Year-End Lists

Time Out New York: 16 Best Albums of 2018

[see also 2017]

• There’s a Riot Going On
  Yo La Tengo
• Ultraviolet
  Kelly Moran
• Care for Me
  Saba
• Daytona
  Pusha T
• Celeste (Original Soundtrack)
  Lena Raine
• Golden Hour
  Kacey Musgraves
• El Mal Querer
  Rosalía
• ye
  Kanye West
• K.T.S.E.
  Teyana Taylor
• Bottle It In
  Kurt Vile
• Sparkle Hard
  Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
• More Blood, More Tracks: The Bootleg Series Vol. 14
  Bob Dylan
• Double Negative
  Low
• All Melody
  Nils Frahm
• Isolation
  Kali Uchis
• Masana Temples
  Kikagaku Moyo

Tasha Robinson: Top 10 Films of 2018, as discussed on Filmspotting

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2019 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2012 • 2011]

1. BlacKkKlansman
   Spike Lee
2. The Death of Stalin
   Armando Iannucci
3. The Favourite
   Yorgos Lanthimos
4. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
   Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman
5. Bad Times at the El Royale
   Drew Goddard
6. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
   Joel & Ethan Coen
7. Mid90s
   Jonah Hill
8. Marrowbone
   Sergio G. Sánchez
9. Apostle
   Gareth Evans
10. If Beale Street Could Talk
    Barry Jenkins

gal-dem: Favourite Albums of 2018, in no particular order

[see also 2017 • 2016 • 2015]

• Whack World
  Tierra Whack
• Room 25
  Noname
• Dirty Computer
  Janelle Monáe
• Negro Swan
  Blood Orange
• El Mal Querer
  Rosalía
• 19
  MHD
• Isolation
  Kali Uchis
• Safe in the Hands of Love
  Yves Tumor
• Ephorize
  cupcakKe
• Us
  Empress Of
• Sweetener
  Ariana Grande
• Invasion of Privacy
  Cardi B
• Everything Is Love
  The Carters
• Lost & Found
  Jorja Smith
• Nasty
  Rico Nasty

Honourable Mentions

• Hive Mind
  The Internet
• Saturn
  NAO
• And Yet It's All Love
  Fatima
• East Atlanta Love Letter
  6LACK
• Broken Politics
  Neneh Cherry
• Good Thing
  Leon Bridges
• ASTROWORLD
  Travis Scott
• iridescence
  BROCKHAMPTON
• Daytona
  Pusha T
• rare.
  Odunsi (The Engine)
• Basic Volume
  Gaika
• K.T.S.E.
  Teyana Taylor
• soil
  serpentwithfeet
• Empress
  Ray BLK
• direct line to My Creator
  duendita
• Silk Canvas
  VanJess
• Lost
  Brent Faiyaz
• The Kids Are Alright
  Chloe x Halle
• 0
  Dizzy Fae
• Spaceman
  Octavian
• Care for Me
  Saba
• NOIR
  Smino
• Ghetto Gospel: The New Testament
  Ghetts
• Caution
  Mariah Carey
• Sink
  Sudan Archives
• The Nature of the Beast
  Zilo
• Some Rap Songs
  Earl Sweatshirt
• Crush
  Ravyn Lenae
• Childqueen
  Kadhja Bonet
• First Signs of Me
  Hamzaa
• Overload
  Georgia Anne Muldrow
• JP3
  Junglepussy
• Moodie
  Yuno
• diary 001
  Clairo

Northern Transmissions: Top 10 Albums of 2018

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2017]

1. Joy as an Act of Resistance
   Idles
2. Songs of Praise
   Shame
3. Wide Awake!
   Parquet Courts
4. 7
   Beach House
5. Negro Swan
   Blood Orange
6. Beyondless
   Iceage
7. Be the Cowboy
   Mitski
8. Some Rap Songs
   Earl Sweatshirt
9. God’s Favorite Customer
   Father John Misty
10. Dose Your Dreams
    Fucked Up

Honorable mentions

• Lush
  Snail Mail
• In a Poem Unlimited
  U.S. Girls
• Hope Downs
  Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
• Superorganism
  Superorganism

Maria Popova: Favorite Books of 2018, with a special entry at the end

[see also 2016 • 2015]

• So Far So Good
  Ursula K. Le Guin
• Feel Free
  Zadie Smith
• Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine
  Alan Lightman
• How to Be a Good Creature

