Year-End Lists

Brian Truitt: The 10 Best Movies of 2021, as published by USA Today

[see also 2023]

1. Spencer
   Pablo Larraín
2. The Father
   Florian Zeller
3. The Green Knight
   David Lowery
4. tick, tick... BOOM!
   Lin-Manuel Miranda
5. The Power of the Dog
   Jane Campion
6. Drive My Car
   Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
7. CODA
   Sian Heder
8. West Side Story
   Steven Spielberg
9. Spider-Man: No Way Home
   Jon Watts
10. Licorice Pizza
    Paul Thomas Anderson

Vulture Podcast Survey: The Best Podcasts of 2021, as published by New York Magazine, a poll of over 150 podcast creators, producers, and hosts

[see also 2023 • 2022]

1. Maintenance Phase
2. Storytime with Seth Rogen
3. 9/12
4. Heavyweight
5. You're Wrong About...
6. The Line
7. The Midnight Miracle
8. Anything for Selena
9. The Experiment
10. The Ezra Klein Show
11. The Just Enough Family
12. Dead Eyes
13. Aack Cast
14. Through The Cracks
15. Who? Weekly

Some More Interesting Picks

• Drink Champs
• StraightioLab
• 60 Songs That Explain the '90s

Electric Lit: Favorite Nonfiction Books of 2021

[see also Best Nonfiction of 2023 • Best Novels of 2023 • Favorite Nonfiction Books of 2022 • Favorite Novels of 2022 • Favorite Novels of 2021 • Favorite Nonfiction Books of 2020 • Favorite Novels of 2020 • 15 Best Novels of 2019 • 15 Best Nonfiction Books of 2019]

The Top 3 Nonfiction Books of the Year

• Girlhood
  Melissa Febos
• White Magic
  Elissa Washuta
• Crying in H Mart
  Michelle Zauner

Other Nonfiction Favorites

• A Little Devil in America

  Notes in Praise of Black Performance
  Hanif Abdurraqib
• The Most Fun Thing

  Dispatches from a Skateboard Life
  Kyle Beachy
• Punch Me Up to the Gods
  Brian Broome
• Dear Memory

  Letters on Writing, Silence, and Grief
  Victoria Chang
• Southbound

  Essays on Identity, Inheritance, and Social Change
  Anjali Enjeti
• Somebody's Daughter
  Ashley C. Ford
• Pedro's Theory

  Reimagining the Promised Land
  Marcos Gonsalez
• The 1619 Project

  A New Origin Story
  Nikole Hannah-Jones (creator)
• Tacky

  Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer
  Rax King
• The Hard Crowd

  Essays 2000-2020
  Rachel Kushner
• The Book of Difficult Fruit

  Arguments for the Tart, Tender, and Unruly
  Kate Lebo
• Aftershocks
  Nadia Owusu
• Pop Song

  Adventures in Art and Intimacy
  Larissa Pham
• Seek You

  A Journey Through American Loneliness
  Kristen Radtke
• Craft in the Real World

  Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping
  Matthew Salesses
• Concepcion

  An Immigrant Family's Fortunes
  Albert Samaha
• A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

  In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
  George Saunders
• Let the Record Show

  A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993
  Sarah Schulman
• The Right to Sex

  Feminism in the Twenty-First Century
  Amia Srinivasan
• Midnight's Borders

  A People's History of Modern India
  Suchitra Vijayan
• Pessoa
  Richard Zenith
• Women and Other Monsters

  Building a New Mythology
  Jess Zimmerman

Michael J. Anderson: Ten Best Films of 2021

[see also 2022 • 2020 • 2010s • 2017]

1. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
   Aleksandre Koberidze
2. In Front of Your Face
   Hong Sang-soo
3. Drive My Car
   Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
4. The Power of the Dog
   Jane Campion
5. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
   Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
6. The Girl and the Spider
   Ramon Zürcher and Silvan Zürcher
7. Memoria
   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
8. Ahed's Knee
   Nadav Lapid
9. The Tsugua Diaries
   Maureen Fazendeiro and Miguel Gomes
10. Mr. Bachmann and His Class
    Maria Speth

Electric Lit: Favorite Novels of 2021

[see also Best Nonfiction of 2023 • Best Novels of 2023 • Favorite Nonfiction Books of 2022 • Favorite Novels of 2022 • Favorite Nonfiction Books of 2021 • Favorite Nonfiction Books of 2020 • Favorite Novels of 2020 • 15 Best Novels of 2019 • 15 Best Nonfiction Books of 2019]

The Top 3 Novels of the Year

• Intimacies
  Katie Kitamura
• Detransition, Baby
  Torrey Peters
• Nightbitch
  Rachel Yoder

