Year-End Lists

Manohla Dargis: Best Movies of 2020, as published by The New York Times

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Martin Eden
   Pietro Marcello
2. City Hall
   Frederick Wiseman
3. Gunda
   Viktor Kosakovskiy
4. David Byrne's American Utopia
   Spike Lee
5. Bacurau
   Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
6. First Cow
   Kelly Reichardt
7. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
   Eliza Hittman
8. Collective
   Alexander Nanau
9. The 40-Year-Old Version
   Radha Blank
10. Beanpole
    Kantemir Balagov

Other movies I'm grateful for

• 76 days
  Hao Wu, Weixi Chen and Anonymous
• Small Axe: Alex Wheatle
  Steve McQueen
• Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
  Jason Woliner
• Buoyancy
  Rodd Rathjen
• Circumstantial Pleasures
  Lewis Klahr
• Coded Bias
  Shalini Kantayya
• Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
  Nicole Newnham and James LeBrecht
• Da 5 Bloods
  Spike Lee
• Dick Johnson Is Dead
  Kirsten Johnson
• Emma.
  Autumn de Wilde
• Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
  Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer
• Birds of Prey
  Cathy Yan
• House of Hummingbird
  Kim Bora
• I Wish I Knew
  Jia Zhang-ke
• The Invisible Man
  Leigh Whannell
• Lost Girls
  Liz Garbus
• Minari
  Lee Isaac Chung
• Miss Juneteenth
  Channing Godfrey Peoples
• Nomadland
  Chloé Zhao
• The Old Guard
  Gina Prince-Bythewood
• On the Record
  Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering
• On the Rocks
  Sofia Coppola
• One Night in Miami
  Regina King
• The Photograph
  Stella Meghie
• Tesla
  Michael Almereyda
• The Traitor
  Marco Bellocchio
• The Wild Goose Lake
  Diao Yinan
• Sorry We Missed You
  Ken Loach
• Soul
  Pete Docter
• The Truffle Hunters
  Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw
• The Truth
  Hirokazu Kore-eda

A.O. Scott: Best Movies of 2020, as published by The New York Times

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
   Jason Woliner
2. City Hall
   Frederick Wiseman
2. Collective
   Alexander Nanau
3. First Cow
   Kelly Reichardt
4. Martin Eden
   Pietro Marcello
5. The 40-Year-Old Version
   Radha Blank
6. Palm Springs
   Max Barbakow
7. Bacurau
   Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
8. David Byrne's American Utopia
   Spike Lee
8. Small Axe: Lovers Rock
   Steve McQueen
9. Dick Johnson Is Dead
   Kirsten Johnson
10. Soul
    Pete Docter

Esquire: Best TV Shows of 2020

[see also 2023 • 2010s • 2018 • 2017]

• The Undoing
• The Mandalorian
• The Great British Bake Off
• The Queen's Gambit
• I Know This Much Is True
• Away
• PEN15
• Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi
• Lovecraft Country
• Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet
• Dead to Me
• I May Destroy You
• I'll Be Gone in the Dark
• Perry Mason
• The Great
• Cheer
• The Last Dance
• Normal People
• What We Do in the Shadows
• We're Here
• Upload
• Mrs. America
• Tiger King
• Dave
• Devs
• The Good Place
• Schitt's Creek
• Hunters
• The Outsider
• The Circle

Lindsay Zoladz: Best Albums of 2020, as published by The New York Times

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021]

1. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
   Fiona Apple
2. Punisher
   Phoebe Bridgers
3. Saint Cloud
   Waxahatchee
4. Women in Music Pt. III
   Haim
5. Heaven to a Tortured Mind
   Yves Tumor
6. how I'm feeling now
   Charli XCX
7. What's Your Pleasure?
   Jessie Ware
8. Eternal Atake
   Lil Uzi Vert
9. No Dream
   Jeff Rosenstock
10. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
    Perfume Genius
11. Folklore
    Taylor Swift

Darren Franich: Best TV Shows of 2020, as published by Entertainment Weekly

[see also 2022 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018]

1. Better Call Saul
2. The Midnight Gospel
3. PEN15
4. The Plot Against America
5. I May Destroy You
6. The Good Fight
7. We Are Who We Are
8. What We Do in the Shadows
9. Desus & Mero
10. Harley Quinn

