In its first full year as a Spotify exclusive, The Joe Rogan Experience ranked as Spotify’s Most Popular Podcast Globally for 2021. Unfortunately, Spotify does not release the number of views, streams and downloads for the JRE podcast making it difficult to compare the true popularity of the current Spotify era to the previous YouTube one. That being said, The Joe Rogan Experience was undeniably more influential than ever in 2021. The mainstream media definitely took notice and Joe Rogan was in the headlines or trending on Twitter every week for comments made on the podcast.
Some big name guests swung by the JRE’s Austin studio 2021. Many including Rogan would agree that the Jewel episode was one of the best podcasts he’s ever done. Quentin Tarantino was another stand-out. Elon Musk returned for his third appearance. Snoop Dogg was Snoop Dogg. And Dave Chappelle finally came back for a proper full-length, one-on-one episode.
For this Year in Review, we’ve compiled some of the publicly available metrics and summarized the key events related to the JRE podcast in 2021. Jump straight to the infographic or read more details in the article below. Check out our JRE Podcast 2020 Year In Review for comparison.
Joe Rogan Tests Positive for COVID
On September 1, 2021, Joe Rogan released the now infamous “kitchen sink” video on his Instagram announcing that he caught COVID-19 while in Florida and was symptomatic. He described his treatment protocol which included monoclonal antibodies and the controversial anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin. This led to a flurry of media attention, criticisms and memes. There were even accusations that the media had doctored the Instagram video to make Rogan appear more gray and sickly. By September 7, Rogan was back to podcasting with comedian Tom Segura (JRE #1703).
Number of JRE Podcast Episodes in 2021
There were 190 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast released in 2021. This number includes 19 x JRE MMA Shows.
There were 10 fewer episodes in 2021 compared to 2020. This was the second consecutive year with a decrease in the number of episodes from the previous year.
There were zero JRE Fight Companion podcasts released in 2021. This is the first year without one since they started in 2014.
Length of JRE Podcasts in 2021
If you were to listen to every episode of the JRE podcast from 2021, it would take a total of 562 hours. That’s the equivalent of 23.4 days or 6.4% of an entire year. This is 21 hours longer than 2020’s total with fewer episodes.
The average length of an episode of the JRE podcast in 2021 was 2 hours 57 minutes. This is an increase of 15 minutes per episode compared to 2020.
The longest episode of 2021 was JRE #1712 with Bert Kreischer at 4 hours 50 minutes. It was released in two parts.
Most JRE Guest Appearances in 2021
Tim Dillon, Ari Shaffir and Brian Redban tied for the most JRE guest appearances in 2021 with three each. This is the second year in a row that Tim Dillon has been the most frequent podcast guest. Eleven other guests made two appearances in 2021.
There were zero remote podcasts done via Skype/Zoom in 2021.
Most Watched JRE Clips of 2021
From the official PowerfulJRE YouTube channel, the most watched video clip of The Joe Rogan Experience in 2021 was Former CIA Agent Mike Baker on China’s 2049 Plan from JRE #1617.
The 5 most watched JRE clips of 2021 are listed below:
- Former CIA Agent Mike Baker on China’s 2049 Plan (7.8M)
- Joe’s COVID Experience, CNN’s Ivermectin Claims (6.1M)
- What Michael Pollan Learned from Quitting Caffeine for 3 Months (5.4M)
- The Taliban Taking Over Afghanistan (5.3M)
- Joe on the Outrage Around Dave Chappelle’s New Special (5.2M)
These 5 JRE clips account for almost 30 million views on YouTube, where as 2020’s top 5 clips received over 52 million views.
It should be noted that the number of views for JRE Clips on Spotify is not public and therefore not included.
Most Mentioned Books on JRE in 2021
As expected, The Bible was once again the most mentioned book on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast in 2021. It along with two other books listed below (*) also appeared on 2020’s list of the most mentioned books. Check out Joe Rogan’s Reading List & Recommended Books to see which books he read in 2021.
- The Bible *
- Count Down by Shanna Swan
- Hate Inc. by Matt Taibbi
- Chaos by Tom O’Neill *
- Empire of the Summer Moon by S. C. Gwynne *
- Drug Use for Grown-Ups by Dr. Carl L. Hart
- 1984 by George Orwell
- A Land So Strange by Andrés Reséndez
- The Immortality Key by Brian C. Muraresku
- The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi
JRE 2021 Year In Review Infographic
Click to enlarge
