Apple Podcasts has picked up on an unexpected trend at the start of 2025: A religion podcast is topping the charts.
“The Rosary in a Year,” a new project from Catholic Father Mark-Mary Ames and Ascension, is the top show on the podcast service as of Wednesday, beating out perennial favorites like “The Joe Rogan Experience” and “Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce.”
According to an October clip introducing the project, “The Rosary in a Year” is not just about helping Catholics pray the rosary. It’s also about helping listeners develop a deeper relationship with their faith.
“What we’re not going to be doing as you probably intuited already is just praying the rosary really slowly. What we’re going to be doing is picking up in the longstanding tradition of many of the saints ... of calling people back to the rosary ... really inviting you and taking the journey with you to go deeper,” Father Ames said in the clip.
He added that the podcast will have something to offer to people who aren’t used to praying the rosary and to people who already say their prayers every day. He compared listening to the podcast to working on your fundamentals in a sport like basketball.
As of Wednesday, Father Ames has released at least one new episode of “The Rosary in a Year” for every day in the new year. Each one is about 15 minutes long.
Ascension, the company behind “The Rosary in a Year,” has previously topped the Apple Podcast charts with “The Bible in a Year” in 2021 and “The Catechism in a Year” in 2023, according to Catholic News Agency.
Praying the rosary
Praying the rosary is a Catholic ritual. It’s done by holding the rosary, which looks like a beaded necklace, and saying the prayers that correspond with each bead.
“The repetition in the Rosary is meant to lead one into restful and contemplative prayer related to each Mystery. The gentle repetition of the words helps us to enter into the silence of our hearts, where Christ’s spirit dwells. The Rosary can be said privately or with a group,” explains a guide to praying the rosary from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.