UK Podcast Chart for the Week of October 5, 2026: The Most Popular Shows

For the week of October 5, 2026, the latest verified UK-wide podcast audience ranking is Edison Research at SSRS’s Top 25 for the second quarter of 2026. The company published it on September 3. Its top four are The Joe Rogan Experience, The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett, The Rest Is Politics, and The Rest Is History. All four kept their Q1 positions.

There is an important date distinction: this is the latest published national audience ranker available for this edition, not a list measuring listening during the week of October 5. Edison’s release covers Q2 2026 and measures weekly reach through a quarterly survey. For a fast-changing snapshot inside one listening app, current platform charts answer a different question. The right choice depends on whether you want cross-platform audience reach, current in-app discovery, or the latest comparable published survey.

The latest verified UK-wide Top 25

Edison ranks shows by reach among UK weekly podcast listeners ages 15 and older. The table gives the Q2 rank and the rank movement reported against Q1 2026. “Not in Q1 Top 25” means the prior chart did not show a position among its first 25; it does not mean the show was new or had no listeners.

Source: Edison Research at SSRS, “The Top 25 Podcasts in the UK for Q2 2026,” published September 3, 2026.

What changed since the previous quarter?

The top four did not move, which gives this chart a stable leading group. The first notable climb is The Rest Is Football, up one place to No. 5. The News Agents rose two spots to No. 6, moving ahead of Newscast, which fell three places to No. 8. These changes show how even established news and sports programs can exchange positions between quarterly surveys.

Two shows tied for the largest climb within the Top 25: Uncanny and The Rest Is Entertainment each rose 11 positions, to No. 7 and No. 10. The Louis Theroux Podcast recorded a much larger gain across the broader ranker, climbing 41 places from No. 65 in Q1 to No. 24 in Q2. Edison linked that rise to the show’s return for its eighth season. That makes it the most dramatic movement highlighted in the release, though it is still a quarter-to-quarter survey comparison, not a week-to-week jump.

New appearances near the bottom also changed the mix. Dish debuted at No. 19, and The Martin Lewis Podcast entered at No. 25. ShxtsNGigs and No Such Thing As A Fish appear in the Q2 Top 25 without a prior Top 25 position listed. Conversely, The Overlap dropped nine spots to No. 20, the largest fall shown among titles that remained in the Top 25. These moves identify changes in rank, not changes in the number of listeners; the public release does not provide show-level audience counts.

How the Edison chart measures popularity

Edison Podcast Metrics is survey-based rather than download-based. Edison and SSRS say they survey at least 2,000 weekly podcast consumers in the UK each quarter, ages 15 and older for this ranker. Respondents report listening regardless of platform, and podcast networks do not need to opt in for their shows to be considered. The Q2 table compares reach among weekly listeners, making it useful for estimating how broadly a show reaches across the UK podcast audience during the measurement quarter.

The tradeoff is timing and detail. A quarterly survey gives a broader view across apps than a chart from one service, but it is less immediate than a live ranking. A show may rise or fall in a specific week without that movement appearing in a quarter-level survey until a later release. The public Top 25 also does not give precise listener totals, so a one-place change does not reveal how close two shows were.

For a platform-specific comparison, Apple’s UK “Top Shows” page is live and can shift as the service updates it. When checked on October 8, it listed The Rest Is Politics, The Rest Is History, The News Agents, The Rest Is Entertainment, The Romesh Ranganathan Show, Bear Hunt, and The Rest Is Politics: US as its first seven overall shows. Those entries are an Apple Podcasts snapshot from within the October 5 editorial week, not a cross-platform weekly ranking or a published archive for October 5 itself. Spotify also offers a UK-specific daily podcast chart, but its ranks describe Spotify’s own chart rather than Edison’s all-platform survey reach.

Which ranking should listeners use?

If you are choosing one new show to try, Edison’s list is a good starting point for broad UK reach: the top four were unchanged, while Uncanny, The Rest Is Entertainment, and The Louis Theroux Podcast posted the most notable gains. If you mainly listen in one app, its current local chart may be more practical because it reflects that service’s discovery environment. For a specific subject or listening style, check the show description and a recent episode before subscribing; rank alone cannot tell you whether the format or release schedule suits you.

What this October 5 edition can confirm

No official national chart measuring only the week beginning October 5 was verified. The most recent cross-platform UK ranker located for this edition was published September 3 and covers Q2 2026. This article therefore keeps the editorial week and the chart’s actual measurement period separate. The verified result is a stable top four, two 11-place gains among Top 25 shows, and a 41-place rise for The Louis Theroux Podcast from outside the previous quarter’s Top 25.

Use the Edison ranking for comparable UK reach across services, and use the live Apple or Spotify chart when you want to see what is ranking within that app now. Those are useful but different measures. The label on a chart matters: “weekly listeners” describes who the survey ranks, not necessarily a chart generated once every week.

Sources

• Edison Research at SSRS: Q2 2026 UK Top 25 and methodology, September 3, 2026.
• Edison Research at SSRS: Q1 2026 UK Top 25, used for prior-quarter comparison.
• Apple Podcasts UK Top Charts.
• Spotify’s UK Podcast Chart.