Year-End Lists

Allison Shoemaker: The Best Films of 2020, as published by The A.V. Club

[see also 2019, 2018, 2017]

1. Nomadland — Chloé Zhao
2. First Cow — Kelly Reichardt
3. Dick Johnson Is Dead — Kirsten Johnson
4. Time — Garrett Bradley
5. Never Rarely Sometimes Always — Eliza Hittman
6. She Dies Tomorrow — Amy Seimetz
7. Minari — Lee Isaac Chung
8. Black Bear — Lawrence Michael Levine
9. Beanpole — Kantemir Balagov
10. The 40-Year-Old Version — Radha Blank
11. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets — Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross
12. The Assistant — Kitty Green
13. The Father — Florian Zeller
14. I'm Thinking of Ending Things — Charlie Kaufman
15. Promising Young Woman — Emerald Fennell

Jordan Cronk: The Top 30 Albums of 2020 as posted to Patreon

[see also 2010s, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016]

1. Waxahatchee — Saint Cloud
2. Phoebe Bridgers — Punisher
3. The Microphones — Microphones in 2020
4. Pinegrove — Marigold
5. Touché Amoré — Lament
6. Haim — Women in Music Pt. III
7. Perfume Genius — Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
8. Grimes — Miss Anthropocene
9. Young Jesus — Welcome to Conceptual Beach
10. The 1975 — Notes on a Conditional Form
11. Ana Roxanne — Because of a Flower
12. Cindy Lee — What's Tonight To Eternity
13. A.G. Cook — Apple
13. A.G. Cook — 7G
14. Porridge Radio — Every Bad
15. Stay Inside — Viewing
16. Trace Mountains — Lost in the Country
17. Destroyer — Have We Met
18. Special Interest — The Passion Of
19. Ben Seretan — Youth Pastoral
20. The Soft Pink Truth — Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase?
21. Hum — Inlet
22. Bill Nace — Both
23. Caribou — Suddenly
24. Autechre — Sign
24. Autechre — Plus
25. The Avalanches — We Will Always Love You
26. Beatrice Dillon — Workaround
27. KMRU — Peel
28. Empty Country — Empty Country
29. Lyra Pramuk — Fountain
30. Protomartyr — Ultimate Success Today

Brooklyn Vegan: Top 55 Albums of 2020

[see also 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016]

1. Fiona Apple — Fetch the Bolt Cutters
2. Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist — Alfredo
3. Phoebe Bridgers — Punisher
4. Run the Jewels — RTJ4
5. Perfume Genius — Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
6. Moses Sumney — Græ
7. Sault — Untitled (Black Is)
7. Sault — Untitled (Rise)
8. Hum — Inlet
9. Róisín Murphy — Róisín Machine
10. Jeff Rosenstock — No Dream
11. Adrianne Lenker — songs
11. Adrianne Lenker — instrumentals
12. Yves Tumor — Heaven to a Tortured Mind
13. Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit — Reunions
14. Westside Gunn — Pray for Paris
15. Bonny Light Horseman — Bonny Light Horseman
16. Conway the Machine — From King to a God
17. Porridge Radio — Every Bad
18. Boldy James & The Alchemist — The Price of Tea in China
18. Boldy James / Sterling Toles — Manger on McNichols
19. Bartees Strange — Live Forever
20. Teenage Halloween — Teenage Halloween
21. Benny the Butcher — Burden of Proof
22. Deftones — Ohms
23. Megan Thee Stallion — Good News
24. Waxahatchee — Saint Cloud
25. Jarv Is — Beyond the Pale
26. Pop Smoke — Meet the Woo 2
27. Bob Dylan — Rough and Rowdy Ways
28. Infant Island — Beneath
29. Armand Hammer — Shrines
30. Stay Inside — Viewing
31. Napalm Death — Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism
32. Fleet Foxes — Shore
33. Gulch — Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress
34. The Microphones — Microphones in 2020
35. Hayley Williams — Petals for Armor
36. The 1975 — Notes on a Conditional Form
37. Caribou — Suddenly
38. Record Setter — I Owe You Nothing
39. Kelly Lee Owens — Inner Song
40. Lido Pimienta — Miss Colombia
41. Nubya Garcia — SOURCE
42. Destroyer — Have We Met
43. Touché Amoré — Lament
44. Svalbard — When I Die, Will I Get Better?
45. Oranssi Pazuzu — Mestarin kynsi
46. Code Orange — Underneath
46. Code Orange — Under the Skin
47. Mary Lattimore — Silver Ladders
48. Sweven — The Eternal Resonance
49. Dua Lipa — Future Nostalgia
50. Ulcerate — Stare Into Death And Be Still
51. Flo Milli — Ho, Why Is You Here?
52. Protoje — In Search Of Lost Time
53. Billy Nomates — Billy Nomates
54. Beverly Glenn-Copeland — Transmissions: The Music of Beverly Glenn-Copeland
55. Moses Boyd — Dark Matter

Scott Tobias: Top 10 Films of 2020, as posted to Twitter and discussed on The Next Picture Show

