No Black Women Made Forbes' Top 20 Highest-Earning Podcasters 2026 list. Here's Why It Matters.

Forbes has released its latest ranking of the world's highest-earning podcasters of 2026 and as soon as I saw the list I eagerly scrolled through assuming that I would see a familiar face or two. There were names that were not surprising like Mel Robbins and Charlamagne Tha God in fact for most of those listed I see at least one clip from a segment of their podcast at least at some point during the week even if I don’t subscribe to their podcasts. While the list celebrates enormous commercial success across the industry, one thing is impossible to ignore: not a single Black woman appears in the top 20 not even Oprah or Michelle Obama. I was shocked but admittedly given the way the world tends to operate I wasn’t completely surprised.

The Highest paid podcasters in 2026

Not a single Black woman on this list despite Black women being active in the podcasting space.

I would have expected Oprah to have made the list. pic.twitter.com/9XL7zqf6KD

— Ronke Lawal (@ronkelawal) July 30, 2026

So why those this even matter? This matters because podcasting is without a doubt now one of the most influential communications channels of our time. Podcasts shape public opinion and culture, influence consumer behaviour, build trust and drive conversations that increasingly spill into mainstream media. When the highest commercial rewards consistently flow to the same types of creators it is a reflection of a wider issue. This is a topic which should matter to brands, agencies, media leaders and anyone shaping the future of communications and the media as a whole.

It’s important to highlight that whilst representation in and of itself is important there is a bigger conversation to be had about investment, distribution, advertising, audience monetisation and who gets positioned to build media empires. Even I have to admit that whilst I expected to see Oprah on the list it would have been so refreshing to see a new voice in this space. Another thing I noticed was of course that America is still at the forefront of podcasting in terms of numbers - we have popular podcasts hosted by Black women in the UK like; The Receipts Podcast and To My Sisters they are not on the same level in terms of global outreach as those listed. People seem to be drawn very much to self-development, entrepreneurial story telling and high profile interviews.

So what does the Forbes’ list show? Well first things first this is a list of only 20 podcasters and to be honest the figures though eye-wateringly high for some are probably unattainable for many unless we factor in distribution and audience size as well as relevance to global audiences. The fact that Black women are absent has to tell us something about either the access to opportunities and popularity or the erasure of Black women across media as a whole.

One thing I think is important to note is that sometimes (and I’m speaking anecdotally) Black women start podcasts; to fill a personal need for self expression or as a passion project, to amplify stories from within their communities or they focus on a set niche that can sometimes limit wider reach. I can say this from a UK perspective that some of the most popular podcasts run by Black women sometimes lean into topics that are culturally relevant but not always commercially viable. Again this isn’t for ALL Black women but for some on the smaller scale who may not understand how to commercialise and capitalise on their brands.

This is where the conversation shifts from representation to strategy. As someone who helps experts, creatives, founders and executives build personal brands, I see the same gap every day: talented people assume visibility is the finish line, when it's really just the entry point. A podcast, like a personal brand, is an asset and assets only compound in value when they're built like businesses, I know some people might not like reading that but it is the truth. The creators commanding the biggest media deals and long-term partnerships haven't just built audiences; they've built commercially valuable brands, with clear positioning, ownership of their intellectual property, strategic partnerships and the confidence to command premium opportunities. For Black women especially, whose expertise and cultural influence are too often undervalued, personal branding isn't about becoming more visible for the sake of it, it's about building authority and turning influence into income. Now of course, personal branding alone won't fix the structural inequalities in media and investment, but it can help creators build businesses that are less dependent on gatekeepers. Imagine what next year's Forbes list could look like if more Black women had equitable access to both the commercial infrastructure and the strategic brand-building that fuels the industry's highest earners. It would look very different but there’s still some way to go in order for that to happen.

