The Best Media
📌 Written by Dan 📅 Last updated: August 26th, 2025
📜 Table of Contents
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
Ratings from Goodreads (0/5) and Library Thing (0/5)
No. | Title | Author | Year | Goodreads ★ | LibraryThing ★ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ulysses | James Joyce | 1922 | 3.75 | 3.9 |
2 | The Great Gatsby | F. Scott Fitzgerald | 1925 | 3.93 | 4.1 |
3 | In Search of Lost Time | Marcel Proust | 1913–1927 | 4.33 | 4.2 |
4 | The Catcher in the Rye | J. D. Salinger | 1951 | 3.81 | 3.9 |
5 | One Hundred Years of Solitude | Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez | 1967 | 4.11 | 4.3 |
6 | Nineteen Eighty-Four | George Orwell | 1949 | 4.19 | 4.2 |
7 | Moby-Dick | Herman Melville | 1851 | 3.52 | 3.8 |
8 | The Sound and the Fury | William Faulkner | 1929 | 3.84 | 4.0 |
9 | Don Quixote | Miguel de Cervantes | 1605 & 1615 | 3.87 | 4.0 |
10 | Anna Karenina | Leo Tolstoy | 1878 | 4.05 | 4.2 |
11 | Crime and Punishment | Fyodor Dostoevsky | 1866 | 4.26 | 4.3 |
12 | Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen | 1813 | 4.28 | 4.4 |
13 | Lolita | Vladimir Nabokov | 1955 | 3.89 | 4.1 |
14 | War and Peace | Leo Tolstoy | 1869 | 4.12 | 4.3 |
15 | Wuthering Heights | Emily Brontë | 1847 | 3.85 | 4.0 |
16 | The Lord of the Rings | J. R. R. Tolkien | 1954–1955 | 4.52 | 4.6 |
17 | To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | 1960 | 4.28 | 4.4 |
18 | The Bible | Various | Various | 4.36 | 4.5 |
19 | The Brothers Karamazov | Fyodor Dostoevsky | 1880 | 4.33 | 4.4 |
20 | The Trial | Franz Kafka | 1925 | 3.98 | 4.1 |
21st Century List
No. | Title | Author | Year | Goodreads ★ | LibraryThing ★ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Corrections | Jonathan Franzen | 2001 | 3.73 | 3.8 |
2 | White Teeth | Zadie Smith | 2000 | 3.76 | 3.9 |
3 | 2666 | Roberto Bolaño | 2004 | 4.27 | 4.3 |
4 | Atonement | Ian McEwan | 2001 | 3.91 | 4.0 |
5 | Austerlitz | W. G. Sebald | 2001 | 4.07 | 4.2 |
6 | Never Let Me Go | Kazuo Ishiguro | 2005 | 3.83 | 4.0 |
7 | The Road | Cormac McCarthy | 2006 | 3.97 | 4.1 |
8 | Kavalier & Clay | Michael Chabon | 2000 | 4.11 | 4.2 |
9 | The Year of Magical Thinking | Joan Didion | 2005 | 4.06 | 4.2 |
10 | Oscar Wao | Junot DÃaz | 2007 | 3.91 | 4.0 |
11 | The Human Stain | Philip Roth | 2000 | 3.84 | 4.0 |
12 | Goon Squad | Jennifer Egan | 2010 | 3.78 | 3.9 |
13 | Middlesex | Jeffrey Eugenides | 2002 | 4.00 | 4.1 |
14 | Wolf Hall | Hilary Mantel | 2009 | 3.89 | 4.1 |
15 | My Brilliant Friend | Elena Ferrante | 2012 | 4.06 | 4.2 |
16 | Cloud Atlas | David Mitchell | 2004 | 3.94 | 4.1 |
17 | Americanah | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | 2013 | 4.26 | 4.3 |
18 | Gilead | Marilynne Robinson | 2004 | 4.12 | 4.3 |
19 | The Years | Annie Ernaux | 2008 | 4.05 | 4.2 |
20 | House of Leaves | Mark Z. Danielewski | 2000 | 4.10 | 4.2 |
🎬 Films from 16,874 unique lists
Ratings are from Rotten Tomatoes (0/100%) and IMDb (0/10)
No. | Title & Director | Year | Rotten Tomatoes (%) | IMDb (★/10) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Citizen Kane, Orson Welles | 1941 | 99% | 8.3 |
2 | Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock | 1958 | 94% | 8.3 |
