Year-End Lists

No Depression: Favorite Roots Music Albums of 2020

[see also 2019, 2018, 2017]

1. Bonny Light Horseman — Bonny Light Horseman
2. Jake Blount — Spider Tales
3. Phoebe Bridgers — Punisher
4. Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit — Reunions
5. Tami Neilson — CHICKABOOM!
6. Bob Dylan — Rough and Rowdy Ways
7. Taylor Swift — Folklore
8. Sarah Jarosz — World On The Ground
9. Lucinda Williams — Good Souls Better Angels
10. Lilly Hiatt — Walking Proof
11. Kathleen Edwards — Total Freedom
12. S.G. Goodman — Old Time Feeling
13. American Aquarium — Lamentations
14. Waxahatchee — Saint Cloud
15. Katie Pruitt — Expectations
16. David Ramirez — My Love Is A Hurricane
17. Sturgill Simpson — Cuttin’ Grass - Vol​.​1 (The Butcher Shoppe Sessions)
18. Elizabeth Cook — Aftermath
19. Fiona Apple — Fetch the Bolt Cutters
20. Clem Snide — Forever Just Beyond

Hip Hop Golden Age: The Best Hip Hop Albums of 2020, posted with an extensive list of honorable mentions and EPs

1. Run the Jewels — RTJ4
2. Aesop Rock — Spirit World Field Guide
3. Marlowe (L'Orange & Solemn Brigham) — Marlowe 2
4. Apollo Brown & Che' Noir — As God Intended
5. Ka — Descendants of Cain
6. Sa-Roc — The Sharecropper's Daughter
7. Blu & Exile — Miles
8. Elzhi — Seven Times Down Eight Times Up
9. Jorun Bombay & Phill Most Chill — Jorun PMC
10. Moor Mother & billy woods — BRASS
11. R.A. the Rugged Man — All My Heroes Are Dead
12. Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist — Alfredo
13. Arrested Development — Don't Fight Your Demons
14. Armand Hammer — Shrines
15. Killah Priest — Rocket to Nebula
16. Roc Marciano — Mt. Marci
17. Boldy James & The Alchemist — The Price of Tea in China
18. Killah Priest & Jordan River Banks — The Third Eye in Technicolor
19. clipping. — Visions of Bodies Being Burned
20. Quelle Chris & Chris Keys — Innocent Country 2
21. One Be Lo — Baby (Being a black youth)
22. Third Root — Passion of the Poets
23. Conway the Machine — From King to a God
24. Boldy James / Sterling Toles — Manger on McNichols
25. Cambatta — LSD: Lunar Solar Duality
26. Royce da 5'9" — The Allegory
27. Jamo Gang — Walking With Lions
28. KRS-ONE — Between Da Protests
29. Serengeti — With Greg from Deerhoof
30. Homeboy Sandman — Don't Feed The Monster
31. Spillage Village — Spilligion
32. ShrapKnel — ShrapKnel
33. Busta Rhymes — Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God
34. Public Enemy — What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down?
35. Cut Beetlez — What Beetlez?
36. Preservation — Eastern Medicine, Western Illness
37. Recognize Ali — Recognition
38. R.A.P. Ferreira — purple moonlight pages
39. Felt — Felt 4 U
40. ANKHLEJOHN — The Face of Jason
41. The Koreatown Oddity — Little Dominiques Nosebleed
42. Benny the Butcher — Burden of Proof
43. The Leonard Simpson Duo (Guilty Simpson x Leonard Charles) — LSD
44. Quakers — II - The Next Wave
45. Stove God Cooks & Roc Marciano — Reasonable Drought
46. Jahi & Configa — Forward Future
47. The Four Owls — Nocturnal Instinct
48. Kid Abstrakt & Emapea — Jazzy Vibes
49. Small Bills (E L U C I D & The Lasso) — Don't Play It Straight
50. Nas — King's Disease
51. ETO — The Beauty Of It
52. D Smoke — Black Habits
53. CJ Fly — RUDEBWOY
54. Vinnie Paz — As Above So Below
55. ANKHLEJOHN — As Above So Below
56. Paris — Safe Space Invader
57. Open Mike Eagle — Anime, Trauma and Divorce
58. Westside Gunn — Pray for Paris
59. Common — A Beautiful Revolution (Pt 1)
60. Jay Electronica — A Written Testimony

