Year-End Lists

Jen Chaney: Top 10 Shows of 2020, as published by New York Magazine’s Vulture

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

1. I May Destroy You
2. Unorthodox
3. I'll Be Gone in the Dark
4. BoJack Horseman
5. PEN15
6. The Good Lord Bird
7. Normal People
8. The Queen's Gambit
9. High Fidelity
10. Mrs. America

Matt Zoller Seitz: Top 10 Shows of 2020, as published by New York Magazine’s Vulture

[see also 2021 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016]

1. I'll Be Gone in the Dark
2. The Good Lord Bird
3. I May Destroy You
4. How To with John Wilson
5. What We Do in the Shadows
6. The Mandalorian
7. City So Real
8. Better Call Saul
9. Mrs. America
10. Lovecraft Country

Folk Alley: Top 20 of 2020

[see also 2023 • 2022]

• Bonny Light Horseman
  Bonny Light Horseman
• No Summer
  Cinder Well
• Headlight
  Della Mae
• 2020
  Eliza Gilkyson
• The Night You Wrote That Song: The Songs of Mickey Newbury
  Gretchen Peters
• Formations
  Hawktail
• Spider Tales
  Jake Blount
• "I Remember Everything" [song]
  John Prine
• They'll Never Keep Us Down
  Kelsey Waldon
• Listen
  Kyshona
• Nonet
  The Mammals
• This Joy
  Resistance Revival Chorus
• "Crawl Into the Promised Land" [song]
  Rosanne Cash w/ John Leventhal
• Bravado
  Rose Cousins
• World On The Ground
  Sarah Jarosz
• 25 Trips
  Sierra Hull
• Can I Sit With You?
  Sunny War
• "Under the Devil's Knee" [song]
  Tré Burt
• Reliever
  William Prince
• "Hold On" [song]
  Yola and The Highwomen

Christopher Borrelli: The 10 Best Books of 2020, as published by The Chicago Tribune

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

• Mill Town

  Reckoning with What Remains
  Kerri Arsenault
• Stateway's Garden
  Jasmon Drain
• Begin Again

  James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own
  Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
• The Abstainer
  Ian McGuire
• Why Fish Don't Exist

  A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life
  Lulu Miller
• A Children's Bible
  Lydia Millet
• Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why
  Alexandra Petri
• Wagnerism

  Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music
  Alex Ross
• Superman Smashes the Klan
  Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru
• African American Poetry

  250 Years of Struggle & Song
  Kevin Young (editor)

Spin: The 30 Best Albums of 2020

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

1. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
   Fiona Apple
2. Live Forever
   Bartees Strange
3. RTJ4
   Run the Jewels
4. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
   Perfume Genius
5. Suddenly
   Caribou
6. YHLQMDLG
   Bad Bunny
7. Punisher
   Phoebe Bridgers
8. The Slow Rush
   Tame Impala
9. Saint Cloud
   Waxahatchee
10. Shore
    Fleet Foxes
11. Petals for Armor
    Hayley Williams
12. Ohms
    Deftones
13. Descendants of Cain
    Ka
14. Future Nostalgia
    Dua Lipa
15. Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase?
    The Soft Pink Truth
16. Alfredo
    Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist
17. The Ascension
    Sufjan Stevens
18. Savage Mode II
    21 Savage & Metro Boomin
19. It Is What It Is
    Thundercat
20. As Long as You Are
    Future Islands
21. American Head
    The Flaming Lips
22. Fake It Flowers
    Beabadoobee
23. I Disagree
    Poppy
24. Mordechai
    Khruangbin
25. Songs for the General Public
    The Lemon Twigs
26. The Great Dismal
    Nothing
27. color theory
    Soccer Mommy
28. That's How Rumors Get Started
    Margo Price
29. The Ghost of Orion
    My Dying Bride
30. What's Your Pleasure?
    Jessie Ware

Slant Magazine: The 50 Best Albums of 2020

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
   Fiona Apple
2. Miss Anthropocene
   Grimes
3. What's Your Pleasure?
   Jessie Ware
4. Folklore
   Taylor Swift
5. Future Nostalgia
   Dua Lipa
6. how I'm feeling now
   Charli XCX
7. YHLQMDLG
   Bad Bunny
8. Punisher
   Phoebe Bridgers
9. After Hours
   The Weeknd
10. RTJ4
    Run the Jewels
11. Dedicated Side B
    Carly Rae Jepsen
12. Saint Cloud
    Waxahatchee
13. Lament
    Touché Amoré
14. Dark Hearts
    Annie
15. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
    Perfume Genius
16. Sawayama
    Rina Sawayama
17. The Ascension
    Sufjan Stevens
18. Shamir
    Shamir
19. Live Forever
    Bartees Strange
20. BRAT
    NNAMDÏ
21. Notes on a Conditional Form
    The 1975
22. Every Sun, Every Moon
    I'm Glad It's You
23. Man Alive!
    King Krule
24. Every Bad
    Porridge Radio
25. Printer's Devil
    Ratboys
26. Anyways
    Young Nudy
27. songs
    Adrianne Lenker
28. Manic
    Halsey
29. KiCk i
    Arca
30. Rough and Rowdy Ways
    Bob Dylan
31. In a Dream
    Troye Sivan
32. Empty Country
    Empty Country
33. Starmaker
    Honey Harper
34. My Turn
    Lil Baby
35. Græ
    Moses Sumney
36. Microphones in 2020
    The Microphones
37. Gaslighter
    The Chicks
38. Lianne La Havas
    Lianne La Havas
39. Energy
    Disclosure
40. Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was
    Bright Eyes
41. Women in Music Pt. III
    Haim
42. color theory
    Soccer Mommy
43. Ultimate Success Today
    Protomartyr
44. Walking Proof
    Lilly Hiatt
45. I Disagree
    Poppy
46. DISCO
    Kylie Minogue
47. Funeral
    Lil Wayne
48. Petals for Armor
    Hayley Williams
49. Savage Mode II
    21 Savage & Metro Boomin
50. Melee
    Dogleg

