcast was. Over the years, his platform has grown so much as to eclipse the size and influence of entire news networks and media companies today!

Part of that has been his ability to talk on seemingly any topic ranging from politics to psychedelics to geology to comedy. And he does that with guests who may hold polar opposite views from each other. However, one person he has doggedly refused to have on his podcast is former President Donald Trump, as he doesn’t want to “help him.” Although it would mean huge ratings for him, as a rival podcast showed, nearly knocking off Rogan in the latest Spotify rankings.

The clearest evidence of this has been the boost comedian (and Rogan’s friend) Theo Von’s ‘This Past Weekend’ podcast seen after having President Trump on last week. After the appearance, Von’s podcast, which was not even close to being in the top ten before the Trump episode, is number 2 on Spotify’s latest rankings after having the former President on.

However, Rogan still maintained his top spot on the rankings, showing just how comprehensive and complete his dominance in the podcast space is. While there are a few occasions on which the UFC commentator’s podcast has been de-throned, it has been inevitably temporary.

On the other hand, the latest rankings also speak to just how influential Trump is. But as far as the podcasts go, the sheer dominance of Rogan was proven yet again earlier this year.

A New Spotify deal proves Joe Rogan remains the most popular podcaster in the world

Joe Rogan’s decision to leave YouTube and sign an exclusive deal with Spotify in 2020 was a sure sign that podcasts were the next evolution of the mass media industry. After all, the Texas resident reportedly got $100 million for a three-year contract, putting a dollar figure to his already incredible albeit mostly intangible popularity before.

And it seems his platform, despite not being on YouTube, has only gotten more popular. Otherwise, it is really difficult to explain his new, three-year deal with Spotify, signed earlier this year.

After all, not only has the streaming platform more than doubled the flat amount Rogan gets to reportedly around $250 million (the biggest ever deal for a podcaster), but has also allowed him to put his podcast on rival services such as Apple Podcast and even YouTube! Not to mention the revenue share deal from ads and endorsements that Rogan has negotiated in the new contract.

Of course, the fact that Rogan can put the podcast on YouTube means he has another very lucrative supplementary source of income, estimated at $5-$7 million annually. All of this is to say that Rogan remains at the top of the podcast game, where he seems poised to remain for the foreseeable future. Unless that is Donald Trump starts his podcast, in which case Rogan will have stiff competition indeed.