Year-End Lists

The Skinny: Top Ten Albums of 2021

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015]

1. Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
   Little Simz
2. Prioritise Pleasure
   Self Esteem
3. Hey What
   Low
4. New Long Leg
   Dry Cleaning
5. Promises
   Floating Points / Pharoah Sanders / London Symphony Orchestra
6. Jubilee
   Japanese Breakfast
7. Blue Weekend
   Wolf Alice
8. Bright Green Field
   Squid
9. For the First Time
   Black Country, New Road
10. Montero
    Lil Nas X

The Economist: The Best Books of 2021

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2012]

Politics and current affairs

• Empire of Pain

  The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
  Patrick Radden Keefe
• Do Not Disturb

  The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad
  Michela Wrong
• Invisible China

  How the Urban-Rural Divide Threatens China’s Rise
  Scott Rozelle and Natalie Hell
• The Sex Lives of African Women

  Self-Discovery, Freedom, and Healing
  Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
• Red Roulette

  An Insider's Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption, and Vengeance in Today's China
  Desmond Shum
• How the Word Is Passed

  A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
  Clint Smith
• We Are Bellingcat

  Global Crime, Online Sleuths, and the Bold Future of News
  Eliot Higgins

History

• The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen

  Warfare, Constitutions, and the Making of the Modern World
  Linda Colley
• Tunnel 29

  The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall
  Helena Merriman
• Cuba

  An American History
  Ada Ferrer
• The Greek Revolution

  1821 and the Making of Modern Europe
  Mark Mazower

Biography and memoir

• Fall

  The Mysterious Life and Death of Robert Maxwell, Britain's Most Notorious Media Baron
  John Preston
• The Radical Potter

  The Life and Times of Josiah Wedgwood
  Tristram Hunt
• There Is Nothing for You Here

  Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century
  Fiona Hill
• All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days

  The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler
  Rebecca Donner
• The Last King of America

  The Misunderstood Reign of George III
  Andrew Roberts
• All In
  Billie Jean King

Culture and ideas

• God

  An Anatomy
  Francesca Stavrakopoulou
• The Sinner and the Saint

  Dostoevsky and the Gentleman Murderer Who Inspired a Masterpiece
  Kevin Birmingham
• Fallen Idols

  Twelve Statues That Made History
  Alex von Tunzelmann
• Barça

  The inside story of the world's greatest football club
  Simon Kuper
• The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock

  An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense
  Edward White

Fiction

• Mother for Dinner
  Shalom Auslander
• The Books of Jacob
  Olga Tokarczuk
• The Plot
  Jean Hanff Korelitz
• Great Circle
  Maggie Shipstead
• Klara and the Sun
  Kazuo Ishiguro
• The Promise
  Damon Galgut
• Detransition, Baby
  Torrey Peters
• Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth
  Wole Soyinka

Economics and business

• The World For Sale

  Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources
  Javier Blas and Jack Farchy
• Career and Family

  Women’s Century-Long Journey toward Equity
  Claudia Goldin
• The Future of Money

  How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance
  Eswar S. Prasad
• The Power of Creative Destruction

  Economic Upheaval and the Wealth of Nations
  Philippe Aghion, Céline Antonin, and Simon Bunel
• The Story of Work

  A New History of Humankind
  Jan Lucassen
• The Key Man

  The True Story of How the Global Elite Was Duped by a Capitalist Fairy Tale
  Simon Clark and Will Louch

Science and technology

• A Shot to Save the World

  The Inside Story of the Life-or-Death Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine
  Gregory Zuckerman
• I, Warbot

  The Dawn of Artificially Intelligent Conflict
  Kenneth Payne
• Being You

  A New Science of Consciousness
  Anil Seth
• The Genetic Lottery

  Why DNA Matters for Social Equality
  Kathryn Paige Harden
• Water

  A Biography
  Giulio Boccaletti

Library Journal: Best Literary Fiction of 2021

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2020 • 2019 • 2017 • 2016 • 2012 • 2011]

• What Storm, What Thunder
  Myriam J A Chancy
• Cloud Cuckoo Land
  Anthony Doerr
• Matrix
  Lauren Groff
• The Removed
  Brandon Hobson
• The Prophets
  Robert Jones Jr.
• Once There Were Wolves
  Charlotte McConaghy
• Open Water
  Caleb Azumah Nelson
• Bewilderment
  Richard Powers
• The Five Wounds
  Kirstin Valdez Quade
• Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth
  Wole Soyinka

