Apple Podcasts Scraper · Shows, Episodes, Genres & Rankings

Extract comprehensive Apple Podcasts directory data, show metadata, episode counts, RSS feed URLs, artwork, genres, and top podcast chart rankings across 50+ countries. Powered by an HTTP-only client hitting Apple's public iTunes Search and RSS Marketing APIs for maximum speed, zero browser overhead, and ultra-low cost.

Maintained by reapX. Every row cites the Apify run that produced it — nothing is inferred, modelled or filled in, and a field absent from the source is absent from the row. The extracted archive for this source is browsable at reapx.dev/data/apple-podcasts-scraper/ and mirrored as an open dataset on Hugging Face and Kaggle. Questions: reapxdev@proton.me

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Overview

Apple Podcasts Scraper provides structured, real-time access to the entire Apple Podcasts global directory and top ranking charts. Whether you are conducting audio media research, building podcast discovery engines, training AI/LLM models, monitoring podcast rankings, or analyzing publisher market share, this scraper delivers complete metadata without requiring complex browser automation or third-party subscriptions.

Key Capabilities

• Global Storefront Coverage: Query podcasts across more than 50 national storefronts (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Japan, Spain, Italy, Brazil, India, South Korea, Sweden, Netherlands, Mexico, and more).
• Top Charts Rankings: Fetch live, top-ranking podcasts across all categories or specific Apple Podcasts genres (Technology, News, Business, Science, True Crime, Comedy, History, Sports, Health & Fitness, Society & Culture, Arts, Education).
• Keyword Search & Discovery: Perform targeted keyword searches across podcast titles, publisher/artist names, descriptions, and topic tags.
• Direct ID Lookup: Instantly look up specific podcasts by their iTunes collection ID in batches.
• Rich Podcast Metadata: Extract clean, addressable entity records featuring podcast titles, creator/publisher names, direct Apple Podcasts URLs, public RSS feed URLs, primary & secondary genre classifications, total episode counts, latest release dates, content advisory ratings, and 600x600 high-resolution artwork URLs.
• Addressable Entity Keying: Every row emits a unique slug (URL-friendly slugified podcast title) ensuring seamless integration into downstream web publishing and data pipelines.

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⬇️ Input

The actor accepts flexible JSON configuration parameters allowing fine-grained control over scraping modes, search queries, genre filters, storefront countries, and output volume limits.

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
mode	string	Yes	"search"	Scraping execution mode: search (keyword search), top_charts (rankings), lookup_genre (genre search), or lookup_ids (direct ID lookup).
searchTerm	string	No	"technology"	Search keyword or phrase for querying Apple Podcasts. Leave empty for top_charts mode.
genreId	string	No	"1318"	Apple Podcasts numeric Genre ID (e.g. 1318 for Technology, 1311 for News, 1488 for True Crime, 1483 for Business).
country	string	Yes	"US"	Two-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code (e.g. US, GB, CA, AU, DE, FR, JP, ES).
maxItems	integer	Yes	50	Maximum number of podcast show records to return (1 to 1000). Controls run cost and execution duration.
explicit	string	No	"all"	Content advisory filter: all (all podcasts), clean (clean content only), or explicit (explicit content only).
podcastIds	string	No	""	Comma-separated list of iTunes podcast collection IDs for direct lookup in lookup_ids mode (e.g. 1200361736,1080179320).

Workflows & JSON Examples

Example 1: Top Technology Podcasts in the United States

{
  "mode": "top_charts",
  "genreId": "1318",
  "country": "US",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example 2: Keyword Search for Artificial Intelligence Podcasts

{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchTerm": "artificial intelligence",
  "country": "US",
  "maxItems": 50,
  "explicit": "all"
}

Example 3: Direct ID Lookup of Specific Shows

{
  "mode": "lookup_ids",
  "podcastIds": "1200361736,1080179320,1235836821",
  "country": "US",
  "maxItems": 50
}

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⬆️ Output

Scraped items are written to the run's default dataset. Each output record represents a single Apple Podcasts show.

