Year-End Lists

The Wire: Top 50 Albums of 2016

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Blackstar
   David Bowie
2. Lodestar
   Shirley Collins
3. Fetish Bones
   Moor Mother
4. elseq 1-5
   Autechre
5. Skeleton Tree
   Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
6. Blood Bitch
   Jenny Hval
7. Arbina
   Noura Mint Seymali
8. Serpent Music
   Yves Tumor
9. SECURITY
   Gaika
10. Yermande
    Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force
11. Saturday Night Fever
    Gate
12. A Seat at the Table
    Solange
13. The Life of Pablo
    Kanye West
14. Hubris
    Oren Ambarchi
15. “BBF” Hosted By DJ Escrow
    Babyfather
16. Wood / Metal / Plastic / Pattern / Rhythm / Rock
    75 Dollar Bill
17. Varmints
    Anna Meredith
18. EARS
    Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
19. We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service
    A Tribe Called Quest
20. You Know What It’s Like
    Carla dal Forno
21. Entities Inertias Faint Beings
    David Toop
22. You Want It Darker
    Leonard Cohen
23. Untitled Unmastered
    Kendrick Lamar
24. We Be All Africans
    Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids
25. Simultaneous Flight Movement
    Laura Cannell
26. New Feeling Come
    Ectoplasm Girls
27. Eyes on the Lines
    Steve Gunn
28. Centres
    Ian William Craig
29. Ultimate Care II
    Matmos
30. Professional Sunflow
    Laraaji & Sun Araw
31. The Childhood of a Leader (OST)
    Scott Walker
32. Epic Jammers and Fortunate Little Ditties
    Bitchin Bajas & Bonnie “Prince” Billy
33. Elysia Crampton Presents: Demon City
    Elysia Crampton
34. Color
    Katie Gately
35. Devotional Songs
    Shackleton with Ernesto Tomasini
36. Anxiety
    Anxiety
37. Konnichiwa
    Skepta
38. The Spiral
    Puce Mary
39. Bes
    The Dwarfs of East Agouza
40. Live At Issue Project Room
    Catherine Christer Hennix
41. Interventions
    Horse Lords
42. R M H Q: Headquarters
    Roy Montgomery
43. Blond
    Frank Ocean
44. Eve
    Thalia Zedek
45. Cathédrale De Strasbourg
    Charlemagne Palestine
46. Ben Johnston: String Quartets Nos. 6, 7, & 8
    Kepler Quartet
47. Jackie Lynn
    Circuit Des Yeux
48. Ultra
    Zomby
49. Too
    Klara Lewis
50. Controlling Body
    Peder Mannerfelt

Spin: 50 Best Albums of 2016

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2015 • 2012 • 2011]

1. A Seat at the Table
   Solange
2. Blond
   Frank Ocean
3. Blackstar
   David Bowie
4. We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service
   A Tribe Called Quest
5. I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It
   The 1975
6. Lemonade
   Beyoncé
7. Coloring Book
   Chance The Rapper
8. A Moon Shaped Pool
   Radiohead
9. My Woman
   Angel Olsen
10. 22, A Million
    Bon Iver
11. Freetown Sound
    Blood Orange
12. Anti
    Rihanna
13. The Life of Pablo
    Kanye West
14. Puberty 2
    Mitski
15. You Want It Darker
    Leonard Cohen
16. Atrocity Exhibition
    Danny Brown
17. Jeffery
    Young Thug
18. Emily’s D+Evolution
    Esperanza Spalding
19. Hopelessness
    ANOHNI
20. Untitled Unmastered
    Kendrick Lamar
21. We Are King
    KING
22. Islah
    Kevin Gates
23. Cody
    Joyce Manor
24. Malibu
    Anderson .Paak
25. Sirens
    Nicolas Jaar
26. Blank Face LP
    Schoolboy Q
27. Skeleton Tree
    Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
28. 99.9%
    KAYTRANADA
29. Pretty Years
    Cymbals Eat Guitars
30. Blood Bitch
    Jenny Hval
31. Goodness
    The Hotelier
32. Human Performance
    Parquet Courts
33. A Good Night in the Ghetto
    Kamaiyah
34. SEPT. 5TH
    dvsn
35. Teens of Denial
    Car Seat Headrest
36. Wildflower
    The Avalanches
37. Paradise
    White Lung
38. blackSUMMERS’night
    Maxwell
39. Still Brazy
    YG
40. The Weight of These Wings
    Miranda Lambert
41. Light Upon the Lake
    Whitney
42. 24K Magic
    Bruno Mars
43. Strangers
    Marissa Nadler
44. A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke
    Vijay Iyer & Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith
45. Värähtelijä
    Oranssi Pazuzu
46. The Bride
    Bat for Lashes
47. Hero
    Maren Morris
48. Cardinal
    Pinegrove
49. DJ-Kicks
    Moodymann
50. A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
    Sturgill Simpson

