Year-End Lists

A hand-curated, browsable index of notable year-end lists. Follow the link for each list to see essential commentary from its author, at the source.
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Highlights

2020
All Movies TV Shows Music Books Poetry Podcasts

Northern Transmissions: Top 30 Albums of 2020

24 December 2020

Punisher - Phoebe Bridgers

Northern Transmissions: Top 30 Albums of 2020

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

  1. Punisher
    Phoebe Bridgers
  2. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
    Fiona Apple
  3. songs
    Adrianne Lenker
  4. RTJ4
    Run the Jewels
  5. Rough and Rowdy Ways
    Bob Dylan
  6. Muzz
    Muzz
  7. Saint Cloud
    Waxahatchee
  8. The Great Dismal
    Nothing
  9. Live Forever
    Bartees Strange
  10. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
    Perfume Genius
  11. Untitled (Black Is)
    Sault
  12. Sawayama
    Rina Sawayama
  13. Atlas Vending
    Metz
  14. Alfredo
    Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist
  15. Shore
    Fleet Foxes
  16. The Ascension
    Sufjan Stevens
  17. Every Bad
    Porridge Radio
  18. Inlet
    Hum
  19. The Neon Skyline
    Andy Shauf
  20. Speed, Sound, Lonely KV
    Kurt Vile
  21. The New Abnormal
    The Strokes
  22. Women in Music Pt. III
    Haim
  23. Folklore
    Taylor Swift
  24. color theory
    Soccer Mommy
  25. Græ
    Moses Sumney
  26. Little Dominiques Nosebleed
    The Koreatown Oddity
  27. Heaven to a Tortured Mind
    Yves Tumor
  28. Have We Met
    Destroyer
  29. A Hero's Death
    Fontaines D.C.
  30. Ultra Mono
    Idles

GCN: Steve Erickson: The Best in 2020 Music

24 December 2020

Steve Erickson: The Best in 2020 Music, as published by Gay City News

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2019]

Runners-up

Jeremy D. Larson: Favorite Albums of 2020

23 December 2020

Microphones in 2020 - The Microphones

Jeremy D. Larson: Favorite Albums of 2020

[see also 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015]

  1. Microphones in 2020
    The Microphones
  2. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
    Fiona Apple
  3. Saint Cloud
    Waxahatchee
  4. SOURCE
    Nubya Garcia
  5. Eno Axis
    H.C. McEntire
  6. Melee
    Dogleg
  7. Have We Met
    Destroyer
  8. Græ
    Moses Sumney
  9. The Passion Of
    Special Interest
  10. Peel
    KMRU
  11. Workaround
    Beatrice Dillon
  12. To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1
    Alabaster DePlume
  13. City on My Back
    Rio Da Yung OG
  14. Live Forever
    Bartees Strange
  15. Room for the Moon
    Kate NV
  16. Suite for Max Brown
    Jeff Parker
  17. Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase?
    The Soft Pink Truth
  18. Songs to Yeet At The Sun
    Soul Glo
  19. LIVE
    Angel Bat Dawid & Tha Brothahood
  20. Mt. Marci
    Roc Marciano
  21. Hannah
    Lomelda
  22. Imploding the Mirage
    The Killers
  23. First Flight
    Chris Forsyth / Dave Harrington / Ryan Jewell / Spencer Zahn
  24. Punisher
    Phoebe Bridgers
  25. Magic Oneohtrix Point Never
    Oneohtrix Point Never
  26. Country Westerns
    Country Westerns

The Wild Honey Pie: Top 30 Albums of 2020

23 December 2020

Punisher - Phoebe Bridgers

The Wild Honey Pie: Top 30 Albums of 2020

[see also 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016]

  1. Punisher
    Phoebe Bridgers
  2. Saint Cloud
    Waxahatchee
  3. Free Love
    Sylvan Esso
  4. The Neon Skyline
    Andy Shauf
  5. Women in Music Pt. III
    Haim
  6. Giver Taker
    Anjimile
  7. The Baby
    Samia
  8. Miss Anthropocene
    Grimes
  9. Shore
    Fleet Foxes
  10. The Caretaker
    Half Waif
  11. The New Abnormal
    The Strokes
  12. songs
    Adrianne Lenker
  13. Breach
    Fenne Lily
  14. Hold Space For Me
    orion sun
  15. The Greatest Part
    Becca Mancari
  16. Song for Our Daughter
    Laura Marling
  17. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
    Perfume Genius
  18. Likewise
    Frances Quinlan
  19. Beginners
    Christian Lee Hutson
  20. Folklore
    Taylor Swift
  21. acts of rebellion
    ela minus
  22. Grand Plan
    Dan Croll
  23. Making a Door Less Open
    Car Seat Headrest
  24. Miss Colombia
    Lido Pimienta
  25. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
    Fiona Apple
  26. Hey u x
    Benee
  27. Ricky Music
    Porches
  28. I'm Your Empress Of
    Empress Of
  29. how I'm feeling now
    Charli XCX
  30. Point The Flashlight and Walk
    Told Slant

Magnet: Top 25 Albums of 2020

23 December 2020

The New Abnormal - The Strokes

Magnet Magazine: Top 25 Albums of 2020

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

  1. The New Abnormal
    The Strokes
  2. Every Bad
    Porridge Radio
  3. Surrender Your Poppy Field
    Guided By Voices
  4. Mirrored Aztec
    Guided By Voices
  5. Styles We Paid For
    Guided By Voices
  6. songs
    Adrianne Lenker
  7. instrumentals
    Adrianne Lenker
  8. Suite for Max Brown
    Jeff Parker
  9. The Unraveling
    Drive-By Truckers
  10. The New OK
    Drive-By Truckers
  11. Temple
    Thao & the Get Down Stay Down
  12. American Head
    The Flaming Lips
  13. Daughter
    Lydia Loveless
  14. Jump Rope Gazers
    The Beths
  15. Twelfth
    Old 97’s
  16. Karma & Desire
    Actress
  17. Total Freedom
    Kathleen Edwards
  18. Microphones in 2020
    The Microphones
  19. Untitled (Black Is)
    Sault
  20. Untitled (Rise)
    Sault
  21. Never Not Together
    Nada Surf
  22. Chaos Wonderland
    Colorama
  23. Old Flowers
    Courtney Marie Andrews
  24. A Hero's Death
    Fontaines D.C.
  25. Nobody Lives Here Anymore
    Cut Worms
  26. To Love Is to Live
    Jehnny Beth
  27. Songs for Pierre Chuvin
    The Mountain Goats
  28. Getting Into Knives
    The Mountain Goats
  29. Gold Record
    Bill Callahan
  30. Moon Shot
    The Lees Of Memory
  31. Sideways to New Italy
    Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever

Guardian: The 50 Best Albums of 2020

23 December 2020

Fetch the Bolt Cutters - Fiona Apple

The Guardian: The 50 Best Albums of 2020

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

  1. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
    Fiona Apple
  2. Future Nostalgia
    Dua Lipa
  3. Sawayama
    Rina Sawayama
  4. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
    Perfume Genius
  5. Untitled (Black Is)
    Sault
  6. Saint Cloud
    Waxahatchee
  7. Women in Music Pt. III
    Haim
  8. Big Conspiracy
    J Hus
  9. Folklore
    Taylor Swift
  10. Græ
    Moses Sumney
  11. Róisín Machine
    Róisín Murphy
  12. Ungodly Hour
    Chloe x Halle
  13. Rough and Rowdy Ways
    Bob Dylan
  14. What's Your Pleasure?
    Jessie Ware
  15. A Written Testimony
    Jay Electronica
  16. Punisher
    Phoebe Bridgers
  17. A Hero's Death
    Fontaines D.C.
  18. RTJ4
    Run the Jewels
  19. Chromatica
    Lady Gaga
  20. Miss Anthropocene
    Grimes
  21. Heaven to a Tortured Mind
    Yves Tumor
  22. Workaround
    Beatrice Dillon
  23. Suddenly
    Caribou
  24. Inner Song
    Kelly Lee Owens
  25. Untitled (Rise)
    Sault
  26. Gold Record
    Bill Callahan
  27. Song for Our Daughter
    Laura Marling
  28. It Is What It Is
    Thundercat
  29. Circles
    Mac Miller
  30. Shore
    Fleet Foxes
  31. Heavy Light
    U.S. Girls
  32. Forever, Ya Girl
    KeiyaA
  33. how I'm feeling now
    Charli XCX
  34. Alfredo
    Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist
  35. Working Men's Club
    Working Men's Club
  36. Notes on a Conditional Form
    The 1975
  37. Savage Mode II
    21 Savage & Metro Boomin
  38. I Think I'm Good
    Kassa Overall
  39. Suite for Max Brown
    Jeff Parker
  40. Positions
    Ariana Grande
  41. Karma & Desire
    Actress
  42. DISCO
    Kylie Minogue
  43. Made in Lagos
    Wizkid
  44. All the Time
    Jessy Lanza
  45. Rare
    Selena Gomez
  46. Three
    The Necks
  47. The Album
    Teyana Taylor
  48. color theory
    Soccer Mommy
  49. Have We Met
    Destroyer
  50. Visions of Bodies Being Burned
    clipping.

XXL: Best Hip-Hop Projects of 2020

22 December 2020

XXL: Best Hip-Hop Projects of 2020

[see also 2019]

Albumism: The 100 Best Albums of 2020

22 December 2020

Róisín Machine - Róisín Murphy

Albumism: The 100 Best Albums of 2020

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017]

  1. Róisín Machine
    Róisín Murphy
  2. Lianne La Havas
    Lianne La Havas
  3. Untitled (Black Is)
    Sault
  4. What's Your Pleasure?
    Jessie Ware
  5. Folklore
    Taylor Swift
  6. Untitled (Rise)
    Sault
  7. DISCO
    Kylie Minogue
  8. Hotspot
    Pet Shop Boys
  9. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
    Fiona Apple
  10. The Universal Want
    Doves
  11. Future Nostalgia
    Dua Lipa
  12. B7
    Brandy
  13. Punisher
    Phoebe Bridgers
  14. All Blessed
    Faithless
  15. Such Pretty Forks in the Road
    Alanis Morissette
  16. RTJ4
    Run the Jewels
  17. Silver Landings
    Mandy Moore
  18. Græ
    Moses Sumney
  19. color theory
    Soccer Mommy
  20. Notes on a Conditional Form
    The 1975
  21. Love is an Art
    Vanessa Carlton
  22. Don't Look Too Close
    Natalie Schlabs
  23. Streams of Thought, Vol. 3: Cane & Able
    Black Thought
  24. Honey For Wounds
    Ego Ella May
  25. Old Time Feeling
    S.G. Goodman
  26. Djesse Vol. 3
    Jacob Collier
  27. Truth or Consequences
    Yumi Zouma
  28. Fun City
    Bright Light Bright Light
  29. Seeking Thrils
    Georgia
  30. Making a Door Less Open
    Car Seat Headrest
  31. Boombox Eternal
    Sam Sparro
  32. Album No. 8
    Katie Melua
  33. Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God
    Busta Rhymes
  34. Circles
    Mac Miller
  35. In Waves
    The Dirty Clergy
  36. Dedicated Side B
    Carly Rae Jepsen
  37. Country Westerns
    Country Westerns
  38. Together
    The Vapors
  39. Song for Our Daughter
    Laura Marling
  40. Black Country Disco
    Tom Aspaul
  41. Listen
    Kyshona
  42. to feel love/d
    Luke James
  43. Myopia
    Agnes Obel
  44. Through Water
    Låpsley
  45. A Written Testimony
    Jay Electronica
  46. Apart
    Léon
  47. Melanie C
    Melanie C
  48. What Kinda Music
    Tom Misch & Yussef Dayes
  49. Storm Damage
    Ben Watt
  50. Superstar
    Caroline Rose
  51. Chromatica
    Lady Gaga
  52. Blue Hearts
    Bob Mould
  53. All the Space That There Is
    The Adobe Collective
  54. Brazil305
    Gloria Estefan
  55. Die Midwestern
    Arlo Mckinley
  56. New Me, Same Us
    Little Dragon
  57. HIGHTIDE
    Leven Kali
  58. Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In​-​Between
    Man Man
  59. Rough and Rowdy Ways
    Bob Dylan
  60. Ignatius
    Jadakiss
  61. Shine
    the Danberrys
  62. What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down?
    Public Enemy
  63. Heartbreaker Please
    Teddy Thompson
  64. How I'm Feeling
    Lauv
  65. The Women Who Raised Me
    Kandace Springs
  66. XOXO
    The Jayhawks
  67. Pick Me Up Off the Floor
    Norah Jones
  68. King's Disease
    Nas
  69. A Simple Trick to Happiness
    Lisa Loeb
  70. Shore
    Fleet Foxes
  71. Saint Cloud
    Waxahatchee
  72. The Slow Rush
    Tame Impala
  73. Old Flowers
    Courtney Marie Andrews
  74. SOURCE
    Nubya Garcia
  75. A Hero's Death
    Fontaines D.C.
  76. Anime, Trauma and Divorce
    Open Mike Eagle
  77. After Hours
    The Weeknd
  78. Reunions
    Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit
  79. Shamir
    Shamir
  80. American Head
    The Flaming Lips
  81. Good Souls Better Angels
    Lucinda Williams
  82. Alicia
    Alicia Keys
  83. Imploding the Mirage
    The Killers
  84. Gaslighter
    The Chicks
  85. The New Abnormal
    The Strokes
  86. Suddenly
    Caribou
  87. Television's Golden Age
    P.J. O'Connor
  88. Dark Hearts
    Annie
  89. Unfollow the Rules
    Rufus Wainwright
  90. A Beautiful Revolution (Pt 1)
    Common
  91. Kitchen Sink
    Nadine Shah
  92. The Sharecropper's Daughter
    Sa-Roc
  93. Only Child
    Sasha Sloan
  94. Gigaton
    Pearl Jam
  95. Warnings
    I Break Horses
  96. Shelby Lynne
    Shelby Lynne
  97. Things We Do For Love
    The Sounds
  98. Dinner Party
    Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin and 9th Wonder
  99. Loud Is Not Enough
    Enemy Radio
  100. Energy
    Disclosure

Variety: Chris Willman: The Best Albums of 2020

20 December 2020

Folklore - Taylor Swift

Chris Willman: The Best Albums of 2020, as published by Variety

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018]

  1. Folklore
    Taylor Swift
  2. Evermore
    Taylor Swift
  3. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
    Fiona Apple
  4. Rough and Rowdy Ways
    Bob Dylan
  5. Future Nostalgia
    Dua Lipa
  6. Reunions
    Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit
  7. Women in Music Pt. III
    Haim
  8. Punisher
    Phoebe Bridgers
  9. Hey Clockface
    Elvis Costello
  10. Ungodly Hour
    Chloe x Halle
  11. Never Will
    Ashley McBryde

And a few more just as honorable

Variety: Andrew Barker: The Best Albums of 2020

20 December 2020

RTJ4 - Run the Jewels

Andrew Barker: The Best Albums of 2020, as published by Variety

[see also 2019]

  1. RTJ4
    Run the Jewels
  2. Saint Cloud
    Waxahatchee
  3. The Don Of Diamond Dreams
    Shabazz Palaces
  4. Folklore
    Taylor Swift
  5. Anime, Trauma and Divorce
    Open Mike Eagle
  6. color theory
    Soccer Mommy
  7. DISCO
    Kylie Minogue
  8. Reunions
    Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit
  9. A Written Testimony
    Jay Electronica
  10. Mt. Marci
    Roc Marciano

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Year-end lists are fingerprints; aggregate statistics are smudges. Therefore, I make no tallies.