Year-End Lists

Doreen St. Félix: The Best TV Shows of 2021, as published by The New Yorker, in no particular order

[see also 2020]

• The Underground Railroad
• South Side
• The White Lotus
• We Are Lady Parts
• Succession
• Philly D.A.
• Reservation Dogs
• Hacks
• The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
• The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City
• Love Life

Bonus Awards for Consistent Excellence

• Evil
• Bob’s Burgers
• What We Do in the Shadows
• Work in Progress

Alan Sepinwall: The 20 Best TV Shows of 2021, as published by Rolling Stone

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016]

1. For All Mankind
2. Reservation Dogs
3. Only Murders in the Building
4. The Underground Railroad
5. Station Eleven
6. It's a Sin
7. Succession
8. Maid
9. The White Lotus
10. WandaVision
11. What We Do in the Shadows
12. The Great
13. Mythic Quest
14. Dave
15. Squid Game
16. We Are Lady Parts
17. In Treatment
18. Loki
19. PEN15
20. Hacks

The Playlist: The 25 Best Films Of 2021

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018]

1. Licorice Pizza
   Paul Thomas Anderson
2. The Power of the Dog
   Jane Campion
3. The Green Knight
   David Lowery
4. Titane
   Julia Ducournau
5. Dune
   Denis Villeneuve
6. The French Dispatch
   Wes Anderson
7. Pig
   Michael Sarnoski
8. Spencer
   Pablo Larraín
9. This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection
   Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese
10. The Card Counter
    Paul Schrader
11. Parallel Mothers
    Pedro Almodóvar
12. The Worst Person in the World
    Joachim Trier
13. Shiva Baby
    Emma Seligman
14. Annette
    Leos Carax
15. Petite Maman
    Céline Sciamma
16. Bergman Island
    Mia Hansen-Løve
17. Flee
    Jonas Poher Rasmussen
18. The Mitchells vs. the Machines
    Mike Rianda
19. Limbo
    Ben Sharrock
20. tick, tick... BOOM!
    Lin-Manuel Miranda
21. A Hero
    Asghar Farhadi
22. Drive My Car
    Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
23. The Lost Daughter
    Maggie Gyllenhaal
24. Memoria
    Apichatpong Weerasethakul
25. Nightmare Alley
    Guillermo del Toro

Annabel Gutterman: The 10 Best Nonfiction 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 Fiction Books of 2021]

1. A Little Devil in America

   Notes in Praise of Black Performance
   Hanif Abdurraqib
2. Crying in H Mart
   Michelle Zauner
3. Invisible Child

   Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City
   Andrea Elliott
4. How the Word Is Passed

   A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
   Clint Smith
5. Aftershocks
   Nadia Owusu
6. Empire of Pain

   The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
   Patrick Radden Keefe
7. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

   In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
   George Saunders
8. The Copenhagen Trilogy

   Childhood; Youth; Dependency
   Tove Ditlevsen
9. Finding the Mother Tree

   Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest
   Suzanne Simard
10. The Kissing Bug

    A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation's Neglect of a Deadly Disease
    Daisy Hernández

David Fear: 20 Best Movies of 2021, as published by Rolling Stone

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2020 • 2018 • 2017 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Drive My Car
   Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
2. The Human Voice
   Pedro Almodóvar
3. Beginning
   Déa Kulumbegashvili
4. The Viewing Booth
   Ra’anan Alexandrowicz
5. The Souvenir Part II
   Joanna Hogg
6. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
   Radu Jude
7. Shiva Baby
   Emma Seligman
8. The Velvet Underground
   Todd Haynes
9. Quo Vadis, Aida?
   Jasmila Žbanić
10. Licorice Pizza
    Paul Thomas Anderson
11. Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
    Questlove
12. Saint Maud
    Rose Glass
13. The Power of the Dog
    Jane Campion
14. The Green Knight
    David Lowery
15. Flee
    Jonas Poher Rasmussen
16. The Disciple
    Chaitanya Tamhane
17. Nightmare Alley
    Guillermo del Toro
18. This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection
    Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese
19. The Mitchells vs. the Machines
    Mike Rianda
20. Dune
    Denis Villeneuve

Slant Magazine: The 50 Best Albums of 2021

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Jubilee
   Japanese Breakfast
2. Daddy's Home
   St. Vincent
3. Blue Banisters
   Lana Del Rey
4. Chemtrails over the Country Club
   Lana Del Rey
5. Hey What
   Low
6. Happier Than Ever
   Billie Eilish
7. Carnage
   Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
8. Deacon
   serpentwithfeet
9. to hell with it
   PinkPantheress
10. Things Take Time, Take Time
    Courtney Barnett
11. Yard Sale
    Suzanne Santo
12. Red (Taylor's Version)
    Taylor Swift
13. Home Video
    Lucy Dacus
14. Call Me If You Get Lost
    Tyler, The Creator
15. An Overview on Phenomenal Nature
    Cassandra Jenkins
16. Menneskekollektivet
    Lost Girls
17. Thirstier
    Torres
18. Sensational
    Erika de Casier
19. The Turning Wheel
    Spellling
20. If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power
    Halsey
21. Reflection
    Loraine James
22. Afrique Victime
    Mdou Moctar
23. Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
    Little Simz
24. Valentine
    Snail Mail
25. Pressure Machine
    The Killers
26. A Beginner's Mind
    Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine
27. The Horses and the Hounds
    James McMurtry
28. Mood Valiant
    Hiatus Kaiyote
29. Planet Her
    Doja Cat
30. Nurture
    Porter Robinson
31. Donda
    Kanye West
32. I Don’t Live Here Anymore
    The War on Drugs
33. Mirrors
    DJ Seinfeld
34. Far In
    Helado Negro
35. 333
    Tinashe
36. Dedicated 2 Disrespect
    LSDXOXO
37. For Those I Love
    For Those I Love
38. New Long Leg
    Dry Cleaning
39. Sinner Get Ready
    Lingua Ignota
40. The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers
    Valerie June
41. Little Oblivions
    Julien Baker
42. Sour
    Olivia Rodrigo
43. Bright Green Field
    Squid
44. Slime Language 2 (Deluxe)
    Young Stoner Life, Young Thug & Gunna
45. Vince Staples
    Vince Staples
46. A Color of the Sky
    Lightning Bug
47. Haram
    Armand Hammer & The Alchemist
48. For the First Time
    Black Country, New Road
49. Heaux Tales
    Jazmine Sullivan
50. Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land
    Marina