Electric Lit: Favorite Nonfiction Books of 2020

[see also Favorite Novels of 2020, 15 Best Nonfiction Books of 2019, 15 Best Novels of 2019]

• Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex
  Angela Chen
• Born to Be Public
  Greg Mania
• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
  Isabel Wilkerson
• Fairest
  Meredith Talusan
• Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America
  R. Eric Thomas
• Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot
  Mikki Kendall
• I Don't Want to Die Poor
  Michael Arceneaux
• Later: My Life at the Edge of the World
  Paul Lisicky
• Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism
  Seyward Darby
• The Sprawl
  Jason Diamond
• Uncanny Valley
  Anna Wiener
• Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer’s Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book
  Courtney Maum
• Riding with the Ghost
  Justin Taylor
• Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir
  Natasha Trethewey
• The Unreality of Memory
  Elisa Gabbert
• Tomboyland
  Melissa Faliveno
• The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia
  Emma Copley Eisenberg
• My Autobiography of Carson McCullers
  Jenn Shapland
• Wow, No Thank You.
  Samantha Irby
• Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
  Cathy Park Hong

Electric Lit: Favorite Novels of 2020

[see also Favorite Nonfiction Books of 2020, 15 Best Nonfiction Books of 2019, 15 Best Novels of 2019]

• A Lover's Discourse
  Xiaolu Guo
• Everywhere You Don't Belong
  Gabriel Bump
• Jack
  Marilynne Robinson
• Mexican Gothic
  Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Pizza Girl
  Jean Kyoung Frazier
• The Glass Hotel
  Emily St. John Mandel
• These Ghosts Are Family
  Maisy Card
• You Should See Me in a Crown
  Leah Johnson
• Writers & Lovers
  Lily King
• A Children's Bible
  Lydia Millet
• Leave the World Behind
  Rumaan Alam
• Parakeet
  Marie-Helene Bertino
• The Lying Life of Adults
  Elena Ferrante
• Memorial
  Bryan Washington
• Piranesi
  Susanna Clarke
• The Death of Vivek Oji
  Akwaeke Emezi
• The Illness Lesson
  Clare Beams
• The City We Became
  N.K. Jemisin
• A Burning
  Megha Majumdar
• Breasts and Eggs
  Mieko Kawakami
• Cleanness
  Garth Greenwell
• Transcendent Kingdom
  Yaa Gyasi
• The Vanishing Half
  Brit Bennett
• Real Life
  Brandon Taylor
• Luster
  Raven Leilani

Mike D’Angelo: The Best Films of 2020, as published by The A.V. Club

[see also 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012]

1. First Cow — Kelly Reichardt
2. A White, White Day — Hlynur Pálmason
3. The Grand Bizarre — Jodie Mack
4. The Nest — Sean Durkin
5. Fourteen — Dan Sallitt
6. Small Axe: Red, White and Blue — Steve McQueen
7. Tenet — Christopher Nolan
8. Dick Johnson Is Dead — Kirsten Johnson
9. Small Axe: Lovers Rock — Steve McQueen
10. The Old Guard — Gina Prince-Bythewood
11. 76 days — Hao Wu, Weixi Chen and Anonymous
12. Save Yourselves! — Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson
13. Sibyl — Justine Triet
14. The Vast of Night — Andrew Patterson
15. The Invisible Man — Leigh Whannell

Kelly Lawler: The 15 Best TV Shows of 2020, as published by USA Today

[see also 2019, 2018, 2017]

