
Each week we choose a theme. Then anything can happen. This American Life is true stories that unfold like little movies for radio. Personal stories with funny moments, big feelings, and surprising plot twists. Newsy stories that try to capture what it’s like to be alive right now. It’s the most popular weekly podcast in the world, and winner of the first ever Pulitzer Prize for a radio show or po... more
| Publishes | Weekly | Episodes | 516 | Founded | 20 years ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Listeners | Categories | Society & CultureArts | |||

It’s the midterms! This week’s show is about people changing their minds and not changing their minds — and the people trying to do the persuading.
Start a Life Partners free trial to watch our new video, A Night of Stories and Improv.
(00:00:00) ... more
A bank robber on an undercover mission. A teenage girl with the powers of a tiger. A vigilante seeking vengeance in Ciudad Juárez. All have secret identities — but not all of them chose those identities for themselves.
Start a Life Partners free tr... more
We asked listeners to send us their best coincidence stories, and we got more than 1,300 submissions! There were so many good ones that we decided to make a whole show about them. From a chance encounter at a bus station to a romantic dollar bill to ... more
We discover what we believe might be the original recipe for Coca-Cola…and share it with you! When this episode first aired in 2011, it made international headlines. This, and another story about telling copies from originals.
Visit thisamericanlif... more
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Such a powerful story about honestly reviewing our best intentions. Thank you to the Jones family for bringing this story public despite the surprise, painful ending. Najya may have a bestseller in her future...
Now to read the NYTimes story.
I loved this show so much but now so little is available to the commoners and the whole message is one of elitism. Other great podcasts have found better ways to capitalize. I’m disappointed in you, Ira.
I adore the show, listen religiously, but I am not into the AI sponsorship and ads!
Nicole Hannah jones’ story about her daughter’s horrible racist school made me unsub. I’m so tired of this liberal claptrap about how horrible it is to be black in America with zero sense of intellectual curiosity or interrogation. Just “white people bad black good.” Done! Have fun preaching to the choir.
This comment is for the narrator. You were not the selfish one. So much projection.
Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.
How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.
Apple Podcasts | #18 | |
Apple Podcasts | #2 | |
Apple Podcasts | #20 | |
Apple Podcasts | #117 | |
Apple Podcasts | #1 | |
Apple Podcasts | #16 |
Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.
Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.
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Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for This American Life. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to This American Life and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.
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Rephonic provides comprehensive predictive audience data for This American Life, including gender skew, age, country, political leaning, income, professions, education level, and interests. You can access these listener demographics by upgrading your account.
To see how many followers or subscribers This American Life has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.
These podcasts share a similar audience with This American Life:
1. Radiolab
2. The Moth
3. Heavyweight
4. Fresh Air
5. Serial
This American Life launched 20 years ago and published 516 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.
Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.
Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for This American Life from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.
View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.
Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of This American Life. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.
Recent guests on This American Life include:
1. Jon Ronson
2. Elna Baker
3. Yuri Herrera
4. Hannah Jacoby
5. Blake Oliver
6. Juliana Bontrager
7. Stephen Lee
8. Paul Gretchen
To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.