Meghan becomes queen of podcasts as 'Archetypes' dethrones Joe Rogan from US Spotify chart

Her show climbed to No 1 days after its debut with guest Serena Williams

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex's new podcast has knocked 'The Joe Rogan Experience' from the top of Spotify's US podcast charts. Getty Images; AP

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex's podcast Archetypes has overtaken The Joe Rogan Experience to become No 1 on Spotify’s US podcast chart.

The feat comes days after the duchess released the first episode, in which she discuses double standards towards “ambitious” women, with tennis great Serena Williams.

Titled The Misconception of Ambition with Serena Williams, the duchess also revealed how her son, Archie, narrowly escaped a fire in his bedroom, where he was supposed to be sleeping as she and husband Prince Harry toured South Africa in 2019.

The couple dropped their son off, who was 4 months old at the time, with their nanny Lauren, before heading out on an official visit to the Nyanga township, where the duchess gave a speech.

Although a fire broke out in the room Archie was due to sleep in, his nanny had earlier taken him downstairs.

“There was this moment where I’m standing on a tree stump and I’m giving this speech to women and girls, and we finish the engagement, we get in the car and they say there’s been a fire at the residence. What? There’s been a fire in the baby’s room,” said the duchess, who rose to fame through her role in Netflix series Suits.

“We came back. And, of course, as a mother, you go: ‘Oh, my God, what?’ Everyone’s in tears, everyone’s shaken. And what do we have to do? Go out and do another official engagement? I said: ‘This doesn’t make any sense’.”

Archetypes also outperformed HBO Max’s Official Game of Thrones Podcast, focused on the new prequel series, House of the Dragon, which recently set viewing records for the company.

Despite a number of controversies and calls for its boycott last year, The Joe Rogan Experience, hosted by comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan, continues to be hugely popular.

Some Twitter users reacted to the news with glee, with one writing: “It is supremely satisfying to know more people are listening to Meghan Markle than Joe Rogan.”

Others questioned how long the duchess's podcast would be able to maintain the momentum: “For what, a week?”

Rogan recently hosted Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to discuss the Facebook algorithm and the company’s approach to content moderation.

Spotify is thought to have paid $100 million in 2019 for exclusive streaming rights to the podcast, which endured heightened publicity recently over its inclusion of guests with alternative views of Covid-19 vaccines.

Scroll through images of Meghan Markle through the years below