Ann Hornaday: 26 Best Movies of 2016, as published by The Washington Post

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2015]

1. Moonlight
   Barry Jenkins
2. Manchester by the Sea
   Kenneth Lonergan
3. Hell or High Water
   David Mackenzie
4. The Confirmation
   Bob Nelson
5. O.J.: Made in America
   Ezra Edelman
6. Cameraperson
   Kirsten Johnson
7. La La Land
   Damien Chazelle
8. Lemonade
   Beyoncé Knowles Carter and Kahlil Joseph with Jonas Åkerlund, Melina Matsoukas, Dikayl Rimmasch, Mark Romanek and Tod Tourso
9. 13th
   Ava DuVernay
10. Southside with You
    Richard Tanne

“…had I not been constrained by numerical obstinacy”

• Loving
  Jeff Nichols
• Arrival
  Denis Villeneuve
• The Fits
  Anna Rose Holmer
• A Bigger Splash
  Luca Guadagnino
• Love & Friendship
  Whit Stillman
• Sully
  Clint Eastwood
• Captain Fantastic
  Matt Ross
• Paterson
  Jim Jarmusch
• Eye in the Sky
  Gavin Hood
• Hail, Caesar!
  Joel & Ethan Coen
• Last Days in the Desert
  Rodrigo García
• I Am Not Your Negro
  Raoul Peck
• Tower
  Keith Maitland
• Weiner
  Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg
• The Eagle Huntress
  Otto Bell
• Jackie
  Pablo Larraín

The A.V. Club: 21 Best Albums of 2016

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2015 • 2014 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Blackstar
   David Bowie
2. A Moon Shaped Pool
   Radiohead
3. My Woman
   Angel Olsen
4. Cardinal
   Pinegrove
5. Goodness
   The Hotelier
6. Paradise
   White Lung
7. Coloring Book
   Chance The Rapper
8. Puberty 2
   Mitski
9. Blond
   Frank Ocean
10. Cody
    Joyce Manor
11. You Want It Darker
    Leonard Cohen
12. Eric Bachmann
    Eric Bachmann
13. A Seat at the Table
    Solange
14. Holy Ghost
    Modern Baseball
15. Real
    Lydia Loveless
16. You Will Never Be One of Us
    Nails
17. Stage Four
    Touché Amoré
18. The Life of Pablo
    Kanye West
19. Teens of Denial
    Car Seat Headrest
20. I Had A Dream That You Were Mine
    Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam
20. Blisters In the Pit of My Heart
    Martha

