Year-End Lists

AllMusic: Best of 2021

[see also 2020 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

• 30
  Adele
• Queens of the Summer Hotel
  Aimee Mann
• Raise The Roof
  Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
• Outside Child
  Allison Russell
• Comfort To Me
  Amyl and The Sniffers
• Talk Memory
  BADBADNOTGOOD
• Open Arms to Open Us
  Ben LaMar Gay
• Happier Than Ever
  Billie Eilish
• Hardware
  Billy F Gibbons
• Inside (The Songs)
  Bo Burnham
• Deja
  Bomba Estéreo
• In These Silent Days
  Brandi Carlile
• El Madrileño
  C. Tangana
• Parallel World
  Cadence Weapon
• An Overview on Phenomenal Nature
  Cassandra Jenkins
• The River Doesn’t Like Strangers
  Chelsea Carmichael
• Screen Violence
  Chvrches
• Playground In A Lake
  Clark
• Mother
  Cleo Sol
• Prosthetic Boombox
  Cola Boyy
• The Tunnel and the Clearing
  Colleen
• Bloodmoon: I
  Converge & Chelsea Wolfe
• If Words Were Flowers
  Curtis Harding
• The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows
  Damon Albarn
• New Long Leg
  Dry Cleaning
• The Obvious I
  Ed Dowie
• Phantasmagoria, or A Different Kind of Journey
  The Eivind Aarset 4-tet
• Dear America
  Eric Bibb
• Flat White Moon
  Field Music
• Medicine at Midnight
  Foo Fighters
• For As Long As I Can Remember
  Geoffrey O'Connor
• Shade
  Grouper
• If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power
  Halsey
• Far In
  Helado Negro
• Pärt: Passio
  Helsinki Chamber Choir & Nils Schweckendiek
• Mood Valiant
  Hiatus Kaiyote
• The Marfa Tapes
  Jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall
• The Horses and the Hounds
  James McMurtry
• Jubilee
  Japanese Breakfast
• Dear Love
  Jazzmeia Horn and Her Noble Force
• Haydn: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 9
  Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
• Brighten
  Jerry Cantrell
• Septet
  John Carroll Kirby
• We Are
  Jon Batiste
• Presentable Corpse 002
  Jorge Elbrecht
• KG0516
  Karol G
• Broken Land 2
  Kenneth Whalum
• Butterfly 3000
  King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
• Mozart: Clarinet Quintet & Horn Quintet
  Klenke Quartett & Nicola Jürgensen & Stephan Katte
• Fatigue
  L'Rain
• Pink Noise
  Laura Mvula
• Montero
  Lil Nas X
• Lindsey Buckingham
  Lindsey Buckingham
• Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
  Little Simz
• Soberish
  Liz Phair
• Former Things
  LoneLady
• Native Sons
  Los Lobos
• För Allting
  Makthaverskan
• Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
  Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
• Portas
  Marisa Monte
• The Path of the Clouds
  Marissa Nadler
• Hushed and Grim
  Mastodon
• Im Abendrot At Sunset Wagner, Pfitzner, Strauss
  Matthias Goerne and Seong-Jin Cho
• Afrique Victime
  Mdou Moctar
• Overtones for the Omniverse
  Mocky
• As The Love Continues
  Mogwai
• AAI
  Mouse On Mars
• Space 1.8
  Nala Sinephro
• Sour
  Olivia Rodrigo
• Liszt: Inspirations
  Olivier Latry
• to hell with it
  PinkPantheress
• Whole Lotta Red
  Playboi Carti
• Cyclorama
  Polo & Pan
• Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
  Rene Jacobs
• Sharecropper's Son
  Robert Finley
• Play With the Changes
  Rochelle Jordan
• Ontology
  Roxana Amed
• I've Been Trying To Tell You
  Saint Etienne
• Bye For Now
  Smile Machine
• Black To The Future
  Sons of Kemet
• Bright Green Field
  Squid
• Other You
  Steve Gunn
• Shirushi
  TEKE::TEKE
• Drones
  Terrace Martin
• Ultrapop
  The Armed
• Coral Island
  The Coral
• Open Door Policy
  The Hold Steady
• Dark in Here
  The Mountain Goats
• Uncommon Weather
  The Reds, Pinks & Purples
• Ignorance
  The Weather Station
• The Dept. Of Discontinued Lines
  William Loveday Intention
• BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST
  Theo Croker
• Thirstier
  Torres
• Glow On
  Turnstile
• Call Me If You Get Lost
  Tyler, The Creator
• The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers
  Valerie June
• Beethoven: Sonatas 4, 5 & 7
  Viktoria Mullova and Alasdair Beatson
• Blue Weekend
  Wolf Alice
• Urban Driftwood
  Yasmin Williams
• Stand For Myself
  Yola

