Year-End Lists

James Quandt: Best Films of 2021, as published by Artforum

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

1. Introduction
   Hong Sang-soo
2. In Front of Your Face
   Hong Sang-soo
3. The Round-Up
   Miklós Jancsó
4. Ahed's Knee
   Nadav Lapid
5. Il Buco
   Michelangelo Frammartino
6. Întregalde
   Radu Muntean
7. Flee
   Jonas Poher Rasmussen
8. Returning to Reims (Fragments)
   Jean-Gabriel Périot
9. Unclenching the Fists
   Kira Kovalenko
10. Dog Star Descending
    Aykan Safoğlu

J Hoberman: Best Films of 2021, as published by Artforum

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

1. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
   Radu Jude
2. Memoria
   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
3. Exterminate All the Brutes
   Raoul Peck
4. On the Royal Road: The Burgher King [book]
   Elfriede Jelinek
5. Undine
   Christian Petzold
6. Paris Calligrammes
   Ulrike Ottinger
7. Lower East Side Trilogy
   Ernie Gehr
8. Paths of Fire II
   Neelon Crawford
9. The Velvet Underground
   Todd Haynes
10. Fire Music
    Tom Surgal

Amy Taubin: Best Films of 2021, as published by Artforum

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

1. The Power of the Dog
   Jane Campion
2. Ken Jacobs Collection, Volume 1
   Ken Jacobs
3. The Velvet Underground
   Todd Haynes
3. Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
   Questlove
4. Memoria
   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
5. Petite Maman
   Céline Sciamma
6. Mr. Bachmann and His Class
   Maria Speth
7. Azor
   Andreas Fontana
8. The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet
   Ana Katz
8. Souad
   Ayten Amin
9. Cryptozoo
   Dash Shaw
9. The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
   Will Sharpe
10. The Bureau
    Éric Rochant

Gigwise: 51 Best Albums of 2021

[see also 2022 • 2020 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Prioritise Pleasure
   Self Esteem
2. Spare Ribs
   Sleaford Mods
3. Comfort To Me
   Amyl and The Sniffers
4. Black To The Future
   Sons of Kemet
5. to hell with it
   PinkPantheress
6. For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her
   McKinley Dixon
7. For Those I Love
   For Those I Love
8. Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
   Little Simz
9. As Days Get Dark
   Arab Strap
10. Homecoming
    Du Blonde
11. Seventeen Going Under
    Sam Fender
12. Yellow
    Emma-Jean Thackray
13. Bullseye
    Charli Adams
14. Happier Than Ever
    Billie Eilish
15. Sour
    Olivia Rodrigo
16. An Evening with Silk Sonic
    Silk Sonic
17. As The Love Continues
    Mogwai
18. Heaux Tales
    Jazmine Sullivan
19. Crawler
    Idles
20. Keep On Truckin’
    Surfbort
21. New Long Leg
    Dry Cleaning
22. The world within our bedrooms
    Drug Store Romeos
23. Afrique Victime
    Mdou Moctar
24. Montero
    Lil Nas X
25. Blue Weekend
    Wolf Alice
26. Call Me If You Get Lost
    Tyler, The Creator
27. Goldilocks X
    Tommy Genesis
28. Back In Love City
    The Vaccines
29. Still Over It
    Summer Walker
30. Any Shape You Take
    Indigo De Souza
31. Collapsed in Sunbeams
    Arlo Parks
32. Sling
    Clairo
33. I Don’t Live Here Anymore
    The War on Drugs
34. Carnage
    Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
35. LP!
    JPEGMAFIA
36. Daddy's Home
    St. Vincent
37. Pink Noise
    Laura Mvula
38. Isles
    Bicep
39. WINK
    CHAI
40. Boy Anonymous
    Paris Texas
41. Modern Tricks for Living
    Low Hummer
42. A Way Forward
    Nation of Language
43. Sympathy for Life
    Parquet Courts
44. Friends That Break Your Heart
    James Blake
45. Planet Her
    Doja Cat
46. The Reson For Hardcore Vibes
    Joe & The Shitboys
47. Seek Shelter
    Iceage
48. Typhoons
    Royal Blood
49. Discover Effortless Living
    Bull
50. Demidevil
    Ashnikko
51. Juno
    Remi Wolf

John Waters: Best Films of 2021, as published by Artforum

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

1. Annette
   Leos Carax
2. Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
   Questlove
3. Vortex
   Gaspar Noé
4. France
   Bruno Dumont
5. The Most Beautiful Boy in the World
   Kristina Lindström & Kristian Petri
6. Mandibles
   Quentin Dupieux
7. Red Rocket
   Sean Baker
8. The Tragedy of Macbeth
   Joel Coen
9. Saint-Narcisse
   Bruce La Bruce
10. The Onania Club
    Tom Six

