Year-End Lists

Amy Taubin: 10 Best Films of 2015, as published by Artforum

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012]

1. No Home Movie
   Chantal Akerman
2. The Knick
   Steven Soderbergh
3. The Assassin
   Hou Hsiao-Hsien
4. Luminous Intimacy: The Cinema of Nathaniel Dorsky and Jerome Hiler [retrospective]
   Nathaniel Dorsky and Jerome Hiler
5. Experimenter
   Michael Almereyda
6. Amy
   Asif Kapadia
7. My Golden Days
   Arnaud Desplechin
8. Don’t Blink: Robert Frank
   Laura Israel
9. Carol
   Todd Haynes
10. Mistress America
    Noah Baumbach

Nicole Brenez: 10 Best Films of 2015, as published by Artforum

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2012]

1. No Home Movie
   Chantal Akerman
2. Message of Greetings: Prix Suisse / My Thanks / Dead or Alive
   Jean-Luc Godard
3. Commander Khawani
   Florent Marcie
3. Tomorrow Tripoli – The Revolution of the Rats
   Florent Marcie
4. Get All That, Ant?
   Anthony Stern
5. Wake (Subic)
   John Gianvito
6. Vertières I, II, III
   Louise Botkay
7. Notfilm
   Ross Lipman
8. The Great Wall
   Tadhg O’Sullivan
9. Los (De)pendientes
   Sebastian Wiedemann
10. Terrorism Considered as One of the Fine Arts [screenplay]
    Peter Whitehead
10. Cross Words: All Out War Considered as One of the Fine Arts [printed material]
    Peter Whitehead

James Quandt: 10 Best Films of 2015, as published by Artforum

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012]

1. Labour in a Single Shot [exhibition of shorts]
   Antje Ehmann, Harun Farocki, various filmmakers
2. Visit, or Memories and Confessions
   Manoel de Oliveira
3. Bleak Street
   Arturo Ripstein
4. Singularity
   Albert Serra
5. Neon Bull
   Gabriel Mascaro
6. Ashes
   Steve McQueen
7. the films and videos of Michaël Borremans [retrospective]
   Michaël Borremans
8. Lost and Beautiful
   Pietro Marcello
9. Actua I [1968]
   Philippe Garrel
10. The Owners of Dixie
    Miguel Gomes

Spin: 50 Best Albums of 2015

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2012 • 2011]

1. To Pimp A Butterfly
   Kendrick Lamar
2. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
   Courtney Barnett
3. In Colour
   Jamie xx
4. Currents
   Tame Impala
5. Summertime ’06
   Vince Staples
6. Ivy Tripp
   Waxahatchee
7. Fading Frontier
   Deerhunter
8. Pageant Material
   Kacey Musgraves
9. Ratchet
   Shamir
10. Beach Music
    (Sandy) Alex G
11. No Cities To Love
    Sleater-Kinney
12. New Bermuda
    Deafheaven
13. I Love You, Honeybear
    Father John Misty
14. Wildheart
    Miguel
15. High
    Royal Headache
16. Depression Cherry
    Beach House
17. DS2
    Future
18. Honeymoon
    Lana Del Rey
19. Product
    Sophie
20. The Agent Intellect
    Protomartyr
21. Carrie & Lowell
    Sufjan Stevens
22. E•MO•TION
    Carly Rae Jepsen
23. If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late
    Drake
24. Poison Season
    Destroyer
25. Hallucinogen
    Kelela
26. Art Angels
    Grimes
27. I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside: An Album
    Earl Sweatshirt
28. Vulnicura
    Björk
29. B’lieve I’m Goin Down…
    Kurt Vile
30. Garden of Delete
    Oneohtrix Point Never
31. I Want to Grow Up
    Colleen Green
32. The Most Lamentable Tragedy
    Titus Andronicus
33. Everything Is 4
    Jason Derulo
34. Time to Go Home
    Chastity Belt
35. Communion
    Years & Years
36. Surf
    Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment
37. The Magic Whip
    Blur
38. M3LL155X
    FKA twigs
39. Feels Like
    Bully
40. From Kinshasa
    Mbongwana Star
41. Fetty Wap
    Fetty Wap
42. California Nights
    Best Coast
43. Every Open Eye
    Chvrches
44. Ygg Huur
    Krallice
45. Pretend
    Seinabo Sey
46. Sauna
    Mount Eerie
47. Fingers, Bank Pads & Shoe Prints
    RP Boo
48. Are You Alone?
    Majical Cloudz
49. Before the World Was Big
    girlpool
50. Unbreakable
    Janet Jackson

