The biggest podcast of all time? Not quite…
Obviously Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are one of the most talked-about couples in pop culture these days. The pop superstar and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end went public with their relationship back in 2023, and since then all eyes have been on both of them no matter where they are or what they’re doing.
So naturally when it was announced earlier this week that Taylor would be appearing on the New Heights podcast, which Travis Kelce co-hosts with his brother, retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, it set the internet on fire. And when they dropped a teaser of Taylor using the appearance to announce her upcoming album, The Life Of A Showgirl, the podcast became a must-watch for Swifties.
Ahead of the episode, Swifties were already talking about trying to break the world record for views on a podcast (which, if you’re interested, is currently held by Fnjan Podcast, a Saudi relationship podcast whose 2022 episode on “How To Succeed In Relationships” has racked up 144 million views on YouTube alone so far).
But they also had another goal in mind: They wanted to top the massive viewership numbers set by President Donald Trump when the then-presidential candidate sat down with Joe Rogan ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
It’s no surprise that the Swifties were hoping to dethrone Donald Trump. The president’s obviously not a big fan of the pop superstar, who endorsed his opponent in the last two presidential elections. And after Swift endorsed Kamala Harris last fall, Trump went in on her on social media, posting on his Truth Social platform that he “hated” Taylor Swift.
Trump was at the Super Bowl this year, where he received quite the warm reception, while Swift was the target of boos from the Philadelphia Eagles fans in attendance at the game in New Orleans – something that Trump took notice of and shared videos of the contrasting receptions:
And he even threw some shade at the pop superstar when the Eagles visited the White House earlier this year:
“It was an incredible game. A little surprising, but right from the beginning in the first quarter of the big game – which I was there. I watched in person. I was there along with Taylor Swift. How did that work out? How did that one work out?”
He’s also taken credit for her no longer being “hot.”
“Has anyone noticed that, since I said “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,” she’s no longer “HOT?””
So yeah, there’s a little bit of a rivalry between the two cultural phenomenons.
Well now that we’re more than 24 hours after the premiere of Taylor’s episode, how did it stack up against Trump and Rogan?
The New Heights podcast actually surpassed Rogan in concurrent YouTube viewers during the premiere, peaking at 1.3 million versus the 800,000 who were tuned into the livestream for Trump’s appearance on Rogan.
But that lead didn’t last long.
According to Forbes, within the first 12 hours of dropping the Trump episode of Joe Rogan, the podcast had already racked up 11 million views, compared to 9 million in the first 12 hours of Swift’s podcast. In fact, it took New Heights 19 hours to reach the 11 million mark that was set by Rogan in just 12 hours.
And after 24 hours that gap grew even larger. The podcast from the Kelce brothers had 13 million streams on YouTube in the first day, while Donald Trump’s three hour chat with Rogan drew double those numbers at 26 million.
Obviously Swifties are used to tuning in immediately when she drops something new, while Rogan’s audience tends to consume his episodes on their own schedule as opposed to right when it drops. So it’s not really surprising that Taylor had the initial bump, but Rogan took a commanding lead as time went on.
And regardless, the episode did huge numbers. Spotify revealed that Swift’s appearance increased listenership to New Heights by 3,000%, including an increase in female listenership of 618%.
As of right now, the Taylor Swift podcast is sitting at just over 15 million views on YouTube, while the Rogan episode is at 59.7 million. So if Swifties want to break the record, they’ve still got quite a ways to go. But either way, it’s still a massive win for New Heights, the Kelce brothers, and Taylor Swift – even if they’re not really close to topping Trump on Rogan.