1. I May Destroy You
2. The Great
3. What We Do in the Shadows
4. Upload
5. BoJack Horseman
6. Schitt's Creek
7. The Queen's Gambit
8. Ted Lasso
9. Ramy
10. Never Have I Ever
11. The Good Fight
12. The Baby-Sitters Club
13. Quiz
14. Cheer
15. Your Honor

Claire Fallon: The Best Books of 2020, as published by Huffington Post

[see also 2018]

• Temporary
  Hilary Leichter
• Real Life
  Brandon Taylor
• The Unreality of Memory
  Elisa Gabbert
• The Glass Hotel
  Emily St. John Mandel
• Parakeet
  Marie-Helene Bertino
• Death in Her Hands
  Ottessa Moshfegh
• Luster
  Raven Leilani
• Leave the World Behind
  Rumaan Alam
• Red Pill
  Hari Kunzru
• The Office of Historical Corrections
  Danielle Evans

Christina Newland: The Best Films of 2020, as submitted to the Sight & Sound Poll

[see also 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016]

1. Small Axe: Lovers Rock — Steve McQueen
2. Mank — David Fincher
3. About Endlessness — Roy Andersson
4. Rocks — Sarah Gavron
5. First Cow — Kelly Reichardt
6. Time — Garrett Bradley
7. Shirley — Josephine Decker
8. Never Rarely Sometimes Always — Eliza Hittman
9. Da 5 Bloods — Spike Lee
10. Dick Johnson Is Dead — Kirsten Johnson

Little White Lies: The 30 Best Films of 2020

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

1. Small Axe — Steve McQueen
2. Nomadland — Chloé Zhao
3. First Cow — Kelly Reichardt
4. Promising Young Woman — Emerald Fennell
5. About Endlessness — Roy Andersson
6. Shirley — Josephine Decker
7. Never Rarely Sometimes Always — Eliza Hittman
8. Time — Garrett Bradley
9. I'm Thinking of Ending Things — Charlie Kaufman
10. Rocks — Sarah Gavron
11. Portrait of a Lady on Fire — Céline Sciamma
12. Mank — David Fincher
13. Parasite — Bong Joon-ho
14. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets — Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross
15. The Assistant — Kitty Green
16. Babyteeth — Shannon Murphy
17. Martin Eden — Pietro Marcello
18. Dick Johnson Is Dead — Kirsten Johnson
19. Liberty — Albert Serra
20. Birds of Prey — Cathy Yan
21. Bad Education — Cory Finley
22. Bacurau — Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
23. David Byrne's American Utopia — Spike Lee
24. His House — Remi Weekes
25. Isadora's Children — Damien Manivel
26. Wolfwalkers — Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart
27. Mogul Mowgli — Bassam Tariq
28. Da 5 Bloods — Spike Lee
29. And Then We Danced — Levan Akin
30. She Dies Tomorrow — Amy Seimetz

The Playlist: The 25 Best Films of 2020

[see also 2010s, 2019, 2018]

1. Nomadland — Chloé Zhao
2. First Cow — Kelly Reichardt
3. Never Rarely Sometimes Always — Eliza Hittman
4. I'm Thinking of Ending Things — Charlie Kaufman
5. David Byrne's American Utopia — Spike Lee
6. Sound of Metal — Darius Marder
7. Da 5 Bloods — Spike Lee
8. Small Axe: Lovers Rock — Steve McQueen
9. Dick Johnson Is Dead — Kirsten Johnson
10. Minari — Lee Isaac Chung
11. Possessor — Brandon Cronenberg
12. Tenet — Christopher Nolan
13. The Nest — Sean Durkin
14. The Invisible Man — Leigh Whannell
15. Martin Eden — Pietro Marcello
16. The Assistant — Kitty Green
17. Beanpole — Kantemir Balagov
18. Soul — Pete Docter
19. Shirley — Josephine Decker
20. Palm Springs — Max Barbakow
21. Bacurau — Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
22. Babyteeth — Shannon Murphy
23. Ema — Pablo Larraín
24. Boys State — Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine
25. Mank — David Fincher