Year-End Lists

Willa Paskin: 10 Best TV Shows of 2018, as published by Slate

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2017]

1. Succession
2. Glow
3. Killing Eve
4. Atlanta
5. Howards End
6. Babylon Berlin
7. Ugly Delicious
8. The Little Drummer Girl
9. High Maintenance
9. Dear White People
10. Hannah Gadsby: Nanette

Laura Miller: 10 Best Books of 2018, as published by Slate

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2017]

• I’ll Be Gone in the Dark

  One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
  Michelle McNamara
• Washington Black
  Esi Edugyan
• Milkman
  Anna Burns
• The Mars Room
  Rachel Kushner
• The Witch Elm
  Tana French
• Transcription
  Kate Atkinson
• My Year of Rest and Relaxation
  Ottessa Moshfegh
• How to Change Your Mind

  What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
  Michael Pollan
• The Sparsholt Affair
  Alan Hollinghurst
• Daemon Voices

  On Stories and Storytelling
  Philip Pullman

Slant Magazine: 25 Best Albums of 2018

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Honey
   Robyn
2. Dirty Computer
   Janelle Monáe
3. Kids See Ghosts
   Kids See Ghosts
4. Bloom
   Troye Sivan
5. Hive Mind
   The Internet
6. Invasion of Privacy
   Cardi B
7. Be the Cowboy
   Mitski
8. 2012-2017
   Against All Logic
9. Dove
   Belly
10. Knock Knock
    DJ Koze
11. iridescence
    BROCKHAMPTON
12. Caution
    Mariah Carey
13. Tell Me How You Really Feel
    Courtney Barnett
14. FM!
    Vince Staples
15. Negro Swan
    Blood Orange
16. Chris
    Christine and the Queens
17. A Productive Cough
    Titus Andronicus
18. Wide Awake!
    Parquet Courts
19. Treehouse
    Sofi Tukker
20. Sweetener
    Ariana Grande
21. What a Time to Be Alive
    Superchunk
22. Daytona
    Pusha T
23. Bad Witch
    Nine Inch Nails
24. Twin Fantasy
    Car Seat Headrest
25. Golden Hour
    Kacey Musgraves

Peter Debruge: Top 10 Films of 2018, as published by Variety

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2017]

1. Blindspotting
   Carlos López Estrada
2. A Star Is Born
   Bradley Cooper
3. Shoplifters
   Hirokazu Kore-eda
4. The Hate U Give
   George Tillman Jr.
5. Eighth Grade
   Bo Burnham
6. Museo
   Alonso Ruizpalacios
7. Life & Nothing More
   Antonio Méndez Esparza
8. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
   Christopher McQuarrie
9. Burning
   Lee Chang-dong
10. In Syria
    Philippe Van Leeuw

Owen Gleiberman: Top 10 Films of 2018, as published by Variety

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2017 • 2012]

1. A Star Is Born
   Bradley Cooper
2. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
   Morgan Neville
3. The Rider
   Chloé Zhao
4. Green Book
   Peter Farrelly
5. Chappaquiddick
   John Curran
6. Red Sparrow
   Francis Lawrence
7. If Beale Street Could Talk
   Barry Jenkins
8. First Man
   Damien Chazelle
9. Wild Wild Country
10. Eighth Grade
    Bo Burnham

Emily Nussbaum: My Not-Top-Ten Television List, as published by The New Yorker

This site is devoted to lists, but we always look forward to Emily Nussbaum's annual defiance of this silly tradition. Click through to see why.

We've taken the liberty of omitting her dislikes and not-seens, but those lists are worth reading, too.

[see also 2019 • 2017]

Consistently Great — I'm Serious

• Succession
• BoJack Horseman
• Jane the Virgin
• High Maintenance
• The Americans
• The End of the F***ing World
• The Good Fight
• A Very English Scandal

Alienating But Worth It

• The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
• Atlanta
• Nathan for You
• Random Acts of Flyness
• The Deuce

Worth It, but It Flew off the Rails

• Killing Eve
• Babylon Berlin
• Dietland

Good, Not Great, or Perfect, Maybe, but What Is Great?? Are You so Perfect?

• Glow
• Big Mouth
• The Good Place
• Orange is the New Black
• This Close
• The Bisexual
• Dear White People
• Pose
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Fun!

