It is endemic to central and south-eastern Wallacea, where it ranges from Timor east to the Tanimbars and north to Seram and Banggai (roughly equalling the islands in or adjacent to the Banda Sea).

The yellow-throated whistler was originally described in the genus Myiolestes (a synonym for Colluricincla).

The yellow-throated whistler is variably considered as either a subspecies of the Australian golden whistler or treated as a separate species, but strong published evidence in favour of either treatment is limited, and further study is warranted to resolve the complex taxonomic situation.

[1] Five subspecies are recognized:[2] The Baliem whistler (Pachycephala balim) and the Babar whistler (Pachycephala sharpei) were formerly considered as a subspecies.

The subspecies par and compar have been moved to the fawn-breasted whistler (Pachycephala orpheus) based on phylogenetic analyses.