  A Memoir in Thirteen Animals
  Sy Montgomery
• A Burst of Light
  Audre Lorde
• Call Them by Their True Names

  American Crises (and Essays)
  Rebecca Solnit
• Hiking with Nietzsche

  On Becoming Who You Are
  John Kaag
• How to Change Your Mind

  What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
  Michael Pollan
• Almost Everything

  Notes on Hope
  Anne Lamott
• Little Panic

  Dispatches from an Anxious Life
  Amanda Stern
• The Strange Order of Things

  Life, Feeling, and the Making of Cultures
  Antonio Damasio
• The Woman Who Smashed Codes

  A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America's Enemies
  Jason Fagone
• Maker of Patterns

  An Autobiography Through Letters
  Freeman Dyson
• The Moth Snowstorm

  Nature and Joy
  Michael McCarthy
• A Velocity of Being

  Letters to A Young Reader
  Maria Popova and Claudia Bedrick (editors)

Okayplayer: Best Albums of 2018

[see also 2022]

1. K.T.S.E.
   Teyana Taylor
2. Whack World
   Tierra Whack
3. Invasion of Privacy
   Cardi B
4. ASTROWORLD
   Travis Scott
5. Piano & a Microphone 1983
   Prince
6. Some Rap Songs
   Earl Sweatshirt
7. Dirty Computer
   Janelle Monáe
8. Queen
   Nicki Minaj
9. Daytona
   Pusha T
10. Caution
    Mariah Carey
11. Outside
    Burna Boy
12. Nasty
    Rico Nasty
13. Swimming
    Mac Miller
14. FM!
    Vince Staples
15. Care for Me
    Saba
16. Championships
    Meek Mill
17. Heaven and Earth
    Kamasi Washington
18. Tha Carter V
    Lil Wayne

Elena Lazic: Top 10 Films of 2018, as published by Little White Lies

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019]

1. Burning
   Lee Chang-dong
2. First Reformed
   Paul Schrader
3. Birds of Passage
   Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra
4. Obscuro Barroco
   Evangelia Kranioti
5. The House That Jack Built
   Lars von Trier
6. Revenge
   Coralie Fargeat
7. Dragged Across Concrete
   S. Craig Zahler
8. Ray & Liz
   Richard Billingham
9. Jessica Forever
   Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel
10. Support the Girls
    Andrew Bujalski

This list contributes to:

• Little White Lies: 30 Best Films of 2018

Caitlin Quinlan: Top 10 Films of 2018, as published by Little White Lies

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019]

1. Happy as Lazzaro
   Alice Rohrwacher
2. Roma
   Alfonso Cuaron
3. A Star Is Born
   Bradley Cooper
4. Shoplifters
   Hirokazu Kore-eda
5. The Old Man & the Gun
   David Lowery
6. Columbus
   Kogonada
7. If Beale Street Could Talk
   Barry Jenkins
8. Eighth Grade
   Bo Burnham
9. Widows
   Steve McQueen
10. Cold War
    Pawel Pawlikowski

This list contributes to:

• Little White Lies: 30 Best Films of 2018

Erin Trahan: Best Movies of 2018, as published by WBUR’s The ARTery

[see also 2017]

Special mention to three locally-made documentaries

• Black Memorabilia
  Chico Colvard
• Dawnland
  Adam Mazo and Ben Pender-Cudlip
• Blindsided
  Lisa Olivieri

• I Am Not a Witch
  Rungano Nyoni
• Leave No Trace
  Debra Granik
• My Brilliant Friend
• Hannah Gadsby: Nanette
• RBG
  Betsy West and Julie Cohen
• The Judge
  Erika Cohn
• On Her Shoulders
  Alexandria Bombach
• Private Life
  Tamara Jenkins
• The Americans
• Black Panther
  Ryan Coogler
• Shirkers
  Sandi Tan

Adam Kempenaar: Top 10 Films of 2018, as discussed on Filmspotting

[see also 2022]

1. If Beale Street Could Talk
   Barry Jenkins
2. Minding the Gap
   Bing Liu
3. The Rider
   Chloé Zhao
4. First Reformed
   Paul Schrader
5. Roma
   Alfonso Cuaron
6. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
   Joel & Ethan Coen
7. BlacKkKlansman
   Spike Lee
8. Isle of Dogs
   Wes Anderson
9. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
   Marielle Heller
10. The Death of Stalin
    Armando Iannucci