Joe Rogan disputes podcast Guinness World Record—”that’s mine”

Joe Rogan has disputed the Guinness World Records listing stating that fellow comedian Adam Carolla has the most-downloaded podcast.

The first episode of The Adam Carolla Show went live online in February 2009. Two years later, in May 2011, it was recognized by Guinness World Records as being the “most downloaded podcast,” having received 59,574,843 unique downloads from March 2009 to March 16, 2011.

Rogan, whose show The Joe Rogan Experience has consistently topped the podcast charts in recent years, discussed Carolla’s title while sitting with his recent studio guests, standup comics Chris Distefano and Yannis Pappas. Newsweek has contacted representatives of Carolla and Guinness World Records via email for comment.

As the trio discussed the world records held by author and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard for his written works, Distefano told Rogan: “If you keep going, you might be in line for Guinness World Records’ most podcast minutes ever recorded.”

“Maybe,” Rogan responded. “I mean, what’s the record now? I might already have it.”

Pivoting to another record, Rogan, whose shows regularly exceed three hours and are released at least three times a week, said: “I already have the Guinness World Record one that Adam Carolla holds. Adam Carolla has, like, the most-downloaded podcast of all time.

“Like, b**** that’s mine,” Rogan added with a smile. “You can have it, though. You can keep it. Keep your name in the book, but that’s mine.”

Distefano then said that those wanting their records made official “have to specifically go to Guinness World Records, and they have to do research.”

“Yeah, you have to prove it,” Rogan agreed. “You have to go to them to try to get it on the books. And I don’t give a f***. But if they were, like, really checking, it has to be [me].”

Rogan added that his podcast “has been number one for five or six years, there’s no way. There’s no way Adam Carolla’s still got it. That’s crazy. You’re lying.”

Former Fear Factor host 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.

Spotify and Rogan signed a new $250 million deal in February 2024, when it was announced that the show would no longer be exclusive to its service; it is now available to other platforms.

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, whistleblower Edward Snowden, and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, and President-elect Donald Trump in the concluding weeks of his campaign.

Last month, Rogan was dethroned as the host of the number one podcast on Apple Music and Spotify in the U.S. by Kylie Kelce, who is married to retired FL star Jason Kelce. Her new podcast, Not Gonna Lie, made its debut on streaming platforms on December 5, and hit the top spot on the charts just four days later.

The Not Gonna Lie podcast had reportedly climbed to the number two spot before it even premiered and eventually took the top spot. As of press time, Kylie Kelce’s podcast has dipped to sixth place on Spotify’s chart with Rogan’s show in second, behind The Telepathy Tapes.