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Preview data: all rankings, scores, votes, refresh labels, methodology, testing and editorial-process statements in Top 49 are illustrative demo content, not live measurements or documented reviews.
Rank 133Up 3Editor’s pick
#13 in Podcasts of All Time
of 18 ranked entries
Planet Money
NPR · Since 2008
Planet Money launched during the 2008 financial crisis specifically to explain the crisis in plain language, and the show has kept that founding mission — dense economics translated into a genuinely entertaining twenty-minute story — ever since. Recorded specifics: launched 2008, host NPR Staff, network NPR. Panel highlighted launched specifically to explain the 2008 crisis and never lost that clarity mission, reliably turns dry economic data into genuinely compelling narrative stories and stunt-reporting devices, like buying a literal barrel of oil, keep abstract ideas concrete. The reservation on record is the breezy tone occasionally undersells the seriousness of heavier economic topics.
BusinessNews
Score breakdown
How Planet Money earned 79
Each criterion is scored independently, then combined using the weights published on Podcasts of All Time.
- Editorial & production craftweight 30%
- 78.3
- Storytelling ambitionweight 25%
- 79.7
- Cultural influenceweight 25%
- 81.2
- Consistency across episodesweight 20%
- 76.2
On the record
Recorded detail
| Launched | 2008 |
|---|---|
| Host | NPR Staff |
| Network | NPR |
| Rating | 8.7 |
Panel verdict
Strengths and reservations
What it gets right
- Launched specifically to explain the 2008 crisis and never lost that clarity mission
- Reliably turns dry economic data into genuinely compelling narrative stories
- Stunt-reporting devices, like buying a literal barrel of oil, keep abstract ideas concrete
Where it gives ground
- The breezy tone occasionally undersells the seriousness of heavier economic topics
1 appearance
Where this entry ranks
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Top 49 rankings are editorial. Scores are produced from the published criteria on each list and are refreshed on the cadence stated there. Figures shown across this section are curated demonstration data.