Les Inrockuptibles: Top 25 Albums of 2021

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

1. Bright Green Field
   Squid
2. Call Me If You Get Lost
   Tyler, The Creator
3. Everything Tasteful
   Lala &ce
4. Black Metal 2
   Dean Blunt
5. Hey What
   Low
6. Sling
   Clairo
7. Talk Memory
   BADBADNOTGOOD
8. Brûler le feu
   Juliette Armanet
9. Change
   Anika
10. Paradigmes
    La Femme
11. Cœur
    Clara Luciani
12. For the First Time
    Black Country, New Road
13. Escapades
    Gaspard Augé
14. Troie
    Malik Djoudi
15. New Long Leg
    Dry Cleaning
16. Acquainted with Night
    Lael Neale
17. Cavalcade
    black midi
18. Sensational
    Erika de Casier
19. Colourgrade
    Tirzah
20. Friends That Break Your Heart
    James Blake
21. PICTURA DE IPSE: Musique directe
    Hubert Lenoir
22. Sympathy for Life
    Parquet Courts
23. Happier Than Ever
    Billie Eilish
24. Fatigue
    L'Rain
25. The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows
    Damon Albarn

Justin Kirkland: The 10 Best TV Shows of 2021, as published by Esquire

1. WandaVision
2. Mare of Easttown
3. Squid Game
4. We're Here
5. The White Lotus
6. The Chair
7. High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
8. Ted Lasso
9. What We Do in the Shadows
10. Maid

Honorable Mentions

• Reservation Dogs
• Schmigadoon!
• Big Brother

Decider: Best Movies of 2021

[see also 2022]

1. Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
   Josh Greenbaum
2. CODA
   Sian Heder
3. Nomadland
   Chloé Zhao
4. In the Heights
   Jon M. Chu
5. The Power of the Dog
   Jane Campion
6. Dune
   Denis Villeneuve
7. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
   Destin Daniel Cretton
8. Titane
   Julia Ducournau
9. Raya and the Last Dragon
   Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada
10. The Green Knight
    David Lowery
11. Werewolves Within
    Josh Ruben
12. Bo Burnham: Inside
    Bo Burnham
13. Cruella
    Craig Gillespie
14. Zola
    Janicza Bravo
15. Annette
    Leos Carax
16. Shiva Baby
    Emma Seligman
17. Nobody
    Ilya Naishuller
18. Luca
    Enrico Casarosa

The New York Times: The 10 Best Books of 2021

[see also The 10 Best Books of 2023 • 100 Notable Books of 2023 • The 10 Best Books of 2022 • 100 Notable Books of 2022 • 100 Notable Books of 2021 • The 10 Best Books of 2020 • 100 Notable Books of 2020 • 100 Notable Books of 2019 • The 10 Best Books of 2019 • 10 Best Books of 2018 • 100 Notable Books of 2018 • 100 Notable Books of 2017 • 10 Best Books of 2017 • 10 Best Books of 2016 • 10 Best Books of 2015 • The 10 Best Books of 2014 • The 10 Best Books of 2013 • 100 Notable Books of 2012 • 10 Best Books of 2012 • 100 Notable Books of 2011 • Ten Best Books of 2011]

Fiction

• How Beautiful We Were
  Imbolo Mbue
• Intimacies
  Katie Kitamura
• When We Cease to Understand the World
  Benjamin Labatut
• The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
  Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
• No One Is Talking About This
  Patricia Lockwood

Nonfiction

• Red Comet

  The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath
  Heather Clark
• How the Word Is Passed

  A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
  Clint Smith
• On Juneteenth
  Annette Gordon-Reed
• Invisible Child

  Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City
  Andrea Elliott
• The Copenhagen Trilogy

  Childhood; Youth; Dependency
  Tove Ditlevsen

Kirkus Reviews: Best Fiction Books of 2021, shown here in alphabetical order by author, but on their site Kirkus also lists the books in various groupings, like "Book Club Fiction" and "Fiction in Translation."

