Podcasts AMApple's US True Crime chart · Nov 1, 2026
Top True Crime Podcasts in the US
True crime podcasts tell the stories of real cases: killings, disappearances, frauds and the investigations and trials that follow. Some come from newsrooms and rely on interviews with detectives, prosecutors, defense lawyers and families. Others follow a single case across an entire season, and still others blend careful research with conversation, humor, local history or tales of the unexplained. Two of the shows below also ask listeners for help: Crime Junkie's notes often direct anyone with information to the agency handling a case, and Bear Brook invites tips by email.
The ten shows below follow Apple's US chart for the True Crime genre as of November 1, 2026, in chart order. Each summary draws only on the show's own description and its episode notes up to that date, which keeps the focus on format, subject matter and the cases covered at the time.
Top 10 True Crime podcasts
- 1
Crime Junkie
Audiochuck
Ashley Flowers hosts alongside her best friend Brit Prawat, covering well-known and underreported cases, from cold cases and missing persons to people who push for justice in their communities. Episode titles flag the kind of case, such as MISSING or UPDATE, and recent notes often ended by asking anyone with information to contact the investigating agency.
- 2
Dateline NBC
NBC News
NBC News uses this feed for current and classic Dateline episodes built around true-crime mysteries and investigations. Full reports from correspondents such as Keith Morrison, Andrea Canning and Josh Mankiewicz sit alongside "Talking Dateline," where the team discusses how an episode came together, and news roundups that follow trials in progress.
- 3
20/20
ABC News
ABC News publishes its 20/20 true crime reports and newsmaker interviews here, along with "The After Show," which goes behind the scenes of recent cases, and "True Crime Vault" replays of earlier episodes. The feed also carries multi-part series such as "Heist at the Louvre," which follows the investigation into the stolen jewels.
- 4
Bear Brook
NHPR
Jason Moon of New Hampshire Public Radio hosts this serialized investigation. Season one covered a cold case the show says is changing how murders are investigated; season two examined the taped confession behind Jason Carroll's life sentence for a murder he says he did not commit. Season three, "A Private Matter," follows the disappearance of a Christmas tree farmer with dementia whose wife never reported him missing.
- 5
Morbid
Ash Kelley & Alaina Urquhart
Ash Kelley and Alaina Urquhart cover true crime, eerie history and spooky lore, pairing detailed research with comedy. According to the feed, one of them is an autopsy technician and the other a hairstylist. Recent episodes included the 2020 disappearance of college student Jason Landry, a 1933 kidnapping and the reputed haunting of Lemp Mansion, plus listener tales and a conversation with Matthew Lillard.
- 6
48 Hours
48 Hours
CBS News correspondents examine crime and justice cases through key evidence and interviews with people close to each case. Besides new reports and classic episodes, the feed carries "Post Mortem," hosted by Anne-Marie Green, in which producers and correspondents talk through dead ends and surprises from the field; one recent installment covered a detective's chewing-gum ruse that caught a killer in two cold cases.
- 7
Betrayal Season 6
iHeartPodcasts | Glass Podcasts
Season 6, "The Confidante," explores what the show calls a new kind of betrayal, one inside a close circle of friends and family rather than between a husband and wife. After Carl and Adam split up, a year of threatening messages turns Carl's secrets against him, and the season follows how the men involved learned to trust themselves and each other again.
- 8
MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
Ballen Studios
John Allen, known as MrBallen, tells true crime and mystery stories in a narrative style, along with accounts of supernatural encounters. Recent releases mixed podcast exclusives, remastered stories from his YouTube channel, "Campfire Stories" and fan favorites. One exclusive follows a 2013 case in northern France in which the phone police wanted to tap was already being monitored for a separate murder investigation.
- 9
Love Trapped
iHeartPodcasts and Glass Podcasts
The series begins with former Bachelor Clayton Echard, whose one-night encounter turned into a paternity dispute in which, the show says, no one believed him at first. It follows how a group of citizen sleuths from around the world worked to hold someone accountable, and recent episodes covered Laura Owens pleading guilty to four felony counts in Arizona and her sentencing on October 23, 2026.
- 10
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts
Since the show launched in January 2016, Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark have mixed true crime with comedy and shared hometown stories sent in by friends and listeners. Recent episodes ranged from the Salem Witch Trials to the Manila Film Center disaster, and "Rewind" episodes look back at older installments with fresh commentary and case updates.
Questions about True Crime podcasts
What is the top true crime podcast in the US?
According to Apple's US chart on November 1, 2026, the top true crime podcast was "Crime Junkie." Ashley Flowers hosts it with her best friend, Brit Prawat, and together they cover well-known and lesser-known cases, including cold cases and missing persons.
Which of these true crime podcasts follow one story across a season?
Bear Brook, Betrayal and Love Trapped are serialized. Bear Brook's third season, "A Private Matter," follows a missing Christmas tree farmer in rural New Hampshire; Betrayal's sixth season, "The Confidante," traces a year of harassment within a circle of friends; and Love Trapped follows Clayton Echard's paternity case through to Laura Owens's sentencing in Arizona.
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