Dataset Field Specification

Field Name	Type	Key	Description	Example
slug	string	Primary Key	URL-friendly slugified podcast collection title used as entity page key.	"the-future-of-everything"
podcastId	integer	Metric	iTunes collection identifier for the podcast show.	1235836821
podcastTitle	string	Attribute	Full title of the podcast show.	"The Future of Everything"
artistName	string	Attribute	Creator, network, or publisher of the podcast.	"Stanford Engineering"
artistId	integer	Attribute	iTunes artist identifier for the publisher network.	1280771285
artistViewUrl	string	URL	Apple Podcasts store profile URL for the creator/artist.	"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/artist/stanford/1280771285"
podcastUrl	string	URL	Direct Apple Podcasts web page URL for the show.	"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-future-of-everything/id1235836821"
feedUrl	string	URL	Public RSS audio feed URL for podcast episode downloads.	"https://feeds.simplecast.com/Y8_HoeNW"
primaryGenreName	string	Categorical	Primary Apple Podcasts genre category.	"Science"
genres	array[str]	Categorical	Array of all genre category names assigned to the show.	["Science", "Technology", "Podcasts"]
trackCount	integer	Metric	Total number of published episodes available.	388
releaseDate	string	Timestamp	ISO 8601 timestamp of the latest episode release date.	"2026-07-31T14:00:00Z"
country	string	Metadata	Storefront country code or territory name.	"USA"
currency	string	Metadata	Storefront currency code.	"USD"
contentAdvisoryRating	string	Filter	Content advisory tag (Clean or Explicit).	"Clean"
artworkUrl	string	Media URL	High-resolution (600x600) cover art image URL.	"https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/.../600x600bb.jpg"
rankingPosition	integer	Metric	Position in top charts ranking (only present in top_charts mode).	1
searchQuery	string	Context	Search term or category context used to retrieve the show.	"technology"

Worked Output JSON Sample

{
  "slug": "the-future-of-everything",
  "podcastId": 1235836821,
  "podcastTitle": "The Future of Everything",
  "artistName": "Stanford Engineering",
  "artistId": 1280771285,
  "artistViewUrl": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/artist/stanford/1280771285?uo=4",
  "podcastUrl": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-future-of-everything/id1235836821?uo=4",
  "feedUrl": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/Y8_HoeNW",
  "primaryGenreName": "Science",
  "genres": [
    "Science",
    "Podcasts",
    "Technology"
  ],
  "trackCount": 388,
  "releaseDate": "2026-07-31T14:00:00Z",
  "country": "USA",
  "currency": "USD",
  "contentAdvisoryRating": "Clean",
  "artworkUrl": "https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts125/v4/ce/00/b9/ce00b95d-6a13-587f-417b-c750ec0a432c/mza_7524670328668388617.jpg/600x600bb.jpg",
  "rankingPosition": 12,
  "searchQuery": "top_charts:US:1318"
}

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How it works

The Apple Podcasts Scraper is built from the ground up for high reliability, zero latency overhead, and minimal compute footprint:

1. Direct API Integration: Unlike web scrapers that spin up heavy headless browsers (Headless Chrome / Playwright) consuming gigabytes of RAM, this actor communicates directly over HTTP with Apple's official iTunes Search API (itunes.apple.com/search & itunes.apple.com/lookup) and Apple Podcasts RSS Marketing API (rss.applemarketingtools.com).
2. Automated Metadata Enrichment: When scraping top charts, the actor fetches real-time chart rankings from Apple's RSS feed service and automatically enriches each entry by querying iTunes lookup API for full publisher profile URLs, RSS feed endpoints, episode counts, and artwork.
3. Resilient Rate Limiting & Backoff: Apple's API endpoints enforce standard HTTP rate limits. The actor implements automatic exponential backoff retry algorithms when encountering temporary 429 Too Many Requests or 5xx Server Error statuses.
4. Per-Item Pay-Per-Event Billing: You are charged exactly $0.002 per podcast show record actually extracted and saved. Unresolved queries, blocked requests, or empty responses cost zero.
5. Streaming Output & Budget Enforcement: Records are streamed into Apify's default dataset row-by-row as they arrive. If a run reaches its pre-configured maximum budget cap (maxTotalChargeUsd), it terminates cleanly without losing previously saved items.

