TOP 10: Most Popular Great Pop Culture Debate Episodes of 2024
While 2024 was disastrous in many major ways — and will likely lead to more horror to come — it was a great year for the Great Pop Culture Debate.
Our show abandoned a certain letter-based social-media dumpster fire, and found a wonderful new home on Bluesky (please join us there!).
We made major strides on YouTube, which has become the home for the erstwhile Google Podcasts, and started adding original YouTube-exclusive videos.
We were honored to present our own live panels at AwesomeCon in Washington, D.C.; Comic-Con International in San Diego; and MCM Con in London.
And most importantly, we continued to grow as a podcast, with more listeners than ever and a slew of great new episodes (38 this year!).
If you’re a regular listener to the podcast, thank you so much for your support. If you haven’t checked out our show, you might want to start with the 10 most-listened-to episodes of 2024, found below. Note that some of these episodes were released prior to the past year, but remained so popular that they continued to crack our annual Top 10. Become a Patreon subscriber for exclusive warm-ups for every episode below, in which the panelists give even more insight to the topics.
While we won’t have any additional episodes dropping in 2024, come back in January 2025 as we release our Patreon-sponsored episodes for the year, two episodes that were previously Patreon exclusives, and a special Valentine’s Day collaboration with one of our favorite podcasts.
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10. (TIE) Best Elton John Single (Season 9, 5/13/2024) & Best Britney Spears Music Video (Season 10, 9/10/2024)
Fitting that the two music legends who collaborated on 2021’s “Hold Me Closer” would be tied for our No. 10 spot. The Britney episode was our first major foray into 2010s nostalgia; expect more of that in 2025, as we’ll now be 15 years away from 2010. As for Elton, we were honored to be joined for that episode by John Higgins, Staff Writer for EltonJohn.com and Elton’s personal archivist. If you have not listened to this episode, I strongly encourage it. John Higgins brings incredible insight and detail to the conversation. If you enjoy Elton John’s music, this is a must-listen. And John Higgins will be back in Season 11 as a guest panelist on another 70s rock episode. Care to guess the topic?
9. Best Barbra Streisand Song (Season 6, 11/21/2022)
I remain so pleased at the enduring popularity of this episode, which I feared would not find an audience with our listeners. I’ve never been so happy to be wrong. I guess people who need people really are the luckiest people in the world…
8. Best ‘80s Film Soundtrack (Season 5, 5/2/2022)
If we’re looking at listener numbers for the lifetime of the podcast, this episode is actually in the Top 5. But the fact that it was still one of our most-popular episodes solely in 2024, two years after it was released, is continued proof that the ‘80s never really ended — and we never want them to. Any other ‘80s topics we should cover? Drop a comment below.
7. Best “Les Miserables” Song (Season 8, 2/26/2024)
A total shocker. This Patreon-sponsored episode – requested by producer, editor, panelist, and supporter Bob Erlenback – was an absolute blast to record. Arguably one of our most unserious discussions, regarding a fairly dour (but beautiful!) story. But man, did it find an audience, quickly becoming a hit on both traditional podcast platforms and our YouTube channel. In early 2025 we’ll have another Patreon-sponsored episode discussing the best songs from another much-celebrated Broadway musical. Any guesses?
6. Best Female Country Music Artist (Season 9, 6/10/2024)
Prior to this Season 9 episode, we had barely discussed country music on this podcast. It is, of course, wildly popular – one of the dominant musical genres since at least the 1990s. But we wondered, Will our listeners engage with country? The answer was a resounding, “Yee-haw!” This has been one of our breakout episodes of 2024, getting a slew of downloads every single day. It’s a love note to the great women of country music, as well as a good debate. We will surely explore more country in the future – any suggestions for topics?
5. Best Batman Villain (Season 9, 6/17/2024)
Hold on to your Batarangs! Our Geek (comic book, video games, sci-fi/fantasy) topics tend to not be super-strong performers. What made this exploration of the Caped Crusader’s rogues gallery so successful? It’s a riddle – but not a joke. Certainly part of the success came from wonderful guest panelist Jordan Morris, writer of the graphic novel Youth Group, comedian, and podcast host. In 2025, look for more DC Comics topics, as we explore the best members of at LEAST one of the publisher’s legendary super teams. You can have your say on that debate now by clicking here.
4. Best Cher Song (Season 7, 5/15/2023)
It’s only correct that Cher continues to dominate our downloads; she’s been a chart-topper in the music industry for seven decades, so of course she continues to get big listens on our podcast. Big shout out to this episode’s guest panelist, drag icon and Cher impersonator Aggy Dune. For a similar vibe, check out Season 10’s Best Tina Turner Song, featuring ANOTHER drag legend guest panelist in Mrs. Kasha Davis from RuPaul’s Drag Race. I consider those two episodes in our Divas Series as sister episodes — just as Cher and Tina considered themselves.
3. Best 90s Dance Hit (Season 8, 2/5/2024)
Another of our Patreon-sponsored episodes, this one requested by Derek Mekita and featuring extra-special guest panelist Sandie Cianflone, AKA Derek’s sister. (Did you know if you sponsor one of our episodes, you determine the panelists? It’s true.) This episode is a riot, and was THE most popular episode we released in 2024, by a significant margin. Feel the vibrations and check out this banger of a debate; Derek’s NEXT sponsored episode will kick off our 2025 episodes in January, and focus on the hits from a different decade. Any guesses?
2. Best Phil Collins Song (Season 4, 2/14/2022)
The oldest episode in our Top 10, Best Phil Collins Song just keeps on chugging along. This is another Patreon-sponsored affair, requested by Dr. Chad Rezsnyak and featuring brother Todd Rezsnyak and honorary Rezsnyak, Kate Racculia. Phil has remained astonishingly popular since this episode was released. Take a look at him now! We will reiterate our invitation to Mr. Collins: we would love to take you out for a nice dinner the next time you’re in New York City. And come back in January for Dr. Chad’s next sponsored episode, a different family affair with a very different topic. That said, we will be debating another major 70s/80s male singer’s catalogue in Season 11. Any guesses?
1. Best Madonna Music Video (Season 9, 5/27/2024)
Best Madonna Single was one of the first episodes we recorded of this podcast, as part of our Season 0 (available to Patreon supporters only – you will not find it anywhere else). It’s a good discussion, but to be honest, we didn’t really know what we were doing. Madonna is such a critical pop-culture icon that we wanted a way to cover her again, without invalidating the earlier episode (which is still worth a listen!). So we decided to take this different approach to discussing the Material Girl/Material Mom, and you all got into the groove. Especially over on our YouTube Channel, where this episode has amassed thousands of views on its own. It’s a great episode. In 2025, look for us to to take a similar tactic as we reapproach two other Season 0 episodes – Best X-Men Team Member and Best 90s Cartoon – coming at them with a different lens.
The Worst-Performing Episodes of 2024
Looking for episodes you probably haven’t listened to? Check out the Rodney Dangerfields of the Great Pop Culture Debate, which received the fewest listens in 2024. Personally, I like (almost) all of them!
5. Best Pizza Topping (Season 4, 10/14/2021)
4. Best TV Game Show (Season 2, 10/15/2020)
3. Best Steel Magnolias Quote (Season 1, 8/31/2020)
2. Best Movie Monster (Season 2, 10/29/2020)
1. Best Animal Crossing Character (Season 2, 9/24/2020)
What were YOUR favorite episodes of the Great Pop Culture Debate this year? Leave a comment below!