Slant Magazine: 50 Best Films of 2016

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Toni Erdmann
   Maren Ade
2. O.J.: Made in America
   Ezra Edelman
3. Happy Hour
   Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
4. Cemetery of Splendor
   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
5. Elle
   Paul Verhoeven
6. Paterson
   Jim Jarmusch
7. Moonlight
   Barry Jenkins
8. Cameraperson
   Kirsten Johnson
9. Manchester by the Sea
   Kenneth Lonergan
10. The Treasure
    Corneliu Porumboiu
11. Right Now, Wrong Then
    Hong Sang-soo
12. No Home Movie
    Chantal Akerman
13. Knight of Cups
    Terrence Malick
14. Sunset Song
    Terence Davies
15. The Love Witch
    Anna Biller
16. Certain Women
    Kelly Reichardt
17. Everybody Wants Some!!
    Richard Linklater
18. Love & Friendship
    Whit Stillman
19. The Illinois Parables
    Deborah Stratman
20. Homo sapiens
    Nikolaus Geyrhalter
21. Kate Plays Christine
    Robert Greene
22. The Academy of Muses
    José Luis Guerín
23. Fire at Sea
    Gianfranco Rosi
24. Homeland (Iraq Year Zero)
    Abbas Fahdel
25. The Neon Demon
    Nicolas Winding Refn
26. Kaili Blues
    Bi Gan
27. In the Shadow of Women
    Philippe Garrel
28. Aquarius
    Kleber Mendonça Filho
29. Neon Bull
    Gabriel Mascaro
30. Hail, Caesar!
    Joel & Ethan Coen
31. The Other Side
    Roberto Minervini
32. The Lobster
    Yorgos Lanthimos
33. Wiener-Dog
    Todd Solondz
34. 20th Century Women
    Mike Mills
35. Mia Madre
    Nanni Moretti
36. Aferim!
    Radu Jude
37. The Fits
    Anna Rose Holmer
38. Midnight Special
    Jeff Nichols
39. Little Men
    Ira Sachs
40. Cosmos
    Andrzej Zulawski
41. Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party
    Stephen Cone
42. Do Not Resist
    Craig Atkinson
43. The Handmaiden
    Park Chan-wook
44. Mountains May Depart
    Jia Zhang-ke
45. Demon
    Marcin Wrona
46. Creepy
    Kiyoshi Kurosawa
47. Things to Come
    Mia Hansen-Løve
48. I Am Not Madame Bovary
    Feng Xiaogang
49. 13th
    Ava DuVernay
50. Fort Buchanan
    Benjamin Crotty

Harper’s Bazaar: The 13 Best Books of 2016

[see also 2023 • 2020 • 2018 • 2017 • 2015]

1. Here I Am
   Jonathan Safran Foer
2. When Breath Becomes Air
   Paul Kalanithi
3. The Girls
   Emma Cline
4. Born To Run
   Bruce Springsteen
5. In the Darkroom
   Susan Faludi
6. Swing Time
   Zadie Smith
7. The Underground Railroad
   Colson Whitehead
8. Sweetbitter
   Stephanie Danler
9. In Other Words
   Jhumpa Lahiri
10. Known and Strange Things

    Essays
    Teju Cole
11. Homegoing
    Yaa Gyasi
12. Eleanor and Hick

    The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady
    Susan Quinn
13. All That Man Is
    David Szalay

Amy Taubin: 10 Best Films of 2016, as published by Artforum

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012]

1. Bruce Conner: It’s All True (exhibition and retrospective) at Museum of Modern Art, New York
2. Moonlight
   Barry Jenkins
3. Toni Erdmann
   Maren Ade
4. Everything Else
   Natalia Almada
5. I Am Not Your Negro
   Raoul Peck
6. O.J.: Made in America
   Ezra Edelman
7. My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea
   Dash Shaw
8. Tempestad
   Tatiana Huezo
9. Sand Storm
   Elite Zexer
10. Command and Control
    Robert Kenner