[see also Best Nonfiction Books of 2021]

• The Arsonists' City
  Hala Alyan
• Light From Uncommon Stars
  Ryka Aoki
• Foregone
  Russell Banks
• Northern Spy
  Flynn Berry
• Destroyer of Light
  Jennifer Marie Brissett
• What Storm, What Thunder
  Myriam J A Chancy
• Land of Big Numbers
  Te-Ping Chen
• Skinship
  Yoon Choi
• The Netanyahus

  An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family
  Joshua Cohen
• Razorblade Tears
  S.A. Cosby
• What's Mine and Yours
  Naima Coster
• Second Place
  Rachel Cusk
• A Lot Like Adiós
  Alexis Daria
• Damnation Spring
  Ash Davidson
• Machinehood
  S.B. Divya
• Echo Tree

  The Collected Short Fiction of Henry Dumas
  Henry Dumas
• Winter in Sokcho
  Elisa Shua Dusapin
• The Dangers of Smoking in Bed
  Mariana Enriquez
• The Sentence
  Louise Erdrich
• The Twilight Zone
  Nona Fernández
• Crossroads
  Jonathan Franzen
• Infinite
  Brian Freeman
• The Free Bastards
  Jonathan French
• Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch
  Rivka Galchen
• Monkey Boy
  Francisco Goldman
• Matrix
  Lauren Groff
• Three Rooms
  Jo Hamya
• The Corpse Flower
  Anne Mette Hancock
• The Other Black Girl
  Zakiya Dalila Harris
• Early Morning Riser
  Katherine Heiny
• People We Meet on Vacation
  Emily Henry
• Act Your Age, Eve Brown
  Talia Hibbert
• Golden Girl
  Elin Hilderbrand
• The Removed
  Brandon Hobson
• The Rib King
  Ladee Hubbard
• Zorrie
  Laird Hunt
• Klara and the Sun
  Kazuo Ishiguro
• The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
  Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
• Kin
  Miljenko Jergovic
• My Monticello
  Jocelyn Nicole Johnson
• Palmares
  Gayl Jones
• Five Tuesdays in Winter
  Lily King
• Billy Summers
  Stephen King
• Intimacies
  Katie Kitamura
• Build Your House Around My Body
  Violet Kupersmith
• Reality and Other Stories
  John Lanchester
• The Soulmate Equation
  Christina Lauren
• Untraceable
  Sergei Lebedev
• Red Island House
  Andrea Lee
• The Great Mistake
  Jonathan Lee
• The War for Gloria
  Atticus Lish
• The Blizzard Party
  Jack Livings
• No One Is Talking About This
  Patricia Lockwood
• Loop
  Brenda Lozano
• Bombshell
  Sarah MacLean
• How Beautiful We Were
  Imbolo Mbue
• The Fugitivities
  Jesse McCarthy
• The Souvenir Museum
  Elizabeth McCracken
• Lean Fall Stand
  Jon McGregor
• One Last Stop
  Casey McQuiston
• Milk Blood Heat
  Dantiel W. Moniz
• The Committed
  Viet Thanh Nguyen
• Walking on Cowrie Shells
  Nana Nkweti
• The Man Who Died Twice
  Richard Osman
• Battle Royal
  Lucy Parker
• Unthinkable
  Brad Parks
• A Radical Act of Free Magic
  H.G. Parry
• Detransition, Baby
  Torrey Peters
• A Lonely Man
  Chris Power
• Bewilderment
  Richard Powers
• The Five Wounds
  Kirstin Valdez Quade
• The Dating Playbook
  Farrah Rochon
• Beautiful World, Where Are You
  Sally Rooney
• American Estrangement
  Saïd Sayrafiezadeh
• Bina

  A Novel in Warnings
  Anakana Schofield
• The Queer Principles of Kit Webb
  Cat Sebastian
• Great Circle
  Maggie Shipstead
• Our Country Friends
  Gary Shteyngart
• Secrets of Happiness
  Joan Silber
• False Witness
  Karin Slaughter
• The Life of the Mind
  Christine Smallwood
• Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth
  Wole Soyinka
• Wayward
  Dana Spiotta
• Trust
  Domenico Starnone
• Bolla
  Pajtim Statovci
• In Memory of Memory
  Maria Stepanova
• Lady Joker
  Kaoru Takamura
• Filthy Animals
  Brandon Taylor
• The Blackmailer's Guide to Love
  Marian Thurm
• Fight Night
  Miriam Toews
• The Lincoln Highway
  Amor Towles
• No Gods, No Monsters
  Cadwell Turnbull
• Hummingbird Salamander
  Jeff VanderMeer
• Afterparties
  Anthony Veasna So
• The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
  Dawnie Walton
• I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness
  Claire Vaye Watkins
• Project Hail Mary
  Andy Weir
• Harlem Shuffle
  Colson Whitehead
• Harrow
  Joy Williams
• Seven Days in June
  Tia Williams