How Long Has Joe Rogan Been on Spotify?

While Joe Rogan has had his most controversial year to date through his eponymous podcast, he remains the de facto king of Spotify as the platform's most popular contributor.

Discussing the topics making the headlines on any given day, The Joe Rogan Experience has seen the host share his thoughts on everybody from President Joe Biden to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.

However, Rogan himself dominated headlines earlier this year, when he was widely criticized by hundreds of medical and scientific experts for airing false statements on vaccines and the COVID pandemic on his show.

That also led to a backlash from several artists, including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, who took their music off Spotify in protest against sharing a platform with the podcaster. A number of artists have since returned to the platform.

The former Fear Factor host also came under fire for his repeated use of the N-word across multiple episodes. Rogan apologized amid the backlash and also said that the clips shared on social media had been taken out of context.

Rogan started his podcast on YouTube back in 2009. By 2015, it had grown to become one of the world's most popular podcasts, regularly pulling in millions of views.

In December 2020, Rogan signed a licensing deal with Spotify for the platform's exclusive rights to broadcast the podcast. The deal was widely reported at the time to be worth $100 million, although The New York Times reported in February 2022 that the true number for the three-and-a-half-year deal was "at least" $200 million.

Where Can I Watch Rogan Podcast?

While listeners can tune in to Rogan's podcast on Spotify, they can also watch highlights from the broadcasts on the media personality's PowerfulJRE YouTube channel, which currently has more than 13 million subscribers.

Rogan's sizable audience has watched over the years as the host has welcomed a number of household names onto his show, including Senator Bernie Sanders, whistle-blower Edward Snowden, and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Many of the videos posted on the channel have broken past the one million mark in views, while all have achieved a minimum of hundreds of thousands.

The videos on YouTube likely prove all the more popular due to the fact that the Spotify versions of the episodes are audio only.

How Many Followers Does Rogan Have on Spotify?

While Spotify does not publicly release its subscriber numbers for The Joe Rogan Experience, a Time article published in February 2022 reported that the podcast was averaging an estimated 11 million listeners per episode at the time.

Citing sources, The Hollywood Reporter reported in an April 2022 that Rogan's audience share has continued to steadily grow since arriving on Spotify, so it is likely that his current average episode numbers have been boosted as a result.

When it was revealed Spotify had lost 1.5 million paying subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, a company executive insisted that Rogan was not to blame, pointing the finger instead to the suspension of services in Russia.

It was revealed in November that The Joe Rogan Experience has taken the number one slot for most popular podcast of the year globally.

Coming in second and third are Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy and Emma Chamberlain's Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain.

The fourth and fifth slots are then both occupied by thriller/crime series, with Caso 63 coming in at number four and Crime Junkie rounding off the top five most popular podcasts in fifth place.

Rogan's top spot faced a fleeting challenge from the Duchess of Sussex's podcast Archetypes, which briefly topped the chart earlier this year. Kim Kardashian's real crime series, The System, also enjoyed a brief stint at the top.

How Much Does Rogan Make for Spotify?

As with the exact subscriber figures, it has not been specified how profitable Rogan has been for the streaming giant.

However, Rogan's ever-growing audience indicates that he is likely the platform's most profitable signing, having the biggest podcast not only in the U.S. but in 92 other markets, according to The New York Times.

The newspaper has also reported that Rogan's presence has helped boost Spotify's growth of its advertising business, with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek telling employees that exclusive content such as the star's is vital in competing against such dominant market forces as Apple and Google.

Will Spotify Drop Rogan?

In short, no. At the height of the backlash Rogan faced earlier this year, Spotify began adding an advisory to any podcast episodes that discussed the pandemic.

Spotify CEO Ek also condemned Rogan's use of racial slurs on his podcast, but also stated his commitment to keeping the show on the streaming platform.

In a letter sent to staff, Ek addressed Rogan's use of racial slurs and derogatory comments about Black people and confirmed the removal of certain episodes.

"Not only are some of Joe Rogan's comments incredibly hurtful—I want to make clear that they do not represent the values of this company," Ek wrote in the memo obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. "I know this situation leaves many of you feeling drained, frustrated and unheard."

Ek said that the company had spoken with Rogan about "some of the content in his show, including his history of using some racially insensitive language."

Following these chats "and his own reflections," Ek said that Rogan "chose to remove a number of episodes from Spotify."

Despite "strongly condemning" Rogan's comments, Ek said he did "not believe that silencing Joe is the answer" and that "canceling voices is a slippery slope."

He said: "Looking at the issue more broadly, it's critical thinking and open debate that powers real and necessary progress."

Ek then pledged $100 million to licensing, developing, and marketing music and other audio content by creators from historically marginalized groups.

Rogan issued his own apology back in February, sharing a video on Instagram in which he said his use of the slur in a viral video compilation posted by singer India.Arie was "the most regretful and shameful thing that I've ever had to talk about publicly."

He said the clips were "taken out of context" and that he "hadn't said it in years."