• Younger
• You
• Drunk History
• Schitt's Creek
• Black Mirror, "USS Callister"
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine
• Claws
• Queer Eye
• My Brilliant Friend

These Are Movies, but They Were on TV-Streaming Services, so I Recommend Them

• The Tale
• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
• Private Life

Refinery29: The 10 Best Albums of 2018

[see also 2010s]

1. Dirty Computer
   Janelle Monáe
2. Golden Hour
   Kacey Musgraves
3. Invasion of Privacy
   Cardi B
4. Sweetener
   Ariana Grande
5. so sad so sexy
   Lykke Li
6. A Star Is Born Soundtrack
   Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
7. Honey
   Robyn
8. Be the Cowboy
   Mitski
9. By The Way, I Forgive You
   Brandi Carlile
10. Camila
    Camila Cabello

The Atlantic: 23 Best Albums of 2018

[see also 2020 • 2019]

• Nasty
  Rico Nasty
• Room 25
  Noname
• ...And Justice for All (Remastered)
  Metallica
• Fully Loaded
  Shy Glizzy
• Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides
  Sophie
• Gangland Landlord
  Mozzy
• Dose Your Dreams
  Fucked Up
• Hive Mind
  The Internet
• Only Love
  The Armed
• Whack World
  Tierra Whack
• Elephants on Acid
  Cypress Hill
• Post-
  Jeff Rosenstock
• NOIR
  Smino
• 2012-2017
  Against All Logic
• soil
  serpentwithfeet
• Negative Capability
  Marianne Faithfull
• Aura
  Ozuna
• All Melody
  Nils Frahm
• Mudboy
  Sheck Wes
• Tina Snow
  Megan Thee Stallion
• Historian
  Lucy Dacus
• High As Hope
  Florence + The Machine
• To the Sunset
  Amanda Shires

Jeremy D. Larson: Favorite Albums of 2018, as posted to Twitter

[see also 2020 • 2019 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015]

1. Double Negative
   Low
2. Knock Knock
   DJ Koze
3. 7
   Beach House
4. Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
   Arctic Monkeys
5. Heaven and Earth
   Kamasi Washington
6. Beyondless
   Iceage
7. Room 25
   Noname
8. Lush
   Snail Mail
9. Only Love
   The Armed
10. Daytona
    Pusha T
11. I’m All Ears
    Let’s Eat Grandma
12. Constant Image
    Flasher
13. boygenius
    boygenius
14. Veteran
    JPEGMAFIA
15. Honey
    Robyn
16. Golden Hour
    Kacey Musgraves
17. Some Rap Songs
    Earl Sweatshirt
18. Freedom
    Amen Dunes
19. A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
    The 1975
20. Universal Beings
    Makaya McCraven
21. In a Poem Unlimited
    U.S. Girls
22. Your Queen Is a Reptile
    Sons of Kemet
23. Cold Devil
    Drakeo the Ruler
24. Sparkle Hard
    Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
25. No Dogs Allowed
    Sidney Gish
26. Errorzone
    Vein
27. God’s Favorite Customer
    Father John Misty

Maureen Ryan: Top TV Shows of 2018

[see also 2021 • 2017 • 2016]

Top 10 TV Shows of 2018 (in alphabetical order)

• The Americans
• Atlanta
• Better Call Saul
• BoJack Horseman
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
• The Good Fight
• The Good Place
• Jane the Virgin
• Killing Eve
• One Day at a Time

Honorable mentions

• American Vandal
• Barry
• Billions
• Dear White People
• The Deuce
• Fresh Off the Boat
• Grown-ish
• Insecure
• Mosaic
• Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams
• Save Me
• Suits
• Trust
• Wild Wild Country

The Rest of the Top 40

• Altered Carbon
• Bodyguard
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine
• Castle Rock
• Counterpart
• Legends of Tomorrow
• Doctor Who
• Everything Sucks!
• The Haunting of Hill House
• Homecoming
• Howards End
• Into the Badlands
• Killjoys
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
• The Little Drummer Girl
• Mary Kills People
• Miss Sherlock
• My Brilliant Friend
• Hannah Gadsby: Nanette
• National Treasure: Kiri
• Pose
• Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
• Sharp Objects
• The Staircase
• Succession
• Superstore
• A Very English Scandal
• Vida
• The Wine Show
• Wynonna Earp