Dirty John

Dirty John, from LA Times reporter Christopher Goffard, became a podcast phenomenon by charting con man John Meehan's systematic destruction of a successful businesswoman's life—a story so surreal that listeners initially doubted its authenticity. Hitting #1 on Apple Podcasts within a week of its 2017 release, it outpaced #7 In the Dark's initial reach by a factor of three and spawned a Bravo TV series. This single-case deep dive proved that a well-told true crime narrative can cross every media platform, generating over 100 million downloads and cementing its place as the gold standard for narrative-driven podcasts.