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Meghan Markle’s ‘Archetypes’ dethroned from No 1 spot, Internet says 'don’t tell me we’re listening to MEGHAN'

The podcast reached the top of the charts shortly after its premiere on August 23 with guest Serena Williams, who recently announced her retirement from professional tennis

Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex's 'Archetypes' podcast continues to attract a large listenership. Although on September 2, her podcast slipped to the No 2 spot in the US and India by 'The Joe Rogan Experience' and 'The Ranveer Show' respectively. As of Thursday, September 1 'Archetypes' was the No 1 Spotify podcast in seven countries which include the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, India, Australia, and New Zealand. The podcast reached the top of the charts shortly after its premiere on August 23 with guest Serena Williams, who recently announced her retirement from professional tennis.

According to the Daily Mail, subscribers have accused the company of massaging its numbers or even manipulating its main chart to keep the California-based royal on top. Spotify has two main charts - one for its top podcasts, which are created using a number of measurements, including whether they are rising newcomers, as well as "a combination of total followers and number of recent unique listeners." The episode's ranking is "determined solely by the number of unique listeners that day."

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According to the streaming platform, it factors that data into the algorithm for the podcast chart rankings, along with recent unique listener numbers. 'The Joe Rogan Experience,' the popular and controversial show that is consistently a top Spotify podcast in the US and other regions, has released just one episode this week. That said, 'Archetypes' also dropped just a single new episode this week. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, spoke with five-time Grammy-winner Mariah Carey about growing up as mixed-race, finding their freedom, and the complexities surrounding the label "diva," from a diva’s glamor, power, and elegance to the negative connotations associated with the word. The 46-minute episode also features an intro from actor and comedian Amanda Seales riffing on the connotations of “diva,” as well as a conversation about the term with Dr Mashinka Firunts Hakopian, a scholar of feminist and media studies.

Spotify's own data shows that more British listeners are tuning into Joe Rogan, Rob Beckett, and Josh Widdecombe's show about parenting and Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo's 'NearlyWeds' pod than 'Archetypes'. One subscriber in America said "Why is Archetypes no 1 in the Spotify US chart when, in the episode chart, both releases are way down the page?? Don't get it!"  Another Twitter user replied and called it "manipulation by Spotify," adding "They paid $18 Million, were criticized - now they want to make it seem it was worth the deal". 

"Genuinely wish I’d recorded my mother’s reaction to Meghan Markle’s podcast “Don’t tell me we’re listening to MEGHAN” tweeted one Twitter user while another one tweeted "Meghan Markle's podcast beating Joe Rogan? I did a simple google trend search: Joe Rogan twice the popularity of Meghan Markle, and the Joe Rogan Experience five times the popularity of Meghan's Archetypes podcast. The trend is consistent. I call BS." 

One Twitter user even went to the extent of tweeting "Meghan Markle claims to be ambitious yet it took her over a year to produce the first episode of her podcast...she claims to be a feminist yet constantly uses her husband's social position and family connections to accumulate money and power for herself. Megain Archetypes" 

In Germany, it is No 10 in its podcast chart but does not have a single episode in its top 100. In France, Archetypes is No 2 in the podcast charts - but the episodes are at 34 and 62. In Norway, Archetypes is at No 3 in the podcast chart but its Mariah Carey episode, released this week, is the 89th most listened to the episode today. Her chat with Serena is not in the top 100 at all. It is a similar picture in all the Nordic countries and across Europe. 

On next week’s episode of 'Archetypes,' set to release Tuesday, September 6, Markle will be joined by actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer Mindy Kaling. Other upcoming guests include comedian, actor, and activist Margaret Cho, journalist and author Allison Yarrow, comedian Robin Thede, and Nigerian American comedian and writer Ziwe Fumudoh. 'Archetypes' is produced by Archewell Audio in partnership with Spotify’s Gimlet Media. It’s the first podcast series on Spotify under the exclusive deal Markle and Prince Harry’s Archewell Audio inked in December 2020.

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