[see also 2019, 2018, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011]

1. Dick Johnson Is Dead — Kirsten Johnson
2. The Assistant — Kitty Green
3. First Cow — Kelly Reichardt
4. Small Axe: Lovers Rock — Steve McQueen
5. Nomadland — Chloé Zhao
6. Bacurau — Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
7. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets — Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross
8. I'm Thinking of Ending Things — Charlie Kaufman
9. Beanpole — Kantemir Balagov
10. The Nest — Sean Durkin

Honorable Mentions (no order)

• David Byrne's American Utopia — Spike Lee
• Fourteen — Dan Sallitt
• Collective — Alexander Nanau
• Time — Garrett Bradley
• Boys State — Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine
• Bad Education — Cory Finley
• The Vast of Night — Andrew Patterson
• Never Rarely Sometimes Always — Eliza Hittman
• Minari — Lee Isaac Chung
• Wolfwalkers — Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart
• Sound of Metal — Darius Marder
• A White, White Day — Hlynur Pálmason
• Soul — Pete Docter
• Another Round — Thomas Vinterberg

Shondaland: The Best Books of 2020

• Check, Please! Book 2: Sticks & Scones
  Ngozi Ukazu
• The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist
  Adrian Tomine
• The Vanishing Half
  Brit Bennett
• Glass Town: The Imaginary World of the Brontës
  Isabel Greenberg
• Solutions and Other Problems
  Allie Brosh
• A Song of Wraiths and Ruin
  Roseanne A. Brown
• This Is What I Know About Art
  Kimberly Drew
• Luster
  Raven Leilani
• Cemetery Boys
  Aiden Thomas
• His Only Wife
  Peace Adzo Medie
• Homeland Elegies
  Ayad Akhtar
• Beach Read
  Emily Henry
• Mexican Gothic
  Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex
  Angela Chen
• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
  Isabel Wilkerson
• Elatsoe
  Darcie Little Badger

Shondaland: The Best Podcasts of 2020

• Nice White Parents
• Dr. Death Season 2: Dr. Fata
• Slow Burn: Season 4
• MusicalSplaining
• Code Switch
• You're Wrong About...
• Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment
• The Daily

Susannah Gruder: Best Films of 2020, as published by Screen Slate along with a list of best first-time views

[see also 2010s]

1. Epicentro — Hubert Sauper
2. Small Axe: Lovers Rock — Steve McQueen
3. Never Rarely Sometimes Always — Eliza Hittman
4. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets — Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross
5. Dick Johnson Is Dead — Kirsten Johnson
6. A Night at the Opera — Sergei Loznitsa
7. The Calming — Song Fang
8. Acasa, My Home — Radu Ciorniciuc
9. Kajillionaire — Miranda July
10. Time — Garrett Bradley

Molly Haskell: Best Films of 2020, as published by Screen Slate along with a list of discoveries

• Beanpole — Kantemir Balagov
• Martin Eden — Pietro Marcello
• The Woman Who Ran — Hong Sang-soo
• Undine — Christian Petzold
• The Salt of Tears — Philippe Garrel
• David Byrne's American Utopia — Spike Lee
• City Hall — Frederick Wiseman
• Dick Johnson Is Dead — Kirsten Johnson
• Vitalina Varela — Pedro Costa
• Bacurau — Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles

Runners-up

• Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue — Jia Zhang-ke
• The Assistant — Kitty Green
• Relic — Natalie Erika James
• First Cow — Kelly Reichardt
• The Expecting — Mary Harron

Hyperallergic: Our Favorite Poetry Books of 2020, compiled by Albert Mobilio and John Yau

• Discipline
  Jane Yeh
• Jump The Clock
  Erica Hunt
• Phone Bells Keep Ringing for Me
  Choi Seungja
• Blood Feather
  Karla Kelsey
• Poetry Against All: A Diary
  Johannes Goransson
• Collected Poems: 1946-2016
  Harry Mathews
• Now It's Dark
  Peter Gizzi
• Savage Pageant
  Jessica Q. Stark

Joshua Rothkopf: Top 20 Films of 2020, as posted to Twitter

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

1. Martin Eden — Pietro Marcello
2. Nomadland — Chloé Zhao
3. I'm Thinking of Ending Things — Charlie Kaufman
4. Kajillionaire — Miranda July
5. Small Axe: Mangrove — Steve McQueen
6. The Nest — Sean Durkin
7. Welcome to Chechnya — David France
8. The Invisible Man — Leigh Whannell
9. Dick Johnson Is Dead — Kirsten Johnson
10. Bacurau — Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
11. Soul — Pete Docter
12. Minari — Lee Isaac Chung
13. Collective — Alexander Nanau
14. Tommaso — Abel Ferrara
15. She Dies Tomorrow — Amy Seimetz
16. The Truffle Hunters — Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw
17. Never Rarely Sometimes Always — Eliza Hittman
18. Gunda — Viktor Kosakovskiy
19. Bad Education — Cory Finley
20. Sound of Metal — Darius Marder