The Best Media :trophy:

THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST

📌 Written by Dan 📅 Last updated: August 19th, 2025


Introduction

In a landscape saturated with content, the real difficulty is often knowing where to begin. But what if, instead of relying on a single perspective, you could build a list shaped by many voices?

This serves as a guide to landmark creative achievements, assembled by combining thousands of curated rankings to form a broad critical consensus.

From the novel that transformed literature to the album that altered the course of music, these works represent the most influential in their fields, enduring over time and leaving a lasting mark on culture.


Books, from 664 unique lists

How it's ranked

  1. Ulysses by James Joyce (1922)
  2. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
  3. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust (1913-1927)
  4. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (1951)
  5. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (1967)
  6. Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell (1949)
  7. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851)
  8. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (1929)
  9. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1605 & 1615)
  10. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1878)
  11. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1866)
  12. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)
  13. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955)
  14. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1869)
  15. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847)
  16. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (1954-1955)
  17. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)
  18. The Bible by Unknown (Various)
  19. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1880)
  20. The Trial by Franz Kafka (1925)

21st Century List

  1. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (2001)
  2. White Teeth by Zadie Smith (2000)
  3. 2666 by Roberto Bolaño (2004)
  4. Atonement by Ian McEwan (2001)
  5. Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald (2001)
  6. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)
  7. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)
  8. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (2000)
  9. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (2005)
  10. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (2007)
  11. The Human Stain by Philip Roth (2000)
  12. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (2010)
  13. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (2002)
  14. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (2009)
  15. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (2012)
  16. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (2004)
  17. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2013)
  18. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (2004)
  19. The Years by Annie Ernaux (2008)
  20. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (2000)

Films from 16,874 unique lists

  1. Citizen Kane, dir. Orson Welles (1941)
  2. Vertigo, dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1958)
  3. 2001: A Space Odyssey, dir. Stanley Kubrick (1968)
  4. Tokyo Story, dir. Yasujiro Ozu (1953)
  5. The Rules of the Game, dir. Jean Renoir (1939)
  6. The Godfather, dir. Francis Ford Coppola (1972)
  7. 8½, dir. Federico Fellini (1963)
  8. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, dir. F.W. Murnau (1927)
  9. The Searchers, dir. John Ford (1956)
  10. Seven Samurai, dir. Akira Kurosawa (1954)
  11. Singin' in the Rain, dir. Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly (1952)
  12. Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, dir. Chantal Akerman (1975)
  13. Apocalypse Now, dir. Francis Ford Coppola (1979)
  14. Bicycle Thieves, dir. Vittorio De Sica (1948)
  15. Taxi Driver, dir. Martin Scorsese (1976)
  16. Persona, dir. Ingmar Bergman (1966)
  17. In the Mood for Love, dir. Wong Kar-wai (2000)
  18. Breathless, dir. Jean-Luc Godard (1960)
  19. The Passion of Joan of Arc, dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer (1928)
  20. L'Atalante, dir. Jean Vigo (1934)

21st Century List

  1. In the Mood for Love, dir. Wong Kar-wai (2000)
  2. Mulholland Dr., dir. David Lynch (2001)
  3. Yi Yi, dir. Edward Yang (2000)
  4. Spirited Away, dir. Hayao Miyazaki (2001)
  5. There Will Be Blood, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson (2007)
  6. Tropical Malady, dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul (2004)
  7. Portrait of a Lady on Fire, dir. Céline Sciamma (2019)
  8. The Tree of Life, dir. Terrence Malick (2011)
  9. The Gleaners & I, dir. Agnès Varda (2000)
  10. Moonlight, dir. Barry Jenkins (2016)
  11. Parasite, dir. Bong Joon-ho (2019)
  12. Caché, dir. Michael Haneke (2005)
  13. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, dir. Michel Gondry (2004)
  14. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul (2010)
  15. La Ciénaga, dir. Lucrecia Martel (2001)
  16. Goodbye, Dragon Inn, dir. Tsai Ming-liang (2003)
  17. A Separation, dir. Asghar Farhadi (2011)
  18. Melancholia, dir. Lars von Trier (2011)
  19. Werckmeister Harmonies, dir. Béla Tarr (2000)
  20. City of God, dir. Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund (2002)

Television from 2,826 lists

How it's ranked

  1. Breaking Bad (2008–2013)
  2. The Simpsons (1989–present)
  3. The Wire (2002–2008)
  4. The Sopranos (1999–2007)
  5. Game of Thrones (2011–2019)
  6. Mad Men (2007–2015)
  7. Twin Peaks (1990–1991, 2017)
  8. Seinfeld (1989–1998)
  9. Friends (1994–2004)
  10. The Twilight Zone (1959–1964)
  11. Doctor Who (1963–1989, 1996, 2005–present)
  12. BoJack Horseman (2014–2020)
  13. Better Call Saul (2015–2022)
  14. Lost (2004–2010)
  15. Arrested Development (2003–2006, 2013, 2018–2019)
  16. South Park (1997–present)
  17. Stranger Things (2016–present)
  18. The Office (US) (2005–2013)
  19. The X-Files (1993–2002, 2016–2018)
  20. Parks and Recreation (2009–2015)

Albums from hundreds of lists

How it's ranked

  1. Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys (1966)
  2. Nevermind by Nirvana (1991)
  3. The Velvet Underground & Nico by The Velvet Underground (1967)
  4. Revolver by The Beatles (1966)
  5. OK Computer by Radiohead (1997)
  6. London Calling by The Clash (1979)
  7. What's Going On by Marvin Gaye (1971)
  8. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles (1967)
  9. Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan (1965)
  10. Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan (1966)
  11. Exile on Main St. by The Rolling Stones (1972)
  12. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie (1972)
  13. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy (1988)
  14. The White Album by The Beatles (1968)
  15. To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar (2015)
  16. Thriller by Michael Jackson (1982)
  17. Abbey Road by The Beatles (1969)
  18. Kind of Blue by Miles Davis (1959)
  19. The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd (1973)
  20. Never Mind the Bollocks - Here's the Sex Pistols by Sex Pistols (1977)

Video Games from hundreds of lists

How it's ranked

  1. Tetris – Multiple platforms (1988)
  2. Resident Evil 4 – Multiple platforms (2005)
  3. The Last of Us – PlayStation 3 (2013)
  4. Half-Life 2 – PC (2004)
  5. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Nintendo Switch, Wii U (2017)
  6. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Multiple platforms (2015)
  7. Hades – Multiple platforms (2020)
  8. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Nintendo 64 (1998)
  9. Super Mario 64 – Nintendo 64 (1996)
  10. Mass Effect 2 – Multiple platforms (2010)
  11. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – Super Nintendo (1992)
  12. BioShock – Multiple platforms (2007)
  13. Grand Theft Auto V – Multiple platforms (2013)
  14. Super Metroid – Super Nintendo (1994)
  15. Shadow of the Colossus – PlayStation 2 (2005)
  16. God of War – PlayStation 4, PC (2018)
  17. Street Fighter II – Multiple platforms (1991)
  18. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Multiple platforms (2007)
  19. Final Fantasy VII – PlayStation (1997)
  20. World of Warcraft – PC (2004)
Edit

Pub: 19 Aug 2025 14:54 UTC

Edit: 22 Aug 2025 07:24 UTC

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