Year-End Lists

Anne Thompson: 10 Best Films of 2016, as published by IndieWire

[see also 2019 • 2017 • 2015 • 2011]

1. The Jungle Book
   Jon Favreau
2. Manchester by the Sea
   Kenneth Lonergan
3. Toni Erdmann
   Maren Ade
4. Moonlight
   Barry Jenkins
5. La La Land
   Damien Chazelle
6. Arrival
   Denis Villeneuve
7. Loving
   Jeff Nichols
8. Maggie’s Plan
   Rebecca Miller
9. 20th Century Women
   Mike Mills
10. Fences
    Denzel Washington

Uncut Magazine: 75 Best Albums of 2016

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

1. Blackstar
   David Bowie
2. A Moon Shaped Pool
   Radiohead
3. Skeleton Tree
   Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
4. You Want It Darker
   Leonard Cohen
5. Golden Sings That Have Been Sung
   Ryley Walker
6. The Hope Six Demolition Project
   PJ Harvey
7. A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
   Sturgill Simpson
8. Hopelessness
   ANOHNI
9. Here
   Teenage Fanclub
10. Lemonade
    Beyoncé
11. A Weird Exits
    Thee Oh Sees
12. The Ship
    Brian Eno
13. American Band
    Drive-By Truckers
14. 22, A Million
    Bon Iver
15. Schmilco
    Wilco
16. Heart Like a Levee
    Hiss Golden Messenger
17. Void Beats / Invocation Trex
    Cavern of Anti-Matter
18. A Seat at the Table
    Solange
19. FLOTUS
    Lambchop
20. My Woman
    Angel Olsen
21. Modern Country
    William Tyler
22. Wildflower
    The Avalanches
23. Midwest Farmer’s Daughter
    Margo Price
24. Stranger to Stranger
    Paul Simon
25. Post Pop Depression
    Iggy Pop
26. Crab Day
    Cate Le Bon
27. Lodestar
    Shirley Collins
28. case/lang/veirs
    case/lang/veirs
29. Untitled Unmastered
    Kendrick Lamar
30. Blond
    Frank Ocean
31. Mangy Love
    Cass McCombs
32. Wood / Metal / Plastic / Pattern / Rhythm / Rock
    75 Dollar Bill
33. Nonagon Infinity
    King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
34. The Ghosts of Highway 20
    Lucinda Williams
35. New View
    Eleanor Friedberger
36. Blood Bitch
    Jenny Hval
37. Love Streams
    Tim Hecker
38. The Rarity of Experience
    Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band
39. Little Seeds
    Shovels and Rope
40. I, Gemini
    Let’s Eat Grandma
41. Varmints
    Anna Meredith
42. Brigid Mae Power
    Brigid Mae Power
43. Take Her Up to Monto
    Róisín Murphy
44. Away
    Okkervil River
45. We Are King
    KING
46. The Glowing Man
    Swans
47. Unseen
    The Handsome Family
48. Konnichiwa
    Skepta
49. Chaleur Humaine
    Christine and the Queens
50. Singing Saw
    Kevin Morby
51. Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future
    Underworld
52. Day of the Dead
    various artists
53. Leave Me Alone
    Hinds
54. Upland Stories
    Robbie Fulks
55. Killer Road
    Soundwalk Collective / Patti Smith / Jesse Paris Smith
56. Atrocity Exhibition
    Danny Brown
57. blackSUMMERS’night
    Maxwell
58. EARS
    Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
59. Shine a Light: Field Recordings from the Great American Railroad
    Billy Bragg & Joe Henry
60. Emotional Mugger
    Ty Segall
61. Music for a New Society/M:FANS
    John Cale
62. Centres
    Ian William Craig
63. You Can’t Go Back If There’s Nothing to Go Back To
    Richmond Fontaine
64. Set Fire to the Stars
    Gruff Rhys
65. In Search of Harperfield
    Emma Pollock
66. Changes
    Charles Bradley
67. Eyes on the Lines
    Steve Gunn
68. Distance Inbetween
    The Coral
69. American Tunes
    Allen Toussaint
70. Grapefruit
    Kiran Leonard
71. Channel the Spirits
    The Comet Is Coming
72. Hubris
    Oren Ambarchi
73. Heron Oblivion
    Heron Oblivion
74. Last Evenings on Earth
    Melt Yourself Down
75. III
    Innercity Ensemble