Ty Burr: The Best Movies of 2021, the first 20 of which are organized into pairings of complementary films on his Substack

[see also 2010s • 2014 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
   Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
2. Drive My Car
   Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
3. Quo Vadis, Aida?
   Jasmila Žbanić
4. Parallel Mothers
   Pedro Almodóvar
5. Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
   Questlove
6. The Beatles: Get Back
   Peter Jackson
7. Petite Maman
   Céline Sciamma
8. The Lost Daughter
   Maggie Gyllenhaal
9. Spencer
   Pablo Larraín
10. The Card Counter
    Paul Schrader
11. West Side Story
    Steven Spielberg
12. In the Heights
    Jon M. Chu
13. The Velvet Underground
    Todd Haynes
14. The Sparks Brothers
    Edgar Wright
15. Flee
    Jonas Poher Rasmussen
16. The Mitchells vs. the Machines
    Mike Rianda
17. The Worst Person in the World
    Joachim Trier
18. The Souvenir Part II
    Joanna Hogg
19. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
    Radu Jude
20. Red Rocket
    Sean Baker

Alphabetical order from here

• Annette
  Leos Carax
• Bergman Island
  Mia Hansen-Løve
• Bo Burnham: Inside
  Bo Burnham
• The Last Duel
  Ridley Scott
• Licorice Pizza
  Paul Thomas Anderson
• Nine Days
  Edson Oda
• No Sudden Move
  Steve Soderbergh
• Passing
  Rebecca Hall
• Pig
  Michael Sarnoski
• The Power of the Dog
  Jane Campion
• Procession
  Robert Greene
• Riders of Justice
  Anders Thomas Jensen
• Shiva Baby
  Emma Seligman
• The Tender Bar
  George Clooney
• The Tragedy of Macbeth
  Joel Coen

Noel Murray: The 10 (or 11) Best Documentaries of 2021, as published by Polygon

[see also The Best Films 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]

• All Light, Everywhere
  Theo Anthony
• Attica
  Stanley Nelson and Traci Curry
• Flee
  Jonas Poher Rasmussen
• Operation Varsity Blues
  Chris Smith
• A Cop Movie
  Alonso Ruizpalacios
• Procession
  Robert Greene
• Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
  Questlove
• The Truffle Hunters
  Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw
• Val
  Leo Scott and Ting Poo
• The Velvet Underground
  Todd Haynes
• The Viewing Booth
  Ra’anan Alexandrowicz

An honorable mention to these music documentaries

• Tina
  Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin
• The Sparks Brothers
  Edgar Wright
• Under the Volcano
  Gracie Otto
• Listening to Kenny G
  Penny Lane
• The Beatles: Get Back
  Peter Jackson

Polygon: The Best Movies of 2021

[see also 2019]

