Best Science Fiction Podcasts
Updated: October 18, 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 4, 2026 we took 23 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 23 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
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 23 chart snapshots we took in 2026.
- 2
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.
- 3
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.
- 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
Shelterwood
Bloody FM
- 7
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.
- 8
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.
- 9
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.
- 10
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.
- 11
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 23 snapshots with an average US rank of 8.4.
- 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
Unobtainium Podcast
Adam Sigel & Dr. Amy Mainzer
- 14
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.
- 15
INSOMNIO
Fepo
A Spanish-language horror anthology built from the most frightening stories sent in by listeners, with new episodes every Thursday.
- 16
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.
- 17
The Void
StillGood Audio Fiction
In the town of Milton the darkness is not just in your head: a cursed expanse called the Void surrounds the town and swallows anyone who tries to leave. Audio fiction from StillGood Audio Fiction.
- 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.
- 19
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.
- 20
End of All Hope
Bloody FM
A fictional podcast following three survivors as they trek across the country trying to stay alive during an alien invasion. From Bloody FM.
- 21
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.
- 22
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.
- 23
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.
- 24
Station 151
Pale Matter | Realm
- 26
Biome
Alex Zoubine
- 27
Classic Ghost Stories
Tony Walker
Tony Walker reads a ghost story, horror story or weird tale every week, from cozy Edwardian ghost stories to Victorian supernatural mysteries by writers like M. R. James and Elizabeth Gaskell.
- 28
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.
- 30
How i Died
Audiohm Media
Bodies are piling up in the strange town of Springfield and forensic pathologist Jonathan Spacer intends to find out why, though he has secrets of his own, starting with the fact that he can talk to the dead. A full-cast serial for mature audiences.
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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.
More fiction shows on CastFox
Shows in this genre that are not on the chart above.
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- The Last Hope
- Inframundo Relatos De Terror
- DRAMA: An Aural Experience™
- Stories Out Of This World
- خرافات
- Vikings: The Nine Realms | فايكنغز: العوالم التسعة
- WDR 5 Stolz und Vorurteil Hörbuch
- چیروک
- Leyendas urbanas, creepypastas y terror
- ハナの色は移りにけりな悪戯に
- Terrores Nocturnos
- Universidad de la Pesca
- Tomando Mates Con
- the Dead Letter Office of Somewhere, Ohio
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