Kristen Baldwin: Best TV Shows of 2020, as published by Entertainment Weekly

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

1. Better Call Saul
2. Ted Lasso
3. The Vow
4. The Crown
5. I Hate Suzie
6. Better Things
7. The Good Fight
8. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
9. Never Have I Ever
10. Search Party

Jon Caramanica: Best Albums of 2020, as published by The New York Times

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2011]

1. Southside
   Sam Hunt
2. Sawayama
   Rina Sawayama
3. Pray 4 Love
   Rod Wave
4. A Written Testimony
   Jay Electronica
5. RTJ4
   Run the Jewels
6. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
   Fiona Apple
7. Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon
   Pop Smoke
8. Ho, Why Is You Here?
   Flo Milli
9. Poems of the Past
   Powfu
10. Changes
    Justin Bieber
11. Starting Over
    Chris Stapleton
12. YHLQMDLG
    Bad Bunny
13. Honeymoon
    Beach Bunny

And 27 more for a chaotic year

• Savage Mode II
  21 Savage & Metro Boomin
• Burden of Proof
  Benny the Butcher
• Trap Tumbado
  Natanael Cano
• Gaslighter
  The Chicks
• City on Lock
  City Girls
• Underneath
  Code Orange
• From King to a God
  Conway the Machine
• Dark Lane Demo Tapes
  Drake
• Alfredo
  Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist
• Positions
  Ariana Grande
• A Rock
  Hardy
• Violence in a Quiet Mind
  Haux
• Auntie
  Ian Isiah
• Atrapado en un Sueño
  Junior H
• Levon James
  King Von
• Just Cause Y'all Waited 2
  Lil Durk
• God Made a Woman
  Lauren Mascitti
• LP5
  John Moreland
• Before Love Came to Kill Us
  Jessie Reyez
• Rosetta
  Dua Saleh
• Jesus Is Born
  Sunday Service Choir
• Easy Money Baby
  Myke Towers
• What's Your Pleasure?
  Jessie Ware
• Saint Cloud
  Waxahatchee
• After Hours
  The Weeknd
• The Dream
  Hailey Whitters
• Top
  YoungBoy Never Broke Again

Empire: The Best Movies of 2020

[see also 2012 • 2011]

1. Parasite
   Bong Joon-ho
2. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
   Céline Sciamma
3. Uncut Gems
   Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie
4. Rocks
   Sarah Gavron
5. Saint Maud
   Rose Glass
6. The Invisible Man
   Leigh Whannell
7. Small Axe: Lovers Rock
   Steve McQueen
8. The Lighthouse
   Robert Eggers
9. Mank
   David Fincher
10. Jojo Rabbit
    Taika Waititi
11. Small Axe: Mangrove
    Steve McQueen
12. Queen & Slim
    Melina Matsoukas
13. 1917
    Sam Mendes
14. Hamilton
    Thomas Kail
15. I'm Thinking of Ending Things
    Charlie Kaufman
16. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
    Marielle Heller
17. Tenet
    Christopher Nolan
18. Onward
    Dan Scanlon
19. Da 5 Bloods
    Spike Lee
20. Host
    Rob Savage

Jon Pareles: Best Albums of 2020, as published by The New York Times

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2011]

1. The Ascension
   Sufjan Stevens
2. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
   Fiona Apple
3. Græ
   Moses Sumney
4. Folklore
   Taylor Swift
5. Rough and Rowdy Ways
   Bob Dylan
6. Lianne La Havas
   Lianne La Havas
7. Twice as Tall
   Burna Boy
8. RTJ4
   Run the Jewels
9. Mama, You Can Bet!
   Jyoti
10. Sign
    Autechre

Richard Lawson: The 10 Best Movies of 2020, as published by Vanity Fair

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013]

1. The Nest
   Sean Durkin
2. Minari
   Lee Isaac Chung
3. Collective
   Alexander Nanau
4. Bad Education
   Cory Finley
5. Nomadland
   Chloé Zhao
6. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
   Eliza Hittman
7. Bacurau
   Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
8. Freaky
   Christopher Landon
9. Let Them All Talk
   Steven Soderbergh
10. Shithouse
    Cooper Raiff