Doreen St. Félix: The Best TV Shows of 2020, as published by The New Yorker in no particular order

[see also 2021]

• The American Barbecue Showdown
• Ramy
• I May Destroy You
• Harley Quinn
• City So Real
• Teenage Bounty Hunters
• Normal People
• The Plot Against America
• P-Valley
• How To with John Wilson
• Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
• The Good Lord Bird
• Veneno
• Doc McStuffins

Molly Young: The 10 Best Books of 2020, as published by New York Magazine’s Vulture

[see also 2019]

1. The Undocumented Americans
   Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
2. Fraternity
   Benjamin Nugent
3. Romance in Marseille
   Claude McKay
4. Piranesi
   Susanna Clarke
5. My Mother's House
   Francesca Momplaisir
6. The Great Offshore Grounds
   Vanessa Veselka
7. The Cult of Smart

   How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice
   Fredrik deBoer
8. Lakewood
   Megan Giddings
9. Interior Chinatown
   Charles Yu
10. The Shapeless Unease

    A Year of Not Sleeping
    Samantha Harvey

Beats Per Minute: Top 50 Albums of 2020

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2012]

1. Anime, Trauma and Divorce
   Open Mike Eagle
2. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
   Perfume Genius
3. The Price of Tea in China
   Boldy James & The Alchemist
4. The Caretaker
   Half Waif
5. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
   Fiona Apple
6. Microphones in 2020
   The Microphones
7. Island
   Owen Pallett
8. Shore
   Fleet Foxes
9. Take Me Away From Tokyo
   Zombie-Chang
10. Græ
    Moses Sumney
11. songs
    Adrianne Lenker
11. instrumentals
    Adrianne Lenker
12. Room for the Moon
    Kate NV
13. Heaven to a Tortured Mind
    Yves Tumor
14. Ohms
    Deftones
15. Tumbling Towards a Wall
    Ulla
16. Welcome to Conceptual Beach
    Young Jesus
17. Pain Olympics
    Crack Cloud
18. Windswept Adan
    Ichiko Aoba
19. Ultimate Success Today
    Protomartyr
20. Bloom*Iz
    Iz*One
21. Punisher
    Phoebe Bridgers
22. Song for Our Daughter
    Laura Marling
23. Lianne La Havas
    Lianne La Havas
24. Anyways
    Young Nudy
25. Man Alive!
    King Krule
26. Winterreise
    Jerskin Fendrix
27. Union Suit XL
    Them Airs
28. What's Your Pleasure?
    Jessie Ware
29. Empty Country
    Empty Country
30. Mirror
    Leafar Legov
31. No Dream
    Jeff Rosenstock
32. La vita nuova
    Christine and the Queens
33. What's Tonight To Eternity
    Cindy Lee
34. Philadelphia
    Shabason, Krgovich & Harris
35. Little Dominiques Nosebleed
    The Koreatown Oddity
36. Saint Cloud
    Waxahatchee
37. Ashioto
    Tatsuhisa Yamamoto
38. Live Forever
    Bartees Strange
39. Regresa
    Buscabulla
40. Lament
    Touché Amoré
41. Hannah
    Lomelda
42. acts of rebellion
    ela minus
43. Manger on McNichols
    Boldy James / Sterling Toles
44. Face Down In Meta
    Pet Shimmers
44. Trash Earthers
    Pet Shimmers
45. Eyes Wide Open
    Twice
46. Descendants of Cain
    Ka
47. Origin of the Alimonies
    Liturgy
48. Pray for Paris
    Westside Gunn
49. Fountain
    Lyra Pramuk
50. Debris
    Keeley Forsyth

Sheldon Pearce: My Thirty Favorite Albums of 2020, as published by The New Yorker

[see also 2022]

• Microphones in 2020
  The Microphones
• Fetch the Bolt Cutters
  Fiona Apple
• Punisher
  Phoebe Bridgers
• Græ
  Moses Sumney
• Rough and Rowdy Ways
  Bob Dylan
• Act II: The Patents of Nobility (The Turn)
  Jay Electronica
• YHLQMDLG
  Bad Bunny
• Mama, You Can Bet!
  Jyoti
• Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
  Perfume Genius
• songs
  Adrianne Lenker
• instrumentals
  Adrianne Lenker
• color theory
  Soccer Mommy
• Sawayama
  Rina Sawayama
• Thank You for Using GTL
  Drakeo the Ruler
• Shore
  Fleet Foxes
• Anime, Trauma and Divorce
  Open Mike Eagle
• What We Drew
  yaeji
• Miss Anthropocene
  Grimes
• Mutable Set
  Blake Mills
• RTJ4
  Run the Jewels
• Apollo
  Fireboy DML
• Couldn't Wait To Tell You...
  (Liv).e
• Live Forever
  Bartees Strange
• Ho, Why Is You Here?
  Flo Milli
• Untitled (Black Is)
  Sault
• Every Bad
  Porridge Radio
• Descendants of Cain
  Ka