Apple names the best books, audiobooks, and podcasts of the year

Browse Podcasts on iPhone 11 Pro
Browse Podcasts on iPhone 11 Pro (Image credit: Christine Romero-Chan / iMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple has named the best books, audiobooks, and podcasts of the year.
  • It has also given the "Show of the Year" award to NPR's Code Switch podcast.

As the year comes to a close, Apple has assembled the biggest and best books, audiobooks, and podcasts of the year and are highlighted each of those in new collections.

Apple has also named NPR's Code Switch as "Show of the Year" in the United States. This the first time that Apple has bestowed such an honor to a podcast.

Check out the other books, audiobooks, and podcasts that made it into Apple's Top of 2020 collections and links to check them out.

Apple Books: Best Books of the Year (United States)

  • The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett
  • 28 Summers, Elin Hilderbrand
  • Long Bright River, Liz Moore
  • Deep State, Chris Hauty
  • The Last Flight, Julie Clark
  • Reborn Yesterday, Tessa Bailey
  • The Roommate, Rosie Danan
  • The City We Became, N. K. Jemisin
  • Piranesi, Susanna Clarke
  • We Are Not Free, Traci Chee
  • Silver Arrow, Lev Grossman
  • The Velvet Rope Economy, Nelson D. Schwartz
  • Caste, Isabel Wilkerson
  • The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read, Philippa Perry
  • My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, Jenn Shapland

Check out Apple's collection of the Best Books of the Year. You can also check out the Most Popular Books of the Year.

Apple Books: Best Audiobooks of the Year (United States)

  • Open Book, Jessica Simpson
  • Memorial Drive, Natasha Trethewey
  • Upstream, Dan Heath
  • The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett
  • Interior Chinatown, Charles Yu
  • Caste, Isabel Wilkerson
  • The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Suzanne Collins
  • Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, Ibram X.Kendi
  • Fair Warning, Michael Connelly
  • The Guest List, Lucy Foley
  • Take a Hint, Dani Brown, Talia Hibbert
  • Untamed, Glennon Doyle
  • Think Like a Monk, Jay Shetty
  • Devolution, Max Brooks
  • The City We Became, N. K. Jemisin

Check out Apple's collection of the Best Audiobooks of the Year. You can also take a look at Apple's collection of the Most Popular Audiobooks of the Year.

Apple Podcasts: Biggest Shows of 2020 (US)

  1. Stuff You Should Know by iHeartRadio
  2. This American Life
  3. The Daily by New York Times
  4. Crime Junkie by audiochuck
  5. My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
  6. The Ben Shapiro Show by The Daily Wire
  7. Up First by NPR
  8. Call Her Daddy by Barstool Sports
  9. Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
  10. Unlocking Us with Brené Brown

Apple Podcasts: Biggest New Shows of 2020 (United States)

  1. Unlocking Us with Brené Brown
  2. Nice White Parents by New York Times & Serial
  3. CounterClock by audiochuck
  4. Red Ball by audiochuck
  5. SmartLess with Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes
  6. Blood Ties by Wondery
  7. Supernatural with Ashley Flowers
  8. Down The Hill: The Delphi Murders by WarnerMedia
  9. Park Predators by audiochuck
  10. Coronavirus: Fact vs Fiction with Dr. Sanjay Gupta by CNN

Check out the Apple's collection of the Biggest New Shows of 2020.

Apple Podcasts: Our Favorites This Year (US)

  • California Love by LAist and KPCC
  • Canary by The Washington Post
  • Dying for Sex by Wondery
  • FANTI by Maximum Fun
  • Floodlines by The Atlantic
  • Ghost Tape by QCODE
  • How to Citizen with Baratunde Thurston by iHeartRadio
  • In The Bubble with Andy Slavitt by Lemonada Media
  • Louder Than a Riot by NPR
  • Nice White Parents by New York Times
  • Rabbit Hole by New York Times

Check out Apple's Favorite Podcasts of the Year.

Joe Wituschek
Contributor

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.