Paste Magazine: 50 Best Albums of 2015

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. I Love You, Honeybear
   Father John Misty
2. To Pimp A Butterfly
   Kendrick Lamar
3. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
   Courtney Barnett
4. No Cities To Love
   Sleater-Kinney
5. Painted Shut
   Hop Along
6. Carrie & Lowell
   Sufjan Stevens
7. Natalie Prass
   Natalie Prass
8. Currents
   Tame Impala
9. Coming Home
   Leon Bridges
10. Fading Frontier
    Deerhunter
11. Beat the Champ
    The Mountain Goats
12. The Agent Intellect
    Protomartyr
13. B’lieve I’m Goin Down…
    Kurt Vile
14. Teens of Style
    Car Seat Headrest
15. Sprinter
    TORRES
16. Every Open Eye
    Chvrches
17. The Epic
    Kamasi Washington
18. Something More Than Free
    Jason Isbell
19. Depression Cherry
    Beach House
20. In Colour
    Jamie xx
21. Platform
    Holly Herndon
22. Goon
    Tobias Jesso Jr.
23. On Your Own Love Again
    Jessica Pratt
24. Art Angels
    Grimes
25. Then Came the Morning
    The Lone Bellow
26. Summertime ’06
    Vince Staples
27. Pageant Material
    Kacey Musgraves
28. Darling… It’s Too Late
    Guantanamo Baywatch
29. How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
    Florence + The Machine
30. Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats
    Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats
31. Star Wars
    Wilco
32. High
    Royal Headache
33. Range Anxiety
    Twerps
34. Let the Good Times Roll
    J.D. McPherson
35. Dry Food
    Palehound
36. La Di Da Di
    Battles
37. The Blade
    Ashley Monroe
38. Sound & Color
    Alabama Shakes
39. What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World
    The Decemberists
40. 1989
    Ryan Adams
41. The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us
    Beach Slang
42. The Waterfall
    My Morning Jacket
43. Are You Alone?
    Majical Cloudz
44. Another Eternity
    Purity Ring
45. Payola
    Desaparecidos
46. No No No
    Beirut
47. Don’t Lose This
    Pops Staples
48. Sore
    Dilly Dally
49. Sprained Ankle
    Julien Baker
50. Edge of the Sun
    Calexico

