Best Science Fiction Podcasts
Updated: September 8, 2026
Top sci-fi podcasts with gripping audio dramas, speculative fiction, and futuristic storytelling. The best science fiction in audio form.
Full data-backed ranking
Best Science Fiction Podcasts 2026: Top 20 Ranked by Data
How this science fiction podcast ranking is built
CastFox tracks the Apple Podcasts Science Fiction category every day and keeps the history, so this is chart data rather than an editor's shortlist. Between February 24 and September 8, 2026 we took 24 snapshots of the category top 100, saw 208 different shows pass through it, and followed each one across the 78 country charts we cover. The order below follows the most recent snapshot, so it moves as the chart moves.
The category is broader than the name suggests. Apple files horror anthologies, paranormal talk shows and Spanish-language mystery series under Science Fiction next to space audio drama, so The NoSleep Podcast and Old Gods of Appalachia share this chart with Wolf 359 and DERELICT. Only a handful of shows hold a place in every snapshot; The NoSleep Podcast averaged rank 1.2 across the whole window and Welcome to Night Vale averaged 2.7.
Each entry links to its full CastFox profile with audience estimates, chart history in every country we track, reviews and contact details. For the version ranked by consistency across all 24 snapshots rather than by today's position, with cover art, group breakdowns and listener fit for each show, read the companion post linked above.
Top 30 Podcasts
30 shows- 1
The NoSleep Podcast
Creative Reason Media Inc.
A horror fiction anthology from Creative Reason Media built on original short stories with full-cast narration and heavy sound design, now past 700 episodes. It averaged US rank 1.2 across all 24 chart snapshots we took in 2026.
- 2
Old Gods of Appalachia
DeepNerd Media
A horror anthology set in an alternate Appalachia where something old and hungry sleeps under the mountains and digging into the mines was only the first mistake. It reached number one in the US in 2026 and charts in 66 countries.
- 3
Welcome to Night Vale
Night Vale Presents
Twice-monthly community radio updates from a small desert town where every conspiracy theory is true, running past 360 episodes from Night Vale Presents. New listeners can start with the current episode or go back to episode 1.
- 4
EXTRA ANORMAL
iEX Studios
A Spanish-language paranormal series from iEX Studios covering unexplained phenomena, hidden dimensions and listener accounts across 470 episodes. It is the highest-charting non-English show in this category.
- 5
The SCP Experience
Dr. NoSleep Studios
An audio series set in the SCP Foundation universe, adapting containment files and anomalous research through cinematic narration and sound design. New episodes land Mondays and Fridays, and the producers mark it for adult listeners.
- 6
The Strata
Mark R. Healy
In a dystopian city, an aging courier is forced into business with an underworld ganglord to pay for the treatment keeping him alive. 157 episodes from Australian author Mark R. Healy.
- 7
Unobtainium Podcast
Adam Sigel & Dr. Amy Mainzer
- 8
National Emergency
The Midnight Mystery
Unexplained emergency broadcasts start taking over devices with survival instructions where one mistake means you disappear. Nine episodes from The Midnight Mystery, and it still charted in every snapshot we took.
- 9
The Road of Shadows
Mark R. Healy
It is 1984 and Daniel Knox is on the run from creatures disguised as ordinary people, the ones he calls Shadows. A Beyond the Dark production created by Mark R. Healy.
- 10
The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast - Vintage Sci-Fi Short Stories
Scott Miller
Narrated vintage science fiction short stories from the 1700s through the mid-1960s, drawn from early speculative fiction and the pulp magazine era. Several new episodes a week across 529 recordings.
- 11
Last Resort
Voyage Media
- 12
Wolf 359
Kinda Evil Genius Productions, LLC
Communications officer Doug Eiffel records audio logs aboard the U.S.S. Hephaestus, in orbit around a red dwarf 7.8 light years from Earth, with a mission chief, a science officer and a malfunctioning station AI for company. A completed 100-episode run that still charts in every snapshot.
- 13
Matt From Nomad’s
Matt Crabtree
A conversational show from Matt Crabtree covering conspiracies, true crime, the supernatural and historical oddities. It appeared in 19 of our 24 snapshots with an average US rank of 8.4.
- 14
Mission To Zyxx
Mission To Zyxx
An improvised science fiction sitcom following a team of ambassadors trying to establish diplomatic relations in the remote and chaotic Zyxx Quadrant, across 152 episodes. The only improvised comedy series charting near the top of this category.
- 15
DUST
Gunpowder & Sky
A science fiction anthology from Gunpowder & Sky. Season three, CHRYSALIS, follows an AI that awakens after the genocide of the human race and sets off on a path of vengeance across the known universe.
- 16
Archive 81
Dead Signals
A fiction podcast about horror, cities and the subconscious, told through found archival recordings. The producers point new listeners to the first episode, A Body In A New Place.
- 17
Bunker 8
The Midnight Mystery
Jack, an Australian ex-soldier, takes a six-month posting at a classified Antarctic facility where he oversees assets locked in cells and is told never to ask questions. The second Midnight Mystery serial charting in this category.
- 18
TANIS
Public Radio Alliance
A serialized docudrama from the Public Radio Alliance, hosted by Nic Silver, about the myth of Tanis and the nature of truth, conspiracy and information. Fiction presented as investigative journalism.
- 20
Desert Skies
Jared Carter
A service station on the highway between this life and the next, staffed by the Attendant, the Mechanic and C.A.S.H. Register. Written, produced and performed entirely by Jared Carter.
- 21
DERELICT
Night Rocket Productions
An ancient artifact shaped like a giant door is found nineteen thousand feet down in the sea floor, and the galaxy most powerful corporation builds a secret laboratory around it. Season one, FATHOM, is written by science fiction author J. Barton Mitchell.
- 22
Clarkesworld Magazine
Clarkesworld Magazine
Science fiction and fantasy stories from Clarkesworld, a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning digital magazine whose stories have been nominated for or won the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy and Locus awards.
- 23
The Leviathan Chronicles
Leviathan Audio Productions
A full-cast audio drama universe spanning the deepest ocean trenches and deep space, blending science fiction, covert espionage and secret histories with original scores and cinematic sound design.
- 24
Biome
Alex Zoubine
- 25
The Left Right Game
QCODE
Tessa Thompson stars as a young journalist following a group of paranormal explorers obsessed with a road game called the Left/Right Game, into a supernatural world none of them can survive. A complete 11-episode series from QCODE.
- 26
Bloodrock Springs
Mark R. Healy
An audio drama from Mark R. Healy in which an ominous cloud of dust surrounds a small outback town and the residents trapped inside realize they are not alone. Mystery, horror and suspense with a dash of Australian humor.
- 27
The Silt Verses
Eskew Productions Ltd
A horror and fantasy serial in which two worshippers of an outlawed god travel the length of their deity black river, hunted by a police manhunt and by the stranger gods that have taken root along the way.
- 28
Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality Audiobook
Jack Voraces
Professional narrator Jack Voraces reads the Eliezer Yudkowsky fan fiction Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality in full, released free as a podcast.
- 29
Spyology Squad
Mr. Jim and Storybutton
A kids adventure series from Mr. Jim and Storybutton in which Jayden, Ava and Mr. Jim take on missions against Dr. Stinkybreath and his Purple Ninjas, mixing science with espionage.
- 30
La Mano Peluda
Radio Fórmula
A long-running Spanish-language show from Radio Formula about the unknown, the unusual and the supernatural, built on investigations, interviews and analysis of claimed evidence.
Related Lists
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How CastFox Ranks Podcasts
CastFox ranks podcasts using real chart data collected daily from Apple Podcasts. Unlike editorial picks or listener polls, our rankings are based on actual chart performance — giving you an objective view of what people are listening to right now.
We track chart positions across every genre and over 100 countries. Each podcast on this page is ranked by its position on the Apple Podcasts charts, deduplicated and sorted to show the most popular shows first. Rankings refresh every 24 hours so you always see the latest trends.
Click any podcast to access its full CastFox analytics profile. You can explore estimated audience size, chart history over time, Apple Podcasts ratings and reviews, YouTube presence, platform availability, and AI-powered web analysis — all in one place.
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