Melissa Anderson: 10 Best Movies of 2016, as published by Artforum

[see also 2019 • 2018 • 2015 • 2012]

1. Moonlight
   Barry Jenkins
2. Toni Erdmann
   Maren Ade
3. O.J.: Made in America
   Ezra Edelman
4. Happy Hour
   Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
5. Fort Buchanan
   Benjamin Crotty
6. Born in Flames
   Lizzie Borden
6. Regrouping
   Lizzie Borden
7. An Early Clue to the New Direction: Queer Cinema Before Stonewall, Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York
8. The Ornithologist
   João Pedro Rodrigues
9. Elle
   Paul Verhoeven
10. Hermia & Helena
    Matías Piñeiro

J Hoberman: 10 Best Films of 2016, as published by Artforum

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

1. THREE SCREEN RAY
   Bruce Conner
2. O.J.: Made in America
   Ezra Edelman
3. Toni Erdmann
   Maren Ade
4. Kaili Blues
   Bi Gan
5. The Death of Louis XIV
   Albert Serra
6. Sieranevada
   Cristi Puiu
7. Austerlitz
   Sergei Loznitsa
8. The Witch
   Robert Eggers
9. Demon
   Marcin Wrona
10. Walkers: Hollywood Afterlives in Art and Artifact at Museum of the Moving Image, New York

James Quandt: 10 Best Films of 2016, as published by Artforum

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

1. Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet retrospective at Museum of Modern Art, New York
2. From the Branches Drops the Withered Blossom
   Paul Meyer
3. Sieranevada
   Cristi Puiu
4. The Death of Louis XIV
   Albert Serra
5. The Ornithologist
   João Pedro Rodrigues
6. Ma’ Rosa
   Brillante Mendoza
7. Yourself and Yours
   Hong Sang-soo
8. Neruda
   Pablo Larraín
9. Kékszakállú
   Gastón Solnicki
10. As Without So Within
    Manuela De Laborde

A.O. Scott: 10 Best Movies of 2016, as published by The New York Times

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Moonlight
   Barry Jenkins
2. O.J.: Made in America
   Ezra Edelman
3. Toni Erdmann
   Maren Ade
4. Cameraperson
   Kirsten Johnson
5. Aferim!
   Radu Jude
6. American Honey
   Andrea Arnold
7. Aquarius
   Kleber Mendonça Filho
8. Sausage Party
   Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon
9. A Bigger Splash
   Luca Guadagnino
10. Elle
    Paul Verhoeven
10. Things to Come
    Mia Hansen-Løve

Stephen Holden: 20 Best Movies of 2016, as published by The New York Times

[see also 2015 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Moonlight
   Barry Jenkins
2. O.J.: Made in America
   Ezra Edelman
3. American Honey
   Andrea Arnold
4. Embrace of the Serpent
   Ciro Guerra
5. Manchester by the Sea
   Kenneth Lonergan
6. Neon Bull
   Gabriel Mascaro
7. Fire at Sea
   Gianfranco Rosi
8. Elle
   Paul Verhoeven
9. Aquarius
   Kleber Mendonça Filho

Runners-up

• Fireworks Wednesday
  Asghar Farhadi
• Krisha
  Trey Edward Shults
• Sunset Song
  Terence Davies
• Wiener-Dog
  Todd Solondz
• The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years
  Ron Howard
• Chronic
  Michel Franco
• Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened…
  Lonny Price
• 20th Century Women
  Mike Mills
• 13th
  Ava DuVernay
• Paterson
  Jim Jarmusch
• Things to Come
  Mia Hansen-Løve