Library Journal: Best Poetry of 2021

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2020 • 2019 • 2016]

• Pilgrim Bell
  Kaveh Akbar
• The Wild Fox of Yemen
  Threa Almontaser
• Vertigo & Ghost
  Fiona Benson
• Floaters
  Martín Espada
• Winter Recipes from the Collective
  Louise Glück
• Tethered to Stars
  Fady Joudah
• The Renunciations
  Donika Kelly
• Double Trio

  Tej Bet, So's Notice, Nerve Church
  Nathaniel Mackey
• A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure
  Hoa Nguyen
• Stones
  Kevin Young

Elisa Gabbert: The Best Poetry of 2021, as published by The New York Times

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2020]

• Blood on the Fog
  Tongo Eisen-Martin
• Little Elegies for Sister Satan
  Michael Palmer
• Love and Other Poems
  Alex Dimitrov
• Returning the Sword to the Stone
  Mark Leidner
• The Sunflower Cast a Spell To Save Us From The Void
  Jackie Wang
• The Vault
  Andrés Cerpa
• Wings in Time
  Callie Garnett

Annabel Gutterman: The 10 Best Fiction Books of 2021, as published by Time Magazine

[see also The 10 Best Fiction Books of 2023 • The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 • The 10 Best Fiction Books of 2022 • The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 • The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2021]

1. Great Circle
   Maggie Shipstead
2. The Prophets
   Robert Jones Jr.
3. My Monticello
   Jocelyn Nicole Johnson
4. Detransition, Baby
   Torrey Peters
5. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
   Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
6. The Life of the Mind
   Christine Smallwood
7. Cloud Cuckoo Land
   Anthony Doerr
8. Afterparties
   Anthony Veasna So
9. Open Water
   Caleb Azumah Nelson
10. Klara and the Sun
    Kazuo Ishiguro

USA Today: The Best Books of 2021

[see also 2022]

• The Burning Blue

  The Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA's Challenger Disaster
  Kevin Cook
• Let Me Tell You What I Mean
  Joan Didion
• King Richard

  Nixon and Watergate--An American Tragedy
  Michael Dobbs
• The Sentence
  Louise Erdrich
• The Girls Are All So Nice Here
  Laurie Elizabeth Flynn
• Shooting Midnight Cowboy

  Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic
  Glenn Frankel
• Crossroads
  Jonathan Franzen
• Matrix
  Lauren Groff
• Sex Cult Nun

  Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult
  Faith Jones
• The Prophets
  Robert Jones Jr.
• Broken (in the best possible way)
  Jenny Lawson
• On Animals
  Susan Orlean
• These Precious Days
  Ann Patchett
• Little and Often

  A Memoir
  Trent Preszler
• Beautiful World, Where Are You
  Sally Rooney
• Filthy Animals
  Brandon Taylor
• Fight Night
  Miriam Toews

Vinyl Factory: Our 50 Favourite Albums of 2021

[see also 2023]

1. Promises
   Floating Points / Pharoah Sanders / London Symphony Orchestra
2. Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
   Little Simz
3. Sound Ancestors
   Madlib
4. Reflection
   Loraine James
5. Isles
   Bicep
6. Logue
   KMRU
7. We're All Alone in This Together
   Dave
8. Feeling Normal
   Calibre
9. Agor
   Koreless
10. Soniscope
    Midori Hirano
11. Tresor 30
    various artists
12. 30
    Adele
13. Waking the Dreaming Body
    Karima Walker
14. Pool
    Skee Mask
15. still slipping vol. 1
    Joy Orbison
16. But Only After You Have Suffered
    Jamire Williams
17. Crawler
    Idles
18. Shade
    Grouper
19. Love Letters, Nine Through Six
    96 Back
20. Call Me If You Get Lost
    Tyler, The Creator
21. Honest Labour
    Space Afrika
22. Asakusa Light
    Soichi Terada
23. Skin
    Joy Crookes
24. Quivering In Time
    Eris Drew
25. Collapsed in Sunbeams
    Arlo Parks
26. Space 1.8
    Nala Sinephro
27. Sounds of Pamoja
    various artists
28. A Recurring Nature
    Adam Pits
29. Colourgrade
    Tirzah
30. Hidemi
    Patrick Shiroishi
31. The American Negro
    Adrian Younge
32. Seventeen Going Under
    Sam Fender
33. Late Spring
    Chihei Hatakeyama
34. Tewari
    Scotch Rolex
35. Angel Tears in Sunlight
    Pauline Anna Strom
36. 1977
    The People In Fog
37. Deacon
    serpentwithfeet
38. Forfolks
    Jeff Parker
39. Mother
    Cleo Sol
40. Yellow
    Emma-Jean Thackray
41. Alkisah
    Senyawa
42. Repair Techniques
    Sofie Birch & Johan Carøe
43. Medieval Femme
    Fatima Al Qadiri
44. Boxed In
    Daniel Casimir
45. Jade
    Pan Daijing
46. Painful Enlightenment
    Jana Rush
47. Teenage Dreams
    Native Soul
48. Dancing Spirits
    Naoko Sakata
49. Equiknoxx meets Feel Free Hi Fi
    Equiknoxx, Feel Free Hi Fi
50. Happier Than Ever
    Billie Eilish

BBC Radio 6 Music: Top 10 Albums of 2021

[see also 2022]

1. Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
   Little Simz
2. Collapsed in Sunbeams
   Arlo Parks
3. Flat White Moon
   Field Music
4. Homecoming
   Du Blonde
5. Crawler
   Idles
6. Flock
   Jane Weaver
7. Prioritise Pleasure
   Self Esteem
8. Promises
   Floating Points / Pharoah Sanders / London Symphony Orchestra
9. Source ⧺ We Move
   Nubya Garcia
10. Colourgrade
    Tirzah

Slant Magazine: The 50 Best Films of 2021

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Drive My Car
   Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
2. The Power of the Dog
   Jane Campion
3. All Light, Everywhere
   Theo Anthony
4. Memoria
   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
5. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
   Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
6. Licorice Pizza
   Paul Thomas Anderson
7. The Worst Person in the World
   Joachim Trier
8. Just Don't Think I'll Scream
   Frank Beauvais
9. Red Rocket
   Sean Baker
10. Parallel Mothers
    Pedro Almodóvar
11. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
    Aleksandre Koberidze
12. The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin)
    Anders Edström and C.W. Winter
13. Bergman Island
    Mia Hansen-Løve
14. Days
    Tsai Ming-liang
15. Petite Maman
    Céline Sciamma
16. The Velvet Underground
    Todd Haynes
17. The French Dispatch
    Wes Anderson
18. Identifying Features
    Fernanda Valadez
19. Procession
    Robert Greene
20. The Souvenir Part II
    Joanna Hogg
21. The Card Counter
    Paul Schrader
22. Zola
    Janicza Bravo
23. There Is No Evil
    Mohammad Rasoulof
24. This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection
    Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese
25. Titane
    Julia Ducournau
26. The Woman Who Ran
    Hong Sang-soo
27. Benedetta
    Paul Verhoeven
28. El Planeta
    Amalia Ulman
29. Two Lottery Tickets
    Paul Negoescu
30. Shiva Baby
    Emma Seligman
31. In the Same Breath
    Nanfu Wang
32. The Disciple
    Chaitanya Tamhane
33. State Funeral
    Sergei Loznitsa
34. Faya Dayi
    Jessica Beshir
35. Undine
    Christian Petzold
36. I'm Your Man
    Maria Schrader
37. The Two Sights
    Joshua Bonnetta
38. Passing
    Rebecca Hall
39. About Endlessness
    Roy Andersson
40. Labyrinth of Cinema
    Nobuhiko Obayashi
41. Flee
    Jonas Poher Rasmussen
42. Azor
    Andreas Fontana
43. Dune
    Denis Villeneuve
44. A Shape of Things to Come
    Lisa Marie Malloy and J.P. Sniadecki
45. Ema
    Pablo Larraín
46. Lost Course
    Jill Li
47. Limbo
    Ben Sharrock
48. Pig
    Michael Sarnoski
49. Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time
    Lili Horvát
50. Come True
    Anthony Scott Burns