Joe Rogan named the top-earning podcaster after bringing home $82M in a year — $12M more than the second-place podcaster

John Coogan and Jordi Hays, hosts of TBPN (Technology Business Programming Network), earned $70 million during that period, while Steven Bartlett (The Diary of a CEO, $45 million), Ashley Flowers (Crime Junkie, $42 million) and the team of Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes (SmartLess, $37 million) round out the top five.

Forbes’ calculated earnings are an estimation of the total amount earned through a podcaster(s) business, including platform fees and revenue sharing. The estimations also represent pretax earnings and did not include live shows, instead focusing on broadcasts that were either distributed on YouTube or syndicated later on.

While The Joe Rogan Experience is widely considered to be one of, if not the most successful podcasts in the world, Rogan still has plenty of haters and some were quick to share their displeasure with this news online.

‘WHO IS PAYING JOE ROGAN 82 million?’

No one seemed to be irked by this news more than Chelsea Handler, who didn’t hold back when commenting on Forbes’ Instagram post.

“WHO IS PAYING JOE ROGAN 82 million?” the comedian asked. “Give that to our vets, or our children!!! 82 million to be completely uninformed and say ‘whoopsie doodle,’ every time he’s wrong, which is FREQUENT?”

And while many defended Rogan in their reply to Handler’s comment, others agreed with her take.

“He’s one of those people who makes you scratch your head and say ‘how did he get there,’” said one commenter. “More importantly, who is listening? Why are they listening? That’s the part that really stands out to me,” said another.

Podcast takes off after deal with Spotify

Rogan created The Joe Rogan Experience podcast in 2009 and quickly made a name for himself on the burgeoning platform. Using his celebrity status as a comedian, Rogan was able to land several big names for guest appearances, including Neil deGrasse Tyson, Anthony Bourdain, Edward Snowden and Bernie Sanders.