Stereogum: 50 Best Albums of 2015

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Art Angels
   Grimes
2. To Pimp A Butterfly
   Kendrick Lamar
3. E•MO•TION
   Carly Rae Jepsen
4. Summertime ’06
   Vince Staples
5. Carrie & Lowell
   Sufjan Stevens
6. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
   Courtney Barnett
7. Painted Shut
   Hop Along
8. I Want to Grow Up
   Colleen Green
9. Simple Songs
   Jim O’Rourke
10. New Bermuda
    Deafheaven
11. In Colour
    Jamie xx
12. I Love You, Honeybear
    Father John Misty
13. Harmlessness
    The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die
14. Apocalypse, Girl
    Jenny Hval
15. Currents
    Tame Impala
16. Surf
    Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment
17. The Most Lamentable Tragedy
    Titus Andronicus
18. DS2
    Future
19. Ivy Tripp
    Waxahatchee
20. Rose Mountain
    Screaming Females
21. Ratchet
    Shamir
22. Divers
    Joanna Newsom
23. The Magic Whip
    Blur
24. The Children of the Night
    Tribulation
25. If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late
    Drake
26. Natalie Prass
    Natalie Prass
27. No Cities To Love
    Sleater-Kinney
28. O.K.
    Eskimeaux
29. Sun Coming Down
    Ought
30. If I Was
    The Staves
31. Something More Than Free
    Jason Isbell
32. The Offer
    Yowler
33. Every Open Eye
    Chvrches
34. Anareta
    Horrendous
35. The Epic
    Kamasi Washington
36. SremmLife
    Rae Sremmurd
37. All Are Saved
    Fred Thomas
38. Vulnicura
    Björk
39. Teens of Style
    Car Seat Headrest
40. Sprained Ankle
    Julien Baker
41. Before the World Was Big
    girlpool
42. Fading Frontier
    Deerhunter
43. Traveller
    Chris Stapleton
44. Foil Deer
    Speedy Ortiz
45. Viet Cong
    Viet Cong
46. Joy, Departed
    Sorority Noise
47. Depression Cherry
    Beach House
48. B’lieve I’m Goin Down…
    Kurt Vile
49. Garden of Delete
    Oneohtrix Point Never
50. Have You In My Wilderness
    Julia Holter

J Hoberman: 10 Best Films of 2015, as published by Artforum

[see also 2021 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2012 • 2011]

1. The Assassin
   Hou Hsiao-Hsien
2. The Guests
   Ken Jacobs
3. No Home Movie
   Chantal Akerman
4. Hard to Be a God
   Aleksey German
5. Mexico at Midnight: Film Noir from Mexican Cinema’s Golden Age
   Museum of Modern Art, New York
6. Cemetery of Splendor
   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
7. Hamlet in the Rented World
   Jack Smith
8. Phoenix
   Christian Petzold
9. Continuous Variations
   Manuel De Landa
9. The Walk
   Robert Zemeckis

John Waters: 10 Best Films of 2015, as published by Artforum

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Helmut Berger, Actor
   Andreas Horvath
2. Cinderella
   Kenneth Branagh
3. The Forbidden Room
   Guy Maddin
4. Tom at the Farm
   Xavier Dolan
5. Mad Max: Fury Road
   George Miller
6. Carol
   Todd Haynes
7. The Diary of a Teenage Girl
   Marielle Heller
8. Tangerine
   Sean Baker
9. Fly Colt Fly
   Adam Gray and Andrew Gray
10. Love
    Gaspar Noé

Uncut Magazine: 75 Best Albums of 2015

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012]