Chris Richards: Best Music of 2021, as published by The Washington Post

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

1. Whole Lotta Red
   Playboi Carti
2. Shade
   Grouper
3. Meu Coco
   Caetano Veloso
4. Glow On
   Turnstile
5. Promises
   Floating Points / Pharoah Sanders / London Symphony Orchestra
6. descension (Out of Our Constrictions)
   Natural Information Society with Evan Parker
7. Chemtrails over the Country Club
   Lana Del Rey
8. Urban Driftwood
   Yasmin Williams
9. Up 2 Më
   Yeat
10. Star-Crossed
    Kacey Musgraves

The Wire: Top 50 Albums of 2021

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

1. Fatigue
   L'Rain
2. Black Encyclopedia of the Air
   Moor Mother
3. Promises
   Floating Points / Pharoah Sanders / London Symphony Orchestra
4. Hey What
   Low
5. Axacan
   Daniel Bachman
6. Number Pieces
   John Cage
7. Some Good News
   Hamid Drake / Elaine Mitchener / William Parker / Orphy Robinson / Pat Thomas
8. Painful Enlightenment
   Jana Rush
9. -io
   Circuit Des Yeux
10. New Decade
    Phew
11. New Long Leg
    Dry Cleaning
12. Hush Harbor Mixtape Vol. 1 Doxology
    Angel Bat Dawid
13. Jesup Wagon
    James Brandon Lewis / Red Lily Quintet
14. Made Out Of Sound
    Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt
15. At Pioneer Works
    Les Filles de Illighadad
16. Intimate Immensity
    Tomaga
17. 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017
    Anthony Braxton
18. Fire
    The Bug
19. Black To The Future
    Sons of Kemet
20. Creative Contradiction: Poetry, Story, Song & Sound
    Maggie Nicols
21. Minds in Flux
    George Lewis with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
22. Kamil Manqus
    Muqata'a
23. Chuckle
    Alpha Maid
24. Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World
    William Parker
25. Lucy & Aaron
    Aaron Dilloway & Lucrecia Dalt
26. Honest Labour
    Space Afrika
27. The Voyager
    Clarissa Connelly
28. How much time it is between you and me?
    perila
29. Shade
    Grouper
30. De Mòrt Viva
    sourdure
31. Sound Ancestors
    Madlib
32. BRASS
    Moor Mother & billy woods
33. Gas Lit
    Divide and Dissolve
34. Established!
    RP Boo
35. Occam Ocean 3
    Eliane Radigue
36. Al Azraqayn
    Karkhana
37. Angel Tears in Sunlight
    Pauline Anna Strom
38. A Secret Code
    Pamela Z
39. Maquishti
    Patricia Brennan
40. parallel systems
    Rambutan
41. Afrique Victime
    Mdou Moctar
42. Glen Echo
    Azita
43. Archeophony
    Raed Yassin
44. NOW
    Damon Locks & Black Monument Ensemble
45. Mayan Space Station
    William Parker
46. Neon Genesis: Soul Into Matter²
    Meemo Comma
47. Hidemi
    Patrick Shiroishi
48. Nights on Saturn (communication)
    [Ahmed]
49. Open Arms to Open Us
    Ben LaMar Gay
50. Drop by Old Heaven Books
    IZ Band

Owen Gleiberman: The Best Films of 2021, as published by Variety

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2012]

1. Spencer
   Pablo Larraín
2. House of Gucci
   Ridley Scott
3. The Beatles: Get Back
   Peter Jackson
4. Drive My Car
   Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
5. Cruella
   Craig Gillespie
6. Zola
   Janicza Bravo
7. King Richard
   Reinaldo Marcus Green
8. Zack Snyder's Justice League
   Zack Snyder
9. CODA
   Sian Heder
10. Parallel Mothers
    Pedro Almodóvar

Peter Debruge: The Best Films of 2021, as published by Variety

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

1. Jockey
   Clint Bentley
2. The French Dispatch
   Wes Anderson
3. Dune
   Denis Villeneuve
4. The Lost Daughter
   Maggie Gyllenhaal
5. Nightmare Alley
   Guillermo del Toro
6. The Worst Person in the World
   Joachim Trier
7. Cyrano
   Joe Wright
8. Judas and the Black Messiah
   Shaka King
9. Licorice Pizza
   Paul Thomas Anderson
10. The Killing of Two Lovers
    Robert Machoian