Year-End Lists

The Ringer: The Best TV Shows of 2020

[see also 2022 • 2018]

1. I May Destroy You
2. Better Call Saul
3. The Crown
4. Small Axe
5. ZeroZeroZero
6. Mrs. America
7. Ted Lasso
8. P-Valley
9. Gangs of London
10. The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City

The A.V. Club: The 20 Best Albums of 2020

[see also 2021 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
   Fiona Apple
2. Punisher
   Phoebe Bridgers
3. RTJ4
   Run the Jewels
4. color theory
   Soccer Mommy
5. Ungodly Hour
   Chloe x Halle
6. Folklore
   Taylor Swift
7. Sawayama
   Rina Sawayama
8. Future Nostalgia
   Dua Lipa
9. Græ
   Moses Sumney
10. It Is What It Is
    Thundercat
11. A Written Testimony
    Jay Electronica
12. Lianne La Havas
    Lianne La Havas
13. how I'm feeling now
    Charli XCX
14. Miss Anthropocene
    Grimes
15. No Dream
    Jeff Rosenstock
16. Magic Oneohtrix Point Never
    Oneohtrix Point Never
17. Melee
    Dogleg
18. Petals for Armor
    Hayley Williams
19. Saint Cloud
    Waxahatchee
20. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
    Perfume Genius

IndieWire: Best Movies of 2020, as voted by film critics from around the world

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

1. Nomadland
   Chloé Zhao
2. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
   Eliza Hittman
3. First Cow
   Kelly Reichardt
4. Small Axe: Lovers Rock
   Steve McQueen
5. I'm Thinking of Ending Things
   Charlie Kaufman
6. Beanpole
   Kantemir Balagov
7. Time
   Garrett Bradley
8. Da 5 Bloods
   Spike Lee
9. Martin Eden
   Pietro Marcello
10. Bacurau
    Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles

Dana Stevens: The Best Movies of 2020, as published by Slate

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

• The Assistant
  Kitty Green
• Bacurau
  Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
• Beanpole
  Kantemir Balagov
• Collective
  Alexander Nanau
• Da 5 Bloods
  Spike Lee
• First Cow
  Kelly Reichardt
• Let Them All Talk
  Steven Soderbergh
• Minari
  Lee Isaac Chung
• Nomadland
  Chloé Zhao
• Saint Maud
  Rose Glass

Plus five runners-up

• City Hall
  Frederick Wiseman
• Dick Johnson Is Dead
  Kirsten Johnson
• Fourteen
  Dan Sallitt
• Small Axe: Lovers Rock
  Steve McQueen
• Time
  Garrett Bradley

Clash Magazine: Albums of the Year 2020

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

1. Ungodly Hour
   Chloe x Halle
2. Big Conspiracy
   J Hus
3. Punisher
   Phoebe Bridgers
4. Untitled (Black Is)
   Sault
5. Sawayama
   Rina Sawayama
6. Future Nostalgia
   Dua Lipa
7. Burden of Proof
   Benny the Butcher
8. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
   Perfume Genius
9. What's Your Pleasure?
   Jessie Ware
10. Edna
    Headie One
11. Send Them to Coventry
    Pa Salieu
12. A Hero's Death
    Fontaines D.C.
13. Folklore
    Taylor Swift
14. It Is What It Is
    Thundercat
15. Chromatica
    Lady Gaga
16. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
    Fiona Apple
17. Heaven to a Tortured Mind
    Yves Tumor
18. Song for Our Daughter
    Laura Marling
19. how I'm feeling now
    Charli XCX
20. The Album
    Teyana Taylor
21. The Angel You Don't Know
    Amaarae
22. Anime, Trauma and Divorce
    Open Mike Eagle
23. Fake It Flowers
    Beabadoobee
24. Græ
    Moses Sumney
25. RTJ4
    Run the Jewels
26. All the Time
    Jessy Lanza
27. Róisín Machine
    Róisín Murphy
28. Good News
    Megan Thee Stallion
29. Crabs in a Bucket
    Nines
30. Women in Music Pt. III
    Haim
31. Karma & Desire
    Actress
32. The Slow Rush
    Tame Impala
33. Saint Cloud
    Waxahatchee
34. Shore
    Fleet Foxes
35. Every Bad
    Porridge Radio
36. Made in Lagos
    Wizkid
37. What Kinda Music
    Tom Misch & Yussef Dayes
38. Working Men's Club
    Working Men's Club
39. Forever, Ya Girl
    KeiyaA
40. Ohms
    Deftones
41. Dark Matter
    Moses Boyd
42. The New Abnormal
    The Strokes
43. Circles
    Mac Miller
44. Rose in the Dark
    Cleo Sol
45. Indigo Dream
    E.M.M.A.
46. The Mosaic Of Transformation
    Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
47. Rise Above Hate
    Unknown T
48. B4 I Breakdown
    Ojerime
49. Positions
    Ariana Grande
50. SOURCE
    Nubya Garcia

Mara Reinstein: The Best Movies of 2020, as published by Us Weekly

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

1. Promising Young Woman
   Emerald Fennell
2. Palm Springs
   Max Barbakow
3. The Prom
   Ryan Murphy
4. Minari
   Lee Isaac Chung
5. Da 5 Bloods
   Spike Lee
6. The Trial of the Chicago 7
   Aaron Sorkin
7. The Invisible Man
   Leigh Whannell
8. Bad Education
   Cory Finley
9. Nomadland
   Chloé Zhao
10. Taylor Swift: Miss Americana
    Lana Wilson