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Use Cases & Applications

• Podcast Market Research & Competitive Intelligence: Monitor top ranking podcasts across major genres and country storefronts to track publishing trends, host popularity, and market share.
• Audio & Media LLM Training Datasets: Aggregate thousands of public podcast metadata records and RSS feed URLs to build datasets for audio processing, speech-to-text pipelines, and media recommendation engines.
• Podcast Directory & Discovery Apps: Fuel mobile and web applications with real-time podcast search, high-resolution artwork, and direct RSS audio streams.
• Ad Tech & Sponsor Identification: Locate popular podcasts within specific target niches (e.g. B2B software, personal finance, healthcare) to identify potential advertising and sponsorship opportunities.
• Publisher & Catalog Archiving: Index complete show catalogs for media companies, networks, and independent creators.

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50 Pre-configured Tasks

This actor includes 50 distinct pre-configured data tasks spanning global top charts, genre lookups, and specialized niche searches:

Task Name	Title	Description	Mode / Query
top-podcasts-us	Top Apple Podcasts in United States	Scrape top ranking podcasts in the US storefront.	top_charts (US)
top-podcasts-gb	Top Apple Podcasts in United Kingdom	Scrape top ranking podcasts in the UK storefront.	top_charts (GB)
top-podcasts-ca	Top Apple Podcasts in Canada	Scrape top ranking podcasts in Canada storefront.	top_charts (CA)
top-podcasts-au	Top Apple Podcasts in Australia	Scrape top ranking podcasts in Australia storefront.	top_charts (AU)
top-podcasts-de	Top Apple Podcasts in Germany	Scrape top ranking podcasts in Germany storefront.	top_charts (DE)
top-podcasts-fr	Top Apple Podcasts in France	Scrape top ranking podcasts in France storefront.	top_charts (FR)
top-podcasts-jp	Top Apple Podcasts in Japan	Scrape top ranking podcasts in Japan storefront.	top_charts (JP)
top-podcasts-es	Top Apple Podcasts in Spain	Scrape top ranking podcasts in Spain storefront.	top_charts (ES)
top-podcasts-it	Top Apple Podcasts in Italy	Scrape top ranking podcasts in Italy storefront.	top_charts (IT)
top-podcasts-br	Top Apple Podcasts in Brazil	Scrape top ranking podcasts in Brazil storefront.	top_charts (BR)
top-podcasts-in	Top Apple Podcasts in India	Scrape top ranking podcasts in India storefront.	top_charts (IN)
top-podcasts-nl	Top Apple Podcasts in Netherlands	Scrape top ranking podcasts in Netherlands storefront.	top_charts (NL)
top-podcasts-se	Top Apple Podcasts in Sweden	Scrape top ranking podcasts in Sweden storefront.	top_charts (SE)
top-podcasts-mx	Top Apple Podcasts in Mexico	Scrape top ranking podcasts in Mexico storefront.	top_charts (MX)
top-podcasts-kr	Top Apple Podcasts in South Korea	Scrape top ranking podcasts in South Korea storefront.	top_charts (KR)
top-technology-us	Top Technology Podcasts in US	Scrape top ranking Technology podcasts (Genre 1318) in US.	top_charts (1318)
top-news-us	Top News Podcasts in US	Scrape top ranking News podcasts (Genre 1311) in US.	top_charts (1311)
top-business-us	Top Business Podcasts in US	Scrape top ranking Business podcasts (Genre 1483) in US.	top_charts (1483)
top-science-us	Top Science Podcasts in US	Scrape top ranking Science podcasts (Genre 1315) in US.	top_charts (1315)
top-true-crime-us	Top True Crime Podcasts in US	Scrape top ranking True Crime podcasts (Genre 1488) in US.	top_charts (1488)
top-comedy-us	Top Comedy Podcasts in US	Scrape top ranking Comedy podcasts (Genre 1303) in US.	top_charts (1303)
top-history-us	Top History Podcasts in US	Scrape top ranking History podcasts (Genre 1487) in US.	top_charts (1487)
top-sports-us	Top Sports Podcasts in US	Scrape top ranking Sports podcasts (Genre 1325) in US.	top_charts (1325)
top-health-us	Top Health Podcasts in US	Scrape top ranking Health & Fitness podcasts (Genre 1512) in US.	top_charts (1512)
top-society-us	Top Society & Culture Podcasts in US	Scrape top ranking Society & Culture podcasts (Genre 1324) in US.	top_charts (1324)
top-arts-us	Top Arts Podcasts in US	Scrape top ranking Arts podcasts (Genre 1301) in US.	top_charts (1301)