1. Have You In My Wilderness
   Julia Holter
2. To Pimp A Butterfly
   Kendrick Lamar
3. Carrie & Lowell
   Sufjan Stevens
4. Primrose Green
   Ryley Walker
5. I Love You, Honeybear
   Father John Misty
6. Currents
   Tame Impala
7. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
   Courtney Barnett
8. Natalie Prass
   Natalie Prass
9. Key Markets
   Sleaford Mods
10. Music Complete
    New Order
11. Vulnicura
    Björk
12. Multi-Love
    Unknown Mortal Orchestra
13. Simple Songs
    Jim O’Rourke
14. Songs To Play
    Robert Forster
15. Something More Than Free
    Jason Isbell
16. Loyalty
    The Weather Station
17. The Magic Whip
    Blur
18. Star Wars
    Wilco
19. From Kinshasa
    Mbongwana Star
20. Platform
    Holly Herndon
21. Sound & Color
    Alabama Shakes
22. Y Dydd Olaf
    Gwenno
23. No Cities To Love
    Sleater-Kinney
24. Still
    Richard Thompson
25. Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
    John Grant
26. Divers
    Joanna Newsom
27. In Colour
    Jamie xx
28. Ba Power
    Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba
29. B’lieve I’m Goin Down…
    Kurt Vile
30. The Epic
    Kamasi Washington
31. Morning / Evening
    Four Tet
32. Universal Themes
    Sun Kil Moon
33. Fresh Blood
    Matthew E. White
34. FFS
    FFS
35. White Men Are Black Men Too
    Young Fathers
36. Poison Season
    Destroyer
37. Ones and Sixes
    Low
38. Nashville Obsolete
    Dave Rawlings Machine
39. Saturns Pattern
    Paul Weller
40. Shadows In The Night
    Bob Dylan
41. On Your Own Love Again
    Jessica Pratt
42. Let the Good Times Roll
    J.D. McPherson
43. Perpetual Motion People
    Ezra Furman
44. Short Movie
    Laura Marling
45. Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper
    Panda Bear
46. The Longest River
    Olivia Chaney
47. Wildheart
    Miguel
48. The Waterfall
    My Morning Jacket
49. Music In Exile
    Songhoy Blues
50. Stuff Like That There
    Yo La Tengo
51. Algiers
    Algiers
52. In the Pink of Condition
    H. Hawkline
53. Hairless Toys
    Róisín Murphy
54. Israel Nash’s Silver Season
    Israel Nash
55. The Monsanto Years
    Neil Young & Promise of the Real
56. Fading Frontier
    Deerhunter
57. Honeymoon
    Lana Del Rey
58. Fuzz II
    Fuzz
59. From Here
    Stick in the Wheel
60. The Little Prayers Trilogy
    Chip Taylor
61. Summertime ’06
    Vince Staples
62. The Most Lamentable Tragedy
    Titus Andronicus
63. Sour Soul
    BADBADNOTGOOD & Ghostface Killah
64. What the World Needs Now…
    Public Image Ltd.
65. Constant Bop
    Bop English
66. No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal
    The Apartments
67. Good Sad Happy Bad
    Micachu & The Shapes
68. Lost Time
    Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin
69. Strangers to Ourselves
    Modest Mouse
70. Man It Feels Like Space Again
    Pond
71. Hermits On Holiday
    Drinks
72. Pylon
    Killing Joke
73. Southland Mission
    Phil Cook
74. Crosseyed Heart
    Keith Richards
75. Loin Des Hommes (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
    Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

Sight & Sound Poll: Top 35 Films of 2015 (a poll of 168 critics, published by Sight & Sound Magazine)

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. The Assassin
   Hou Hsiao-Hsien
2. Carol
   Todd Haynes
3. Mad Max: Fury Road
   George Miller
4. Arabian Nights
   Miguel Gomes
5. Cemetery of Splendor
   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
6. No Home Movie
   Chantal Akerman
7. 45 Years
   Andrew Haigh
8. Son of Saul
   László Nemes
8. Amy
   Asif Kapadia
8. Inherent Vice
   Paul Thomas Anderson
8. Anomalisa
   Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson
8. It Follows
   David Robert Mitchell
13. Phoenix
    Christian Petzold
14. Girlhood
    Céline Sciamma
14. Hard to Be a God
    Aleksey German
14. Inside Out
    Pete Docter
14. Tangerine
    Sean Baker
14. Jafar Panahi’s Taxi
    Jafar Panahi
19. Horse Money
    Pedro Costa
19. The Look of Silence
    Joshua Oppenheimer
21. Clouds of Sils Maria
    Olivier Assayas
21. The Duke of Burgundy
    Peter Strickland
21. Timbuktu
    Abderrahmane Sissako
21. The Forbidden Room
    Guy Maddin
21. My Golden Days
    Arnaud Desplechin
26. Force Majeure
    Ruben Östlund
26. Blackhat
    Michael Mann
26. The Diary of a Teenage Girl
    Marielle Heller
26. Evolution
    Lucile Hadzihalilovic
26. Ex Machina
    Alex Garland
26. Heart of a Dog
    Laurie Anderson
26. The Lobster
    Yorgos Lanthimos
26. Right Now, Wrong Then
    Hong Sang-soo
26. Room
    Lenny Abrahamson
26. Sunset Song
    Terence Davies