Meghan Markle Makes Big Splash at Top of Spotify Charts With New Show's Debut
Meghan Markle's Spotify podcast was worth the wait for the music streamer this week. The first episode of Archetypes, featuring the Duchess of Sussex in conversation with Serena Williams, debuted at number one on Spotify's Top Podcasts chart. During the podcast, Markle and Williams talked about the stereotypes they have faced as successful women.
Archetypes knocked The Joe Rogan Experience to second place on the Top Podcasts chart. HBO Max's The Official Game of Thrones Podcast: House of the Dragon holds the third spot, while Holly Maidson and Bridhey Marquardt's Girls Next Level and SciComm Media's Huberman Lab round out the top five.
Markle's first episode itself, "The Misconception of Ambition with Serena Williams," is ninth on the Top Episodes chart. Three Joe Rogan episodes sit at the top of the Top Episodes chart. Episodes of NPR's Up First and The New York Times' The Daily are fourth and fifth.
During her discussion with Williams, Markle discussed her experiences at the Immaculate Heart, an all-girls Catholic school she attended in Los Angeles, and how that shaped her today. "This feminist ideology trickled down into nearly every aspect of my education. It's probably safe to say into every aspect of my life," Markle said, via PEOPLE. "This message to me and my classmates was clear: our futures as young women were limitless. Ambition? That was the whole point!"
Markle said she never felt a "negative connotation" for the word "ambition" until she began dating Prince Harry. "Apparently ambition is a terrible, terrible thing, for a woman that is – according to some," she continued. "So, since I've felt the negativity behind it, it's really hard to un-feel it. I can't unsee it, either, in the millions of girls and women who make themselves smaller – so much smaller – on a regular basis."
Williams agreed, noting that women are "definitely put in these different boxes when we are ambitious or when we do have goals or when we reach our goals, it's a negative connotation on how we reach the goals." Markle noted that even young girls in classrooms might be labeled "bossy" because they show ambition.
Markle also shared a scary story from her 2019 visit to Africa with Harry and their son, Archie Harrison, who was only four months old at the time. Since Markle and Harry were still senior members of the Royal Family at that point, they needed to attend official engagements. While they went to one in South Africa, they were told a fire broke out in Archie's room. Even after the incident, they still had to continue attending official engagements while leaving Archie behind.