• Annette
  Leos Carax
• Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
  Josh Greenbaum
• Bo Burnham: Inside
  Bo Burnham
• CODA
  Sian Heder
• Drive My Car
  Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
• Encanto
  Jared Bush and Byron Howard
• Evangelion: 3.0+1.01 Thrice Upon a Time
  various directors
• The French Dispatch
  Wes Anderson
• The Green Knight
  David Lowery
• Identifying Features
  Fernanda Valadez
• In the Heights
  Jon M. Chu
• Judas and the Black Messiah
  Shaka King
• Nine Days
  Edson Oda
• No Sudden Move
  Steve Soderbergh
• Parallel Mothers
  Pedro Almodóvar
• Petite Maman
  Céline Sciamma
• Pig
  Michael Sarnoski
• The Power of the Dog
  Jane Campion
• Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time
  Lili Horvát
• Shiva Baby
  Emma Seligman
• Spencer
  Pablo Larraín
• The Worst Person in the World
  Joachim Trier
• This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection
  Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese
• tick, tick... BOOM!
  Lin-Manuel Miranda
• Titane
  Julia Ducournau
• Zola
  Janicza Bravo

Emily VanDerWerff: The Best TV Shows of 2021, as published by Vox

[see also 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017]

The best TV show of 2021

• The Underground Railroad

12 other TV shows I really loved (in alphabetical order)

• Evil
• For All Mankind
• The Great
• Midnight Mass
• Mythic Quest
• Reservation Dogs
• Station Eleven
• Succession
• We Are Lady Parts
• Work in Progress
• Yellowjackets
• You

Five other shows, why not?

• Y: The Last Man
• The White Lotus
• What We Do in the Shadows
• PEN15
• Hellbound

The Economist: The Best Books of 2021

[see also 2012]

Politics and current affairs

• Empire of Pain

  The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
  Patrick Radden Keefe
• Do Not Disturb

  The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad
  Michela Wrong
• Invisible China

  How the Urban-Rural Divide Threatens China’s Rise
  Scott Rozelle and Natalie Hell
• The Sex Lives of African Women

  Self-Discovery, Freedom, and Healing
  Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
• Red Roulette

  An Insider's Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption, and Vengeance in Today's China
  Desmond Shum
• How the Word Is Passed

  A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
  Clint Smith
• We Are Bellingcat

  Global Crime, Online Sleuths, and the Bold Future of News
  Eliot Higgins

History

• The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen

  Warfare, Constitutions, and the Making of the Modern World
  Linda Colley
• Tunnel 29

  The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall
  Helena Merriman
• Cuba

  An American History
  Ada Ferrer
• The Greek Revolution

  1821 and the Making of Modern Europe
  Mark Mazower

Biography and memoir

• Fall

  The Mysterious Life and Death of Robert Maxwell, Britain's Most Notorious Media Baron
  John Preston
• The Radical Potter

  The Life and Times of Josiah Wedgwood
  Tristram Hunt
• There Is Nothing for You Here

  Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century
  Fiona Hill
• All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days

  The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler
  Rebecca Donner
• The Last King of America

  The Misunderstood Reign of George III
  Andrew Roberts
• All In
  Billie Jean King

Culture and ideas

• God

  An Anatomy
  Francesca Stavrakopoulou
• The Sinner and the Saint

  Dostoevsky and the Gentleman Murderer Who Inspired a Masterpiece
  Kevin Birmingham
• Fallen Idols

  Twelve Statues That Made History
  Alex von Tunzelmann
• Barça

  The inside story of the world's greatest football club
  Simon Kuper
• The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock

  An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense
  Edward White

Fiction

• Mother for Dinner
  Shalom Auslander
• The Books of Jacob
  Olga Tokarczuk
• The Plot
  Jean Hanff Korelitz
• Great Circle
  Maggie Shipstead
• Klara and the Sun
  Kazuo Ishiguro
• The Promise
  Damon Galgut
• Detransition, Baby
  Torrey Peters
• Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth
  Wole Soyinka

Economics and business

• The World For Sale

  Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources
  Javier Blas and Jack Farchy
• Career and Family

