For all intents and purposes, the lifespan of This Podcast Will Change Your Life overlaps with the 2010s. I started recording episodes before then, but I got it truly organized in February 2010, and here we are 200 plus episodes and ten years later. So, in the spirit of the end of the decade vibe, I began to wonder which episodes of the show were in the Top Ten for the 2010s in terms of traffic. Or if you prefer, Top Ten, all-time. What may not surprise you is the more recent shows just don't quite crack the top of the list. What also may not surprise you (if you read this blog with any regularity, and it's totally cool if you do not) is the top show of all time, because it was immediately so and has never budged or even really been challenged for the thrown. What is interesting to me is the enormous surge in traffic at the start of 2016 (especially for the special AWP episodes that year), but I also know that's when I tightened-up the show's iTunes page following the incedible surge in traffic for, wait for it... the top episode of all time. Anyway all that said, I love the show and I look forward to ten more years of it. Also, and without any further adieu, I would like to present you with the Top Ten for the 2010s (in order and with the original episode descriptions in play). Drumroll please...
1. Episode One Hundred and Sixteen - Don't Be An Asshole, starring the Jen Pastiloff.
"We are so podcast. Quite Pastiloff. And so not assholes. We are also making shit happen, Wayne Dyer, Emily Rapp, manifestation, both The Manifest-Station, and otherwise, Lidia Yuknavitch, depression, beauty hunting, breaking the rules and much, much more. So do hit it, it just might change your life."
2. The AWP 2016 Edition Part IV - Dreamer, starring the Gabino Iglesias.
"We are so This Podcast Will Change Your Life. We are also the Gabino Iglesias, not to mention Zero Saints, La Frontera, undocumented immigrants, reading Spanish, code-switching, Elvish, Junot Diaz, Gutmouth, Bizarro fiction, literary citizenship, Klingon, pulp, Barrio Noir and so much more. So do hit it, it will most certainly change your life."
3. Episode One Hundred and Thirty-Three - The Prince of Darkness, starring the Alan Heathcock.
"We really are Alan Heathcock podcast and we are really excited about that. We are also Volt, the greatness that is The Heathcock, and greatness, Smoke, craft, validation, Oprah and The Secret, grief, Dirty Works, Saturday Night Fever, weirdness and much, much more. So, do hit it, because it will most definitely change your life."
4. The AWP 2016 Edition Part III - Not Sweating, starring the Kali VanBaale, Mathieu Cailler and Vanessa Blakeslee.
"We are so very podcast, and quite Kali VanBaale, Mathieu Cailler and Vanessa Blakeslee. We are also small presses, The Good Divide, growing as a writer, not boring oneself, Juventud, YA novels, awards and sales and marketing, Loss Angeles, the Vermont College of Fine Arts and much, much more. We are also certain to change your life, here, now, so please do hit it. Nice. Thank you."
5. Episode One Hundred and Thirty - This Is A Package Deal, starring the Aubrie Cox and Jim Warner.
"So totally podcast. And so Aubrie Cox and Jim Warner of Citizen Lit fame too. Not to mention Haiku - and hybridity, Jon Lovits - and love, Beach Slang, The Hold Steady, Ross Gay, Frogpond, Dave Eggers, community, connection, conversation, and so much more. So, do hit it, it just might change your life."
6. The AWP 2016 Edition Part VI - Being Wanted, starring the Chris Tarry.
"We are so podcast. We are also so Chris Tarry, and not Chris L. Terry. We are also ego, Roy Kesey, Canada, music, being a stay-at-home dad, and being fucking tired, How To Carry Bigfoot Home, podcasts, Breadloaf, wondering if you are as good as you were and the final edition of AWP 2016 podcasts. All of which is certain to change your life."
7. Episode One Hundred and Twenty-Four - A Lot Of Misfit, starring the Mel Bosworth and Ryan Ridge.
"We are so podcast and new year. We are also Bosworth and Ridge, old friends and new. Not to mention Evil Knievel, Frances Farmer, sort of, Johnny Depp, William Burroughs, The Third Mind, and the third eye, collaboration, success, happiness, Twitter love and small press everything. So, do check it out, it just might change your life."
8. Episode One Hundred and Thirty-Seven - Uncommon, starring the Eric Spitznagel.
"We are so very podcast. And quite Spitznagel. We are also The Second City, Old Records Never Die, Steven Colbert, Isabella Rossellini, Fast Forward, dead fathers, Vanity Fair, juicy testicles, Questlove, relationships, Elizabeth Crane, Men's Health, Ike Reilly and much, much more. So do hit, because it will so change your life."
9. Episode One Hundred and Thirty-Six - Still Mic'd, starring the Christine Maul Rice.
"We are so This Podcast Will Change Your Life. We are also quite podcast, not to mention the Christine Maul Rice, Swarm Theory, My Little Pony, Columbia College, linked stories, small towns, Hypertext Magazine, Hannah Montana, community, Chris Farley and much, much more. So do hit it, it will most certainly change your life."
10. The AWP 2016 Edition Part I - Not An Atonement, starring the David Olimpio.
"We are so podcast. And quite Olimpio. We are also once again AWP-centric for the next little while anyway, after conducting a whole slew of kick-ass interviews at this year's AWP conference in Los Angeles. But first, the David Olimpio, This Is Not A Confession and a lively conversation on a variety of topics including, but not limited to structure, atonement, not, polyamory, rules, Michael Phelps, child sexual abuse and much more. So please do hit it, it just might, will, change your life."