3 | 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick | 1968 | 92% | 8.3 |
4 | Tokyo Story, Yasujiro Ozu | 1953 | 100% | 8.2 |
5 | The Rules of the Game, Jean Renoir | 1939 | 97% | 7.9 |
6 | The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola | 1972 | 97% | 9.2 |
7 | 8½, Federico Fellini | 1963 | 98% | 8.0 |
8 | Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, F.W. Murnau | 1927 | 98% | 8.1 |
9 | The Searchers, John Ford | 1956 | 94% | 7.9 |
10 | Seven Samurai, Akira Kurosawa | 1954 | 100% | 8.6 |
11 | Singin' in the Rain, Donen & Kelly | 1952 | 100% | 8.3 |
12 | Jeanne Dielman, Chantal Akerman | 1975 | 95% | 7.5 |
13 | Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola | 1979 | 90% | 8.4 |
14 | Bicycle Thieves, Vittorio De Sica | 1948 | 99% | 8.3 |
15 | Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese | 1976 | 89% | 8.2 |
16 | Persona, Ingmar Bergman | 1966 | 91% | 8.1 |
17 | In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar-wai | 2000 | 92% | 8.1 |
18 | Breathless, Jean-Luc Godard | 1960 | 96% | 7.7 |
19 | The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carl Dreyer | 1928 | 98% | 8.1 |
20 | L'Atalante, Jean Vigo | 1934 | 100% | 7.7 |
21st Century List
No. | Title & Director | Year | Rotten Tomatoes (%) | IMDb (★/10) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar-wai | 2000 | 92% | 8.1 |
2 | Mulholland Dr., David Lynch | 2001 | 83% | 7.9 |
3 | Yi Yi, Edward Yang | 2000 | 96% | 7.9 |
4 | Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki | 2001 | 96% | 8.6 |
5 | There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson | 2007 | 91% | 8.2 |
6 | Tropical Malady, Apichatpong Weerasethakul | 2004 | 89% | 7.4 |
7 | Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Céline Sciamma | 2019 | 97% | 8.1 |
8 | The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick | 2011 | 85% | 6.8 |
9 | The Gleaners & I, Agnès Varda | 2000 | 96% | 7.6 |
10 | Moonlight, Barry Jenkins | 2016 | 98% | 7.4 |
11 | Parasite, Bong Joon-ho | 2019 | 99% | 8.5 |
12 | Caché, Michael Haneke | 2005 | 89% | 7.3 |
13 | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Michel Gondry | 2004 | 92% | 8.3 |
14 | Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Apichatpong Weerasethakul | 2010 | 90% | 6.7 |
15 | La Ciénaga, Lucrecia Martel | 2001 | 87% | 7.0 |
16 | Goodbye, Dragon Inn, Tsai Ming-liang | 2003 | 81% | 7.1 |
17 | A Separation, Asghar Farhadi | 2011 | 99% | 8.3 |
18 | Melancholia, Lars von Trier | 2011 | 79% | 7.1 |
19 | Werckmeister Harmonies, Béla Tarr | 2000 | 98% | 8.0 |
20 | City of God, Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund | 2002 | 91% | 8.6 |
📺 Television from 2,826 lists
How it's ranked
Ratings are from Rotten Tomatoes (0/100%) and IMDb (0/10)
No. | Title | Years | Rotten Tomatoes (%) | IMDb (★/10) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Breaking Bad | 2008–2013 | 96% | 9.5 |
2 | The Simpsons | 1989–present | 85% | 8.7 |
3 | The Wire | 2002–2008 | 94% | 9.3 |
4 | The Sopranos | 1999–2007 | 92% | 9.2 |
5 | Game of Thrones | 2011–2019 | 89% | 9.2 |
6 | Mad Men | 2007–2015 | 94% | 8.7 |
7 | Twin Peaks | 1990–1991, 2017 | 82% | 8.8 |