Mojo Magazine: 50 Best Albums of 2016

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Blackstar
   David Bowie
2. Love & Hate
   Michael Kiwanuka
3. Skeleton Tree
   Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
4. FLOTUS
   Lambchop
5. You Want It Darker
   Leonard Cohen
6. Post Pop Depression
   Iggy Pop
7. Blond
   Frank Ocean
8. Stranger to Stranger
   Paul Simon
9. The Hope Six Demolition Project
   PJ Harvey
10. Heron Oblivion
    Heron Oblivion
11. A Moon Shaped Pool
    Radiohead
12. Lemonade
    Beyoncé
13. Here
    Teenage Fanclub
14. Changes
    Charles Bradley
15. Hidden City
    The Cult
16. 22, A Million
    Bon Iver
17. Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not
    Dinosaur Jr.
18. Apricity
    Syd Arthur
19. Swell to Great
    Modern Studies
20. Fallen Angels
    Bob Dylan
21. Golden Sings That Have Been Sung
    Ryley Walker
22. A Seat at the Table
    Solange
23. Singing Saw
    Kevin Morby
24. Teens of Denial
    Car Seat Headrest
25. Konnichiwa
    Skepta
26. Mangy Love
    Cass McCombs
27. case/lang/veirs
    case/lang/veirs
28. My Woman
    Angel Olsen
29. A Weird Exits
    Thee Oh Sees
30. Good Times!
    The Monkees
31. Songs for Our Mothers
    The Fat White Family
32. The Still
    The Still
33. Night Thoughts
    Suede
34. Lighthouse
    David Crosby
35. Commontime
    Field Music
36. Schmilco
    Wilco
37. The Colour in Anything
    James Blake
38. This Is Where I Live
    William Bell
39. Stiff
    White Denim
40. Coloring Book
    Chance The Rapper
41. Eyes on the Lines
    Steve Gunn
42. Hopelessness
    ANOHNI
43. Epic Jammers and Fortunate Little Ditties
    Bitchin Bajas & Bonnie “Prince” Billy
44. 2013
    Meilyr Jones
45. Untitled Unmastered
    Kendrick Lamar
46. Chaleur Humaine
    Christine and the Queens
47. Keep Me Singing
    Van Morrison
48. Channel the Spirits
    The Comet Is Coming
49. You Know Who You Are
    Nada Surf
50. Foreverland
    The Divine Comedy

Flood Magazine: The Best Records of 2016

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2015 • 2014]

1. Skeleton Tree
   Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
2. A Moon Shaped Pool
   Radiohead
3. We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service
   A Tribe Called Quest
4. My Woman
   Angel Olsen
5. You Want It Darker
   Leonard Cohen
6. The Party
   Andy Shauf
7. Blackstar
   David Bowie
8. The Life of Pablo
   Kanye West
9. Jumping the Shark
   Alex Cameron
10. Blond
    Frank Ocean
11. Untitled Unmastered
    Kendrick Lamar
12. Light Upon the Lake
    Whitney
13. Coloring Book
    Chance The Rapper
14. Preoccupations
    Preoccupations
15. Lemonade
    Beyoncé
16. Human Performance
    Parquet Courts
17. Hopelessness
    ANOHNI
18. Mowing
    Michael Nau
19. Malibu
    Anderson .Paak
20. A Seat at the Table
    Solange
21. Crab Day
    Cate Le Bon
22. Black Terry Cat
    Xenia Rubinos
23. Post Pop Depression
    Iggy Pop
24. Mangy Love
    Cass McCombs
25. Midwest Farmer’s Daughter
    Margo Price

K. Austin Collins: 12 Best Movies of 2016, as published by The Ringer

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017]

1. Moonlight
   Barry Jenkins
2. O.J.: Made in America
   Ezra Edelman
3. Sully
   Clint Eastwood
4. Cemetery of Splendor
   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
5. Silence
   Martin Scorsese
6. Love & Friendship
   Whit Stillman
7. Manchester by the Sea
   Kenneth Lonergan
8. The Love Witch
   Anna Biller
9. Everybody Wants Some!!
   Richard Linklater
10. Cameraperson
    Kirsten Johnson
11. The Witness
    James D. Solomon
12. Elvis & Nixon
    Liza Johnson