Manohla Dargis: 28 Best Movies of 2016, as published by The New York Times

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. No Home Movie
   Chantal Akerman
2. Toni Erdmann
   Maren Ade
3. Moonlight
   Barry Jenkins
4. O.J.: Made in America
   Ezra Edelman
5. My Golden Days
   Arnaud Desplechin
6. I Am Not Your Negro
   Raoul Peck
7. Arrival
   Denis Villeneuve
8. The Handmaiden
   Park Chan-wook
9. 13th
   Ava DuVernay
10. From the Notebook of…
    Robert Beavers

Other Loves

• Aquarius
  Kleber Mendonça Filho
• Autumn
  Nathaniel Dorsky
• The Dreamer
  Nathaniel Dorsky
• Bagatelle II
  Jerome Hiler
• Certain Women
  Kelly Reichardt
• Creepy
  Kiyoshi Kurosawa
• The Fits
  Anna Rose Holmer
• The Illinois Parables
  Deborah Stratman
• Into the Inferno
  Werner Herzog
• Jackie
  Pablo Larraín
• Neruda
  Pablo Larraín
• Krisha
  Trey Edward Shults
• La La Land
  Damien Chazelle
• Loving
  Jeff Nichols
• Mountains May Depart
  Jia Zhang-ke
• Paterson
  Jim Jarmusch
• Sunset Song
  Terence Davies
• 20th Century Women
  Mike Mills

The Skinny: Top 50 Albums of 2016

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

1. Blond
   Frank Ocean
2. A Seat at the Table
   Solange
3. 22, A Million
   Bon Iver
4. Malibu
   Anderson .Paak
5. My Woman
   Angel Olsen
6. Skeleton Tree
   Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
7. Blackstar
   David Bowie
8. Hopelessness
   ANOHNI
9. Human Performance
   Parquet Courts
10. Lemonade
    Beyoncé
11. A Moon Shaped Pool
    Radiohead
12. Teens of Denial
    Car Seat Headrest
13. Lost Time
    Tacocat
14. Coloring Book
    Chance The Rapper
15. Puberty 2
    Mitski
16. Freetown Sound
    Blood Orange
17. Varmints
    Anna Meredith
18. For All We Know
    NAO
19. Nothing’s Real
    Shura
20. Cardinal
    Pinegrove
21. I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It
    The 1975
22. Rojus (Designed to Dance)
    Leon Vynehall
23. The Life of Pablo
    Kanye West
24. Adore Life
    Savages
25. 99.9%
    KAYTRANADA
26. Next Thing
    Frankie Cosmos
27. Sirens
    Nicolas Jaar
28. The Colour in Anything
    James Blake
29. Telefone
    Noname
30. Atrocity Exhibition
    Danny Brown
31. Boy King
    Wild Beasts
32. Will
    Julianna Barwick
33. Leave Me Alone
    Hinds
34. Don’t Let the Kids Win
    Julia Jacklin
35. Fetish Bones
    Moor Mother
36. How to Be a Human Being
    Glass Animals
37. Painting of a Panic Attack
    Frightened Rabbit
38. Light Upon the Lake
    Whitney
39. Darwîś
    Parra for Cuva
40. Good Luck And Do Your Best
    Gold Panda
41. Here
    Teenage Fanclub
42. Mirror Breathing
    Shield Patterns
43. Babes Never Die
    Honeyblood
44. Singing Saw
    Kevin Morby
45. American Football (LP2)
    American Football
46. City
    Law Holt
47. Meet the Humans
    Steve Mason
48. Weem
    De Rosa
49. E•MO•TION: Side B
    Carly Rae Jepsen
50. Not to Disappear
    Daughter

Alison Willmore: 11 Best Movies of 2016, as published by BuzzFeed

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

1. Toni Erdmann
   Maren Ade
2. Moonlight
   Barry Jenkins
3. Weiner
   Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg
4. Mountains May Depart
   Jia Zhang-ke
5. Hell or High Water
   David Mackenzie
6. Elle
   Paul Verhoeven
6. Things to Come
   Mia Hansen-Løve
8. O.J.: Made in America
   Ezra Edelman
9. The Edge of Seventeen
   Kelly Fremon Craig
10. Manchester by the Sea
    Kenneth Lonergan
11. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
    Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone