Goalhanger has been named Britain’s fastest-growing business in the latest Sunday Times ranking after posting £37.9m in sales in 2025 and an average annual growth rate of 321% over the past three years.

The result puts the podcast company, founded by Tony Pastor, Gary Lineker and Jack Davenport in 2018, at the top of the list of the 100 quickest-growing private companies. Its rise has been powered by The Rest is... series, including The Rest is History, The Rest is Entertainment, The Rest is Football and The Rest is Politics, which together now have more than 750 million listeners.

The ranking matters now because it captures a moment when creator-led audio has become a serious business, not just a side project for broadcasters and ex-athletes. Goalhanger said in January that it had reached 250,000 paid subscribers for the first time, while its sales have been boosted by subscriptions and live events. The company also employs only 80 people at its London headquarters, a small team for a business that has become the most rapid climber on the list.

Gary Lineker remains closely tied to the company as well. Latest filings at Companies House show he holds a stake of at least 25% in Goalhanger, giving the former England striker a meaningful share in a business that has moved well beyond its first podcast format. That ownership has only drawn more attention since December, when Netflix agreed to broadcast The Rest is Football during the World Cup in a deal reported to be worth £14m.

There is still a question over how far the growth can run from here. Goalhanger launched its own venture capital arm this year to invest in creator-led media businesses, and a month after the Netflix deal The Chernin Group disclosed it had bought a minority stake, both signs that the company is trying to widen its reach rather than rely on one hit. But its position at the top of the Sunday Times list also shows how quickly a lean operation can turn podcasts into scale, and how hard it may be to keep compounding at 321% once the audience base is already this large.

The list as a whole underlines the same shift. The 100 fastest-growing companies increased sales by 108% a year over the past three years to a combined £4bn, with 13,700 people employed across the ranking. Forty-five of the businesses are based in London, and a record 33 have female founders, co-founders or chief executives. Goalhanger may be the headline name this year, but the next test is whether it can keep growing at the same pace after it has already reached the scale that put it first.