Honorable mentions

• The Father
  Florian Zeller
• Babyteeth
  Shannon Murphy
• Sylvie's Love
  Eugene Ashe
• Run
  Aneesh Chaganty
• Sound of Metal
  Darius Marder
• Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
  Jason Woliner

Dan Kois: The Best Books of 2020, as published by Slate

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2019]

• The Animals in That Country
  Laura Jean McKay
• Barn 8
  Deb Olin Unferth
• Cool Town

  How Athens, Georgia, Launched Alternative Music and Changed American Culture
  Grace Elizabeth Hale
• F*ckface

  And Other Stories
  Leah Hampton
• Homie
  Danez Smith
• A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings

  A Year of Keeping Bees
  Helen Jukes
• The Museum of Whales You Will Never See

  And Other Excursions to Iceland's Most Unusual Museums
  A. Kendra Greene
• Nothing To See
  Pip Adam
• The Office of Historical Corrections
  Danielle Evans
• Or What You Will
  Jo Walton

Laura Miller: The Best Books of 2020, as published by Slate

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

Fiction

• Homeland Elegies
  Ayad Akhtar
• Piranesi
  Susanna Clarke
• Deacon King Kong
  James McBride
• Such a Fun Age
  Kiley Reid
• Summer
  Ali Smith

Nonfiction

• Fathoms

  The World in the Whale
  Rebecca Giggs
• Hidden Valley Road

  Inside the Mind of an American Family
  Robert Kolker
• A Promised Land
  Barack Obama
• Memorial Drive

  A Daughter's Memoir
  Natasha Trethewey
• Caste

  The Origins of Our Discontents
  Isabel Wilkerson

Randy Myers: The Best 10 Movies of 2020, as published by San Jose Mercury News

[see also 2022]

1. Driveways
   Andrew Ahn
2. Nomadland
   Chloé Zhao
3. Minari
   Lee Isaac Chung
4. Small Axe
   Steve McQueen
5. Collective
   Alexander Nanau
6. Bacurau
   Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
7. First Cow
   Kelly Reichardt
8. Promising Young Woman
   Emerald Fennell
9. Mank
   David Fincher
10. Wolfwalkers
    Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart

Honorable Mentions

• Let Them All Talk
  Steven Soderbergh
• Never Rarely Sometimes Always
  Eliza Hittman
• I Carry You with Me
  Heidi Ewing
• The Personal History of David Copperfield
  Armando Iannucci
• Sound of Metal
  Darius Marder
• Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
  Nicole Newnham and James LeBrecht
• The Climb
  Michael Angelo Covino
• The Midnight Sky
  George Clooney
• The Father
  Florian Zeller
• Sylvie's Love
  Eugene Ashe
• The Truffle Hunters
  Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw
• Soul
  Pete Docter
• The Trial of the Chicago 7
  Aaron Sorkin
• Palm Springs
  Max Barbakow
• Shirley
  Josephine Decker
• Survival Skills
  Quinn Armstrong
• Around the Sun
  Oliver Krimpas
• News of the World
  Paul Greengrass
• Embattled
  Nick Sarkisov
• The Half of It
  Alice Wu
• Boys State
  Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine
• Athlete A
  Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk
• Da 5 Bloods
  Spike Lee

Vinyl Me, Please: The 50 Best Albums of 2020

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

• On the Tender Spot of Every Calloused Moment
  Ambrose Akinmusire
• The Angel You Don't Know
  Amaarae
• Giver Taker
  Anjimile
• Fetch the Bolt Cutters
  Fiona Apple
• Hair of the Dog
  Arthur
• Breland
  Breland
• Rage & Sorrow
  Breland
• Punisher
  Phoebe Bridgers
• how I'm feeling now
  Charli XCX
• Gaslighter
  The Chicks
• Someone New
  Helena Deland
• Collector
  Disq
• Future Nostalgia
  Dua Lipa
• Shore
  Fleet Foxes
• Agüita
  Gabriel Garzón-Montano
• Another Place to Need
  A.O. Gerber
• Alfredo
  Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist
• Six Songs for Invisible Gardens
  Green-House
• A Rock
  Hardy
• Southside
  Sam Hunt
• The Price of Tea in China
  Boldy James & The Alchemist
• Act II: The Patents of Nobility (The Turn)
  Jay Electronica
• Forever, Ya Girl
  KeiyaA
• Man Alive!
  King Krule
• songs
  Adrianne Lenker
• Eternal Atake
  Lil Uzi Vert
• Couldn't Wait To Tell You...
  (Liv).e
• The Greatest Part
  Becca Mancari
• Die Midwestern
  Arlo Mckinley
• Startisha
  Naeem
• Magic Oneohtrix Point Never
  Oneohtrix Point Never
• Inner Song
  Kelly Lee Owens
• Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
  Perfume Genius
• Superstar
  Caroline Rose
• Untitled (Black Is)
  Sault
• Untitled (Rise)
  Sault
• Sawayama
  Rina Sawayama
• We Are Sent Here by History
  Shabaka and the Ancestors
• The World Only Ends When You Die
  Skyway Man
• Moveys
  Slow Pulp
• Starting Over
  Chris Stapleton
• Græ
  Moses Sumney
• WITH
  Sylvan Esso
• 34Corine
  TiaCorine
• Glad You Made It
  Joshua Ray Walker
• Western Swing & Waltzes and other Punchy Songs
  Colter Wall
• What's Your Pleasure?
  Jessie Ware
• Watchmen (Music from the HBO Series)
  Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
• Omega
  Immanuel Wilkins
• What We Drew
  yaeji
• Heaven to a Tortured Mind
  Yves Tumor