Other Favorite Novels

• Appleseed
  Matt Bell
• Civilizations
  Laurent Binet
• Milk Fed
  Melissa Broder
• Second Place
  Rachel Cusk
• Infinite Country
  Patricia Engel
• The Twilight Zone
  Nona Fernández
• Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch
  Rivka Galchen
• Libertie
  Kaitlyn Greenidge
• Matrix
  Lauren Groff
• Klara and the Sun
  Kazuo Ishiguro
• The Prophets
  Robert Jones Jr.
• Several People Are Typing
  Calvin Kasulke
• No One Is Talking About This
  Patricia Lockwood
• The Atmospherians
  Alex McElroy
• We Are Watching Eliza Bright
  A.E. Osworth
• Beautiful World, Where Are You
  Sally Rooney
• Gold Diggers
  Sanjena Sathian
• Great Circle
  Maggie Shipstead
• The Life of the Mind
  Christine Smallwood
• Animal
  Lisa Taddeo
• Harrow
  Joy Williams
• Win Me Something
  Kyle Lucia Wu

Ross Bonaime: Top 10 Films of 2021, as published by Collider

1. Licorice Pizza
   Paul Thomas Anderson
2. The Worst Person in the World
   Joachim Trier
3. C'mon C'mon
   Mike Mills
4. Judas and the Black Messiah
   Shaka King
5. Pig
   Michael Sarnoski
6. The Green Knight
   David Lowery
7. The French Dispatch
   Wes Anderson
8. Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
   Questlove
9. Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
   Josh Greenbaum
10. The Souvenir Part II
    Joanna Hogg

Runners-Up, in alphabetical order

• CODA
  Sian Heder
• Cyrano
  Joe Wright
• Drive My Car
  Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
• The Last Duel
  Ridley Scott
• The Mitchells vs. the Machines
  Mike Rianda
• The Power of the Dog
  Jane Campion
• Titane
  Julia Ducournau
• West Side Story
  Steven Spielberg

Maggie Smith: Top 10 Poetry Books of 2021, as published by Whittier Daily News

1. The Blues of Heaven
   Barbara Ras
2. Philomath
   Devon Walker-Figueroa
3. frank

   sonnets
   Diane Seuss
4. The Echo Chamber
   Michael Bazzett
5. Such Color

   New and Selected Poems
   Tracy K. Smith
6. Popular Longing
   Natalie Shapero
7. The Life
   Carrie Fountain
8. I Hope This Finds You Well
   Kate Baer
9. Pilgrim Bell
   Kaveh Akbar
10. Dialogues with Rising Tides
    Kelli Russell Agodon

Vikram Murthi: The Best Films of 2021, as published by The A.V. Club

[see also 2020 • 2019 • 2018]

1. Memoria
   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2. Licorice Pizza
   Paul Thomas Anderson
3. The Velvet Underground
   Todd Haynes
4. The French Dispatch
   Wes Anderson
5. The Souvenir Part II
   Joanna Hogg
6. Red Rocket
   Sean Baker
7. Slow Machine
   Joe DeNardo and Paul Felten
8. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
   Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
9. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
   Radu Jude
10. Pig
    Michael Sarnoski
11. French Exit
    Azazel Jacobs
12. El Planeta
    Amalia Ulman
13. Days
    Tsai Ming-liang
14. Annette
    Leos Carax
15. The Worst Person in the World
    Joachim Trier

This list contributes to:

• A.V. Club: The Best Films of 2021

Noel Murray: The Best Films of 2021, as published by The A.V. Club

[see also The 10 Best Documentaries of 2022 • The 10 (or 11) Best Documentaries of 2021 • The Best Films of 2020 • The Best Films of 2019 • Top 15 Films of 2018 • Best Films of 2017 • The Best Films of 2016 • The Best Films of 2015 • Top 15 Films of 2014 • 15 Best Films of 2012 • Best Films of 2011]

1. The French Dispatch
   Wes Anderson
2. Red Rocket
   Sean Baker
3. Pig
   Michael Sarnoski
4. West Side Story
   Steven Spielberg
5. A Hero
   Asghar Farhadi
6. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
   Radu Jude
7. The Power of the Dog
   Jane Campion
8. The Card Counter
   Paul Schrader
9. Petite Maman
   Céline Sciamma
10. Nightmare Alley
    Guillermo del Toro
11. The Viewing Booth
    Ra’anan Alexandrowicz
12. The Mitchells vs. the Machines
    Mike Rianda
13. The Tragedy of Macbeth
    Joel Coen
14. Last Night in Soho
    Edgar Wright
15. Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
    Questlove

This list contributes to:

• A.V. Club: The Best Films of 2021

Leila Latif: The Best Films of 2021, as published by The A.V. Club

1. Titane
   Julia Ducournau
2. Judas and the Black Messiah
   Shaka King
3. Petite Maman
   Céline Sciamma
4. The French Dispatch
   Wes Anderson
5. Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
   Questlove
6. Night of the Kings
   Philippe Lacôte
7. The Card Counter
   Paul Schrader
8. Dune
   Denis Villeneuve
9. The Green Knight
   David Lowery
10. Bergman Island
    Mia Hansen-Løve
11. Shiva Baby
    Emma Seligman
12. The Power of the Dog
    Jane Campion
13. Parallel Mothers
    Pedro Almodóvar
14. West Side Story
    Steven Spielberg
15. Flee
    Jonas Poher Rasmussen

This list contributes to:

• A.V. Club: The Best Films of 2021