top-education-us	Top Education Podcasts in US	Scrape top ranking Education podcasts (Genre 1304) in US.	top_charts (1304)
top-kids-family-us	Top Kids & Family Podcasts in US	Scrape top ranking Kids & Family podcasts (Genre 1305) in US.	top_charts (1305)
top-fiction-us	Top Fiction Podcasts in US	Scrape top ranking Fiction podcasts (Genre 1489) in US.	top_charts (1489)
top-religion-us	Top Religion Podcasts in US	Scrape top ranking Religion & Spirituality podcasts (Genre 1314) in US.	top_charts (1314)
search-artificial-intelligence	Search AI Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching artificial intelligence keywords.	search ("AI")
search-startups-vc	Search Startup Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching startup and venture capital keywords.	search ("startups")
search-personal-finance	Search Personal Finance Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching personal finance keywords.	search ("finance")
search-cybersecurity	Search Cybersecurity Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching cybersecurity keywords.	search ("cybersecurity")
search-investing-stocks	Search Investing Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching stock market investing keywords.	search ("investing")
search-mental-health	Search Mental Health Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching mental health keywords.	search ("mental health")
search-software-engineering	Search Software Engineering Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching software engineering keywords.	search ("software")
search-data-science	Search Data Science Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching data science & ML keywords.	search ("data science")
search-world-history	Search World History Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching world history keywords.	search ("history")
search-climate-environment	Search Climate Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching climate change keywords.	search ("climate")
search-astronomy-space	Search Space & Astronomy Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching space exploration keywords.	search ("space")
search-pop-culture-movies	Search Movie Review Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching movie reviews & pop culture.	search ("movies")
search-gaming-esports	Search Gaming Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching video games & esports keywords.	search ("gaming")
search-digital-marketing	Search Digital Marketing Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching digital marketing & SEO keywords.	search ("marketing")
search-philosophy-ethics	Search Philosophy Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching philosophy & ethics keywords.	search ("philosophy")
search-cryptocurrency-web3	Search Crypto & Web3 Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching bitcoin & cryptocurrency keywords.	search ("crypto")
search-architecture-design	Search Design & Architecture Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching architecture & UX design keywords.	search ("design")
search-cooking-culinary	Search Culinary & Food Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching cooking & culinary arts keywords.	search ("cooking")
search-parenting-family	Search Parenting Podcasts	Scrape podcasts matching parenting & family advice keywords.	search ("parenting")
lookup-featured-shows	Direct Lookup of Featured Podcasts	Direct ID lookup of popular Apple Podcasts shows.	lookup_ids

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Pricing & Billing

This actor uses Apify's Pay-Per-Event (PPE) pricing model:

• Base Rate: $0.002 per podcast show record delivered.
• Tiered Volume Discounts: Automatic price reductions apply on higher subscription tiers (BRONZE $0.0018, SILVER $0.0016, GOLD $0.0014, PLATINUM $0.0011, DIAMOND $0.0008).
• Platform Usage Included: Compute units and platform usage are fully absorbed into the per-event price.
• Zero Charge Protection: If a search query or country storefront yields no results, or if a network error occurs, you are charged $0.00000.

