Apple Celebrates 20th Anniversary of Taking Podcasts Mainstream With iPod and iTunes

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of iTunes gaining support for podcasts, Apple has shared a new web page highlighting 20 podcasts that the company loves.

The podcasts are categorized by year: 2005-2010, 2011-2015, 2016-2020, and 2021-2025.

Featured podcasts include This American Life, Acquired, The Daily, and others.

Apple shared a letter to honor the occasion:

At Apple Podcasts, we love podcasts.

Since the medium came to iTunes in 2005, our team has dedicated countless hours to helping people discover new shows. To celebrate 20 years, here are 20 favorites that best exemplify how far podcasting has come—and where it can go in the next two decades.

This list is a love letter to the podcasts that left a lasting impact on us and the ones we continue to recommend again and again. They are shows with hosts that feel like friends, and shows that make us press play immediately on the latest episode to hear what happens next. These shows have measurably improved our lives and helped define this medium we know and love.

Explore the list and join the celebration.

The anniversary is technically in a few more days, as Apple released iTunes 4.9 with support for discovering, listening to, and subscribing to podcasts on June 28, 2005.

"Apple is taking Podcasting mainstream by building it right into iTunes," said Steve Jobs, in a press release shared that day. "Podcasting is the next generation of radio, and users can now subscribe to over 3,000 free Podcasts and have each new episode automatically delivered over the Internet to their computer and iPod."

You can still read our own Arnold Kim's coverage of the iTunes update that day. Time flies!

Podcasts emerged a few years before iTunes support came along. The word "podcast" is credited to journalist Ben Hammersley, who referred to "podcasting" in a 2004 article in The Guardian. The word is a portmanteau of "iPod" and "broadcast."