Christina Moore, Founder and MD of Don’t Skip Media, a company that specialises in producing audio and visual content that blends creative storytelling with strategic insight, believes that there is hope for Black women. “Reaching a net worth is statistically rare for anyone. Expecting a significant number of Black British women to appear on that list in the near future isn't realistic. It isn't a reflection of talent or ambition. It reflects structural realities such as access to capital, networks and the historical accumulation of wealth. At the same time, recognising structural barriers shouldn't mean giving up agency. What's within your control? The skills you develop, the industries you choose, the business you build… Given the ethical debates surrounding extreme wealth concentrations. We should ask whether the billionaire list is the aspiration in the first place. I’d argue that building a sustainable business, creating generational wealth, employing others and having meaningful influence are more useful measures of success than joining a list of billionaires - still ‘a work in progress’ for me.”

These are great points and one worth highlighting as we look at the business realities of the podcasting world.

The Business of Podcasting

I think it’s important to really understand that podcasting is a business - it might seem obvious to some but for many people they see microphones and the independence (i.e. not being associated with legacy media or radio shows) as a hobby, they minimise the impact of it in my opinion. However the most successful podcasts have robust business strategies that go beyond the themes and guests. Podcasts have to have clear advertising rates and sponsorship, there are lucrative and exclusive platform and distribution deals at play as well as brand partnerships. You have to have a solid sales team who can take care of all of this as well as good strategic counsel to help with intellectual property ownership (if you own your ip you’ll earn more!). The size of production budgets also helps and having the investment for that will ease the load when it comes to creating the content. To be clear there is a lot of money to be made in the industry and that money, the income itself is not simply a reflection of talent or audience size.

Black Women Are Creating Successful Podcasts

As I mentioned earlier there are successful Black women podcasters and creators whose shows have significant cultural influence such as Keke Palmer and Michelle Buteau stateside and I Said What I Said and Black Women Working globally. They have significant followings and influence and audience engagement is high not to mention cultural impact but as this list clearly shows there is a revenue gap which the podcast, audio and wider media industry needs to address. There is also a funding gap - now of course it’s fine if you have the resources to invest in a podcast as a passion project by all means do it, but my message to any Black woman reading this is that if you want to elevate your podcast you must also think pragmatically about the long term investment required. Podcasts by Black women deserve funding and there are some micro-funds available, for example Content is Queen annually awards micro-grants. Bigger funds are sometimes harder to come across but worth researching and pitching for. There are other issues at please such as sponsorship disparities (who gets paid more) and CPM figures (how much advertisers are willing to pay per 1000 listeners). There’s also the question of discoverability and algorithms - podcasts by Black women need to be found if they are to be listened to at all. Yes amplifying on social media helps but so does SEO, AIO and any audio algorithms that push the right content to the masses. So discoverability needs to be at the forefront of any podcast hosted by a Black woman - people can’t listen to/watch what they don’t know about. Owning a podcast is powerful as long as the strategy is solid in terms of growth - there’s very little point in Black women owning their own podcasts if they can’t grow them. There’s also something to be said for the way in which audio network amplify Black women podcasters, are they doing enough to help draw attention to new and dynamic voices?

It’s also important to reflect on star power, specifically celebrity power. That list has more than a few celebrities on it, yes a few of those podcasters have become celebs in their own right but others are actual celebrity hosts - either way they have the appeal that gets the people going. There is no disputing that celebrity influence carries weight in most media spaces not least podcasting. So if Black women can’t even get access to a few celebrity guests to boost their numbers they’re already facing a barrier to growth. This doesn’t mean they shouldn’t move forward but it is something to acknowledge.

I don’t wish to overstate the point but there needs to be more investment in Black women-led podcast businesses. That as it stands is something that should be a priority. There needs to be better advertising commitments, more ownership opportunities and transparent industry reporting. If the industry can commit to long-term creator partnerships rather than one-off campaigns then it will go a long way.

The Forbes rankings celebrate commercial success, but they also provide a snapshot of where money flows in podcasting. The absence of Black women from this year's top earners raises broader questions about how the industry values talent, builds businesses and distributes opportunity. Whether future rankings look different will depend not only on audience growth but also on investment, ownership and equitable access to the commercial infrastructure that turns popular podcasts into major media businesses. But we also have to reflect on a world and society that would often prefer for Black women to be invisible and so when they choose to be visible does the world want to see and hear them? Maybe not yet but it’s important that they keep on showing up in these industries regardless and who knows perhaps one day we will see a Black women, who’s not Oprah on a list like that.