Gaming the Apple Podcast charts is cheaper and easier than you think

John Perotti’s drone music podcast was never meant for the masses, yet on a Friday in early October, it sat near the top of Apple’s podcast charts. All it took to get it there was a $5 payment to a stranger who’d DMed Perotti days earlier.
As the manager of podcast production at WBUR, Boston’s NPR News station, Perotti receives lots of audio-related messages. But this October, he received an unusual one: a person claiming they could get any show to the top of Apple’