Podcast covers

Podcast cover art, and one empty frame

Every cover below is charting on Apple Podcasts right now, mixed from all eighteen genres. One square is empty. Put your artwork in it and look at it the way a listener does, at the size everything else is. Switch to the list and the same covers become rows, which is how a search result is drawn.

Looked after by Sleeve, a record sleeve.

Your image is read by your own browser and never sent anywhere. No account, no upload, no limit. Drop a file on the empty square or paste one from your clipboard.

Smosh Reads Reddit Stories cover artThe MeidasTouch Podcast cover artFantasy Football Today cover artBoring History for Sleep cover artFresh Air cover artPod Meets World cover artThe Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) cover artMiss Understood with Rachel Uchitel cover artCare More Be Better: A Podcast For Sustainable Social Impact and Regeneration cover artOn Purpose with Jay Shetty cover artAI Business Daily cover artHabits and Hustle cover artThe Plot Thickens cover artThe Dr. John Delony Show cover artThe Besties cover artREAL AF with Andy Frisella cover artNightcap cover artOld Gods of Appalachia cover artDC EKG cover artMachine Gods cover artThe Whinypaluza Podcast cover artThe Woman in the Woods cover artCritical Role cover artPardon My Take cover artOlogies with Alie Ward cover artWatch What Crappens cover artDateline NBC cover artThe Lawfare Podcast cover artUp First from NPR cover artThe MOOD Podcast cover artThe Thyroid (and Hormone) Fixer Podcast: Thyropause, Menopause, Metabolism and How to Fix It cover artBred To Lead | With Dr. Jake Tayler Jacobs cover artStreet Preachers cover artBrains On! Science podcast for kids cover artMusic Matters with Darrell Craig Harris cover artScary Horror Stories by Dr. NoSleep cover artGet Played cover artBiohack-it cover artMusic Saved Me Podcast cover artfollowHIM cover artCrime Junkie cover artRed Eye Radio cover artGreeking Out from National Geographic Kids cover artThe Chef's Cut cover artConan O’Brien Needs A Friend cover artTechy Tekki Trance, Techno, and Euphoric Hardstyle cover artAll-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg cover art
47 covers from all eighteen genres in the United States. Order is shuffled once a day and holds still in between.Cover art belongs to the shows and is served from Apple’s own servers.

One genre at a time

Each of these has its own page: the full top 100, what that chart’s covers have in common, and what happens to them at 55 pixels.

REAL AF with Andy Frisella cover artThe Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk cover artUnblinded with Sean Callagy cover art

Business

Business covers are mostly a host's face on a dark field, name set in caps.

Crime Junkie cover artMorbid cover artDateline NBC cover art

True Crime

True Crime covers are dark, muted and photographic, which is why one white one wins.

The Daily cover artUp First from NPR cover artPod Save America cover art

News

News covers are a flat colour field with a network wordmark or a presenter's head.

The Joe Rogan Experience cover artSmartLess cover artGood Hang with Amy Poehler cover art

Comedy

Comedy covers are saturated colour and a face caught mid-expression.

This American Life cover artNotes from the Edge cover artThe Shawn Ryan Show cover art

Society & Culture

Society & Culture covers lean on flat red and white fields with wordmark-only type.

The Dylan Gemelli Podcast cover artPassion Struck with John R. Miles cover artHuberman Lab cover art

Health & Fitness

Health & Fitness has the longest show names on Apple, and small type to match.

Tomorrow, Today cover artAll-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg cover artAI Business Daily cover art

Technology

Technology covers are near-black with a wordmark, and almost never a face.

Mick Unplugged cover artThe Mel Robbins Podcast cover artThe Jamie Kern Lima Show cover art

Education

Education covers are a face beside a promise, in the second-longest names on Apple.

Fresh Air cover artThe Moth cover artThe iDesign Lab Podcast | Where Design, Business, and Culture Shape How We Live and Build cover art

Arts

Arts is the most visually varied chart: illustration, hand-lettering and texture.

Pardon My Take cover artThe Bill Simmons Podcast cover artThe Dan Le Batard Show cover art

Sports

Sports covers run on team colour, cut-out heads and a badge in the corner.

Something You Should Know cover artHidden Brain cover artScience of Perception Box cover art

Science

Science covers are usually one bright flat colour and a single drawn object.

Tony Mantor's : Almost Live..... Nashville cover artThe Joe Budden Podcast cover artJersey Made cover art

Music

Music covers borrow album logic: a portrait, a mood, and the title set small.

Watch What Crappens cover artThe Rewatchables cover artThe Big Picture cover art

TV & Film

TV & Film covers are pastel or lime flat fields with the title set very large.

Greeking Out from National Geographic Kids cover artGood Inside with Dr. Becky cover artThe Whinypaluza Podcast cover art

Kids & Family

Kids & Family is illustrated, primary-coloured, and carries the longest names.

Live Free with Josh Howerton cover artThe Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) cover art2819 Church cover art

Religion & Spirituality

Religion covers are either a preacher's portrait or a plain card of type.

Table Read cover artThe NoSleep Podcast cover artSherlock Holmes Short Stories cover art

Fiction

Fiction covers behave like film posters: dark, atmospheric, one image.

Ante Up Poker Magazine cover artCritical Role cover artDuck Call Room cover art

Leisure

Leisure covers show the hobby itself, or the logo of the game being discussed.

Strict Scrutiny cover art5-4 cover artThe DSR Network cover art

Government

Government covers are institutional: marble, navy, a gavel, a serif.

Ten stores, ten different charts

Apple keeps a separate chart per country. Start with Business in any of them.

What to do with it

  1. 1Look at the list, not the coverA cover you have stared at for a week always looks fine. The same cover between two charting shows at 55 pixels is a different picture, and it is the one your listener gets.
  2. 2Find the convention, then decideEvery genre here has a house style. Knowing what it is gives you two options rather than none: fit it and be legible, or break it deliberately and be the one that stands out.
  3. 3Then check the file itselfSize, format and weight are the easy half. The cover art checker runs them in your browser, next to the same list and wall you are looking at here.

Questions

Where do these covers come from?
Apple’s public podcast charts, one call per genre and country, refreshed daily. The artwork is served from Apple’s own servers and every cover links to that show on Apple Podcasts. Nothing is copied onto our site.
Is my artwork uploaded when I compare it?
No. The file is turned into a local object URL and drawn by your own browser. It is never sent to us or to anyone else, which is also why there is no sign-in and no limit on how many times you can do it.
Why does the wall change some days and not others?
The order is shuffled once a day from a fixed seed, so it looks like a mix rather than eighteen genres in a row, and it stays exactly where it is while you are reading. Changing a filter is the only thing that rearranges it during a visit.
Why 55 pixels?
That is roughly the height of a row in an Apple Podcasts library or search result, which is where most people meet a cover for the first time. Artwork is designed at 3000 pixels and judged at 55, and the two sizes disagree more often than not.
Should I copy what the top shows are doing?
Sometimes. A convention exists because it works, and in a genre like Science the convention happens to be the most legible thing you could do anyway. But a chart where ninety covers do the same thing is also a chart where the ninety-first has an easy job.
Why ten countries

Apple keeps a separate chart per country, and they are less alike than people expect. Counted across all eighteen genres on 10 September, an average of 64 shows in each Canadian hundred were also charting in America. In Germany it was 12. If you publish outside the United States, the covers you are actually placed against are on your own country’s page, not on the American one.