  Women’s Century-Long Journey toward Equity
  Claudia Goldin
• The Future of Money

  How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance
  Eswar S. Prasad
• The Power of Creative Destruction

  Economic Upheaval and the Wealth of Nations
  Philippe Aghion, Céline Antonin, and Simon Bunel
• The Story of Work

  A New History of Humankind
  Jan Lucassen
• The Key Man

  The True Story of How the Global Elite Was Duped by a Capitalist Fairy Tale
  Simon Clark and Will Louch

Science and technology

• A Shot to Save the World

  The Inside Story of the Life-or-Death Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine
  Gregory Zuckerman
• I, Warbot

  The Dawn of Artificially Intelligent Conflict
  Kenneth Payne
• Being You

  A New Science of Consciousness
  Anil Seth
• The Genetic Lottery

  Why DNA Matters for Social Equality
  Kathryn Paige Harden
• Water

  A Biography
  Giulio Boccaletti

Jordan Cronk: The Top 30 Albums of 2021

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

1. i became birds
   Home Is Where
2. Hey What
   Low
3. Shade
   Grouper
4. A Billion Little Lights
   Wild Pink
5. Illusory Walls
   The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die
6. Moot!
   Moin
7. Draw Down The Moon
   Foxing
8. Frailty
   dltzk
9. a softer focus
   claire rousay
10. Promises
    Floating Points / Pharoah Sanders / London Symphony Orchestra
11. New Music and Big Pop
    Another Michael
12. Between the Richness
    Fiddlehead
13. Made Out Of Sound
    Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt
14. Structure
    Water From Your Eyes
15. Observatory
    Aeon Station
16. I Know I'm Funny haha
    Faye Webster
17. Mirror Guide
    Giant Claw
18. Sound Ancestors
    Madlib
19. To See the Next Part of the Dream
    Parannoul
20. Sour
    Olivia Rodrigo
21. Really From
    Really From
22. Uncommon Weather
    The Reds, Pinks & Purples
23. Glow On
    Turnstile
24. New Long Leg
    Dry Cleaning
25. GAMI GANG
    Origami Angel
26. Any Shape You Take
    Indigo De Souza
27. Honest Labour
    Space Afrika
28. Don't Know What I Am
    Alien Boy
29. Mercurial World
    Magdalena Bay
30. G_d's Pee at State's End!
    Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Ben Yakas: The Best TV Shows of 2021, as published by Gothamist

Dramas

1. Succession
2. Shtisel
3. The White Lotus
4. Station Eleven
5. The Underground Railroad
6. For All Mankind
7. Yellowjackets
8. Mare of Easttown
9. Impeachment: American Crime Story
10. WandaVision
10. Loki
10. Hawkeye

Honorable Mentions - Drama

• You
• Maid
• The Great
• Invincible
• Billions

Comedies

1. What We Do in the Shadows
2. I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson
3. The Other Two
4. Curb Your Enthusiasm
5. Mythic Quest
6. Hacks
7. How To with John Wilson
8. Only Murders in the Building
9. Girls5eva
10. PEN15

Honorable Mentions - Comedy

• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
• Insecure
• Betty
• Sex Education
• Big Mouth
• Ted Lasso
• Starstruck
• We Are Lady Parts
• Dave
• Reservation Dogs

Patrick Ryan: 5 Best Albums of 2021, as published by USA Today

[see also 2020]

1. Screen Violence
   Chvrches
2. Daddy's Home
   St. Vincent
3. Valentine
   Snail Mail
4. Juno
   Remi Wolf
5. Blue Weekend
   Wolf Alice

Melissa Ruggieri: 5 Best Albums of 2021, as published by USA Today

1. In These Silent Days
   Brandi Carlile
2. Montero
   Lil Nas X
3. Sour
   Olivia Rodrigo
4. Home Video
   Lucy Dacus
5. =
   Ed Sheeran