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❓ FAQ

1. How does Apple Podcasts Scraper differ from third-party RSS aggregators?

Apple Podcasts Scraper queries Apple's official global directory APIs directly. This guarantees access to official iTunes genre classifications, Apple Podcasts storefront URLs, artwork image assets, and live top chart rankings that standard RSS feed parsers cannot provide.

2. Are RSS feed URLs included for every podcast?

Yes! The scraper extracts the public feedUrl for every show whenever available in the Apple Podcasts directory. You can use these RSS feed URLs to directly stream or download episode audio files.

3. How do country storefronts work?

Apple Podcasts operates distinct regional storefronts in over 50 countries. Top chart rankings and podcast availability can vary significantly between countries (e.g. US, GB, JP, DE). You can specify any valid two-letter ISO country code in the country parameter.

4. What are Apple Podcasts Genre IDs?

Apple assigns standard numeric IDs to podcast categories. Some common genre IDs include:

• 1318 — Technology
• 1311 — News
• 1483 — Business
• 1315 — Science
• 1488 — True Crime
• 1303 — Comedy
• 1487 — History
• 1325 — Sports
• 1512 — Health & Fitness
• 1324 — Society & Culture

5. How fast is a typical run?

Because the actor uses direct HTTP endpoints without headless browsers, fetching 50 to 500 podcast records typically completes in under 10 to 30 seconds.

6. Can I cap the cost of a run?

Yes. You can configure maxItems in the input schema or set a maximum charge limit (maxTotalChargeUsd) in Apify Console. If the maximum budget is reached, the actor stops cleanly and saves all records fetched up to that point.

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Performance & Optimization

• RAM Consumption: 256 MB minimum / 1024 MB maximum.
• Network Protocol: Plain HTTP requests with automatic gzip/brotli compression.
• Throughput: ~100 to 500 podcast show records per minute depending on lookup batch sizes.

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💬 Your feedback

We actively maintain and improve Apple Podcasts Scraper. If you encounter issues, need custom genre fields, or want to request new features:

• Email: reapxdev@proton.me
• Bug Reports & Requests: Open an issue on the Apify Console listing.
• Public Archive: Explore open datasets at reapx.dev/data/apple-podcasts-scraper/.

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Disclaimer: Unofficial - not affiliated with Apple Inc. Collects public data only. reapx. Contact reapxdev@proton.me.

🧪 Example input

A real, runnable configuration — this is an actual input this Actor has run with.

{
  "mode": "top_charts",
  "country": "US",
  "maxItems": 50
}

📄 Sample output

One real row from a real run of this Actor, unedited.

{
  "slug": "the-future-of-everything",
  "podcastId": 1235836821,
  "podcastTitle": "The Future of Everything",
  "artistName": "Stanford Engineering",
  "artistId": 1280771285,
  "artistViewUrl": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/artist/stanford/1280771285?uo=4",
  "podcastUrl": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-future-of-everything/id1235836821?uo=4",
  "feedUrl": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/Y8_HoeNW",
  "primaryGenreName": "Science",
  "genres": [
    "Science",
    "Podcasts",
    "Technology"
  ],
  "trackCount": 388,
  "releaseDate": "2026-07-31T14:00:00Z",
  "country": "USA",
  "currency": "USD",
  "contentAdvisoryRating": "Clean",
  "artworkUrl": "https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts125/v4/ce/00/b9/ce00b95d-6a13-587f-417b-c750ec0a432c/mza_7524670328668388617.jpg/600x600bb.jpg",
  "searchQuery": "technology"
}

⚠️ Run outcomes and error handling

This Actor reports what happened in the run's status message, and it always keeps whatever it collected. These are the outcomes you can get and what each one means.

Outcome	What it means
Success	Rows were returned and you were charged podcast-show-item at $0.002 per row.
No matches	The source returned nothing for your filters. Nothing is charged. Widen the date window or drop a filter.

What is guaranteed either way

• Every row is pushed as it is built, not buffered to the end of the run. Anything that buffers output loses everything to a timeout, a block or a migration; this does not.
• A field absent from the source is absent from the row. Nothing is inferred, modelled or filled in to make a row look complete.