8 | Seinfeld | 1989–1998 | 89% | 8.9 |
9 | Friends | 1994–2004 | 79% | 8.9 |
10 | The Twilight Zone | 1959–1964 | 100% | 9.0 |
11 | Doctor Who | 1963–present | 90% | 8.6 |
12 | BoJack Horseman | 2014–2020 | 93% | 8.8 |
13 | Better Call Saul | 2015–2022 | 98% | 9.0 |
14 | Lost | 2004–2010 | 86% | 8.3 |
15 | Arrested Development | 2003–2019 | 75% | 8.6 |
16 | South Park | 1997–present | 80% | 8.7 |
17 | Stranger Things | 2016–present | 92% | 8.6 |
18 | The Office (US) | 2005–2013 | 81% | 9.0 |
19 | The X-Files | 1993–2018 | 74% | 8.6 |
20 | Parks and Recreation | 2009–2015 | 93% | 8.6 |
🎤 Podcasts from 30 lists (WIP)
Aggregated by the author
No available ratings (trust me bro)
Rank | Podcast | Year of Release | Genre / Format |
---|---|---|---|
1. | This American Life | 1995 | Thematic Storytelling, Anthology |
2. | Serial | 2014 | Investigative Journalism, True Crime |
3. | Radiolab | 2002 | Science, Philosophy, Human Experience |
4. | S-Town | 2017 | Investigative Journalism, Character Study |
5. | 99% Invisible | 2010 | Design, Architecture, Urbanism |
6. | In the Dark | 2016 | Investigative Journalism |
7. | Slow Burn | 2017 | Political History |
8. | Reply All | 2014 | Internet Culture, Human Interest |
9. | Dan Carlin's Hardcore History | 2006 | History, Storytelling |
10. | WTF with Marc Maron | 2009 | In-depth interviews, Comedy |
11. | My Favorite Murder | 2016 | True Crime, Comedy |
12. | Heavyweight | 2016 | Human Interest, Narrative Nonfiction |
13. | The Daily | 2017 | Daily News |
14. | The Joe Rogan Experience | 2009 | Long-form interviews |
15. | Stuff You Should Know | 2008 | Explanatory, Educational |
16. | 1619 | 2019 | History, Race, Systemic Critique |
17. | Ear Hustle | 2017 | Society & Culture, Prison Life |
18. | You're Wrong About | 2018 | History, Cultural Re-evaluation |
19. | Planet Money | 2008 | Economics, Storytelling |
20. | Homecoming | 2016 | Fiction, Psychological Thriller |
🎧 Albums from hundreds of lists
How it's ranked
Ratings are from RateYourMusic (0–5) and Album of the Year (0–100)
No. | Album | Artist | Year | RYM Rating | AOTY Critic | AOTY User |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pet Sounds | The Beach Boys | 1966 | 4.19 ★ | 100 | 91 |
2 | Nevermind | Nirvana | 1991 | 4.04 ★ | 95 | 88 |
3 | The Velvet Underground & Nico | The Velvet Underground | 1967 | 4.20 ★ | 98 | 91 |
4 | Revolver | The Beatles | 1966 | 4.23 ★ | 97 | 90 |
5 | OK Computer | Radiohead | 1997 | 4.30 ★ | 97 | 91 |
6 | London Calling | The Clash | 1979 | 4.12 ★ | 96 | 89 |
7 | What's Going On | Marvin Gaye | 1971 | 4.18 ★ | 98 | 91 |
8 | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | The Beatles | 1967 | 4.15 ★ | 96 | 89 |
9 | Highway 61 Revisited | Bob Dylan | 1965 | 4.15 ★ | 96 | 89 |
10 | Blonde on Blonde | Bob Dylan | 1966 | 4.12 ★ | 95 | 88 |
11 | Exile on Main St. | The Rolling Stones | 1972 | 4.10 ★ | 96 | 89 |
12 | Ziggy Stardust | David Bowie | 1972 | 4.21 ★ | 100 | 91 |
13 | It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back | Public Enemy | 1988 | 4.17 ★ | 99 | 87 |
14 | The White Album | The Beatles | 1968 | 4.10 ★ | 96 | 88 |
15 | To Pimp a Butterfly | Kendrick Lamar | 2015 | 4.39 ★ | 95 | 95 |
16 | Thriller | