The Diary of a CEO becomes YouTube's most-subscribed podcast
Steven Bartlett's The Diary of a CEO series has become the most-subscribed podcast on YouTube's podcast charts.
The Diary of a CEO has become the most-subscribed podcast on YouTube's podcast charts.
According to YouTube's subscriber counts, the podcast – hosted by British entrepreneur and investor Steven Bartlett – has 21.3 million subscribers as of November 1, 2026.
The channel published 87 full-length video episodes between January 1 and October 31 this year in over 20 languages and recorded over one billion YouTube views during the same timeframe – compared with around 399 million in the first 10 months of 2025, according to FlightStory's YouTube Studio data.
The extraordinary milestone comes nine years after Dragons' Den star Bartlett, 34, started recording a personal audio diary in his bedroom in Manchester – with an inexpensive microphone and a sock as a makeshift pop shield.
His early episodes only attracted around 40 listeners, many of whom were his friends.
The Diary of a CEO started in 2017 as a show about Bartlett's personal experience of building a business before expanding into interviews.
The podcast started publishing full video episodes weekly on YouTube in 2020 as a pandemic passion project, and its conversations now cover topics such as business, psychology, health, relationships, science, technology and global affairs.
Guests to have appeared on the podcast over the years include former US First Lady Michelle Obama, former US Vice President Kamala Harris and Hollywood stars including Jada Pinkett Smith and Matthew McConaughey.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared on The Diary of a CEO in an episode released last month, with the conversation recorded in Ukrainian with two human interpreters.
The interview has since been made available in more than 20 languages through the use of AI voice technology and the conversation has amassed over seven million views in just 10 days.
Bartlett said: "When I started The Diary of a CEO, I was sitting in my bedroom in Manchester, recording into a microphone. About 40 people listened to those first episodes. It's quite difficult to comprehend where it's got to today.
"I'm incredibly proud of the people who make this show and grateful to everyone who chooses to spend their time with us. The moments that stay with me most are when somebody tells me that something they heard on the podcast has made a difference to their life."
He continued: "The show has changed so much over the years because my interests and curiosity have changed and it will continue to evolve as I move into different phases of my life.
"I also joke to my friends that they need to prepare for the parenting episodes if I'm fortunate enough to become a dad!
"Our focus has always been what we call the 'one per cents' – how we can make the next conversation better, ask better questions and give people something genuinely valuable. That's what we're going to keep focusing on and we do feel like we're just getting started.
"We owe an awful lot to our team, our guests, our partners, and strategically, translating every episode of the show into more than 20+ languages has been an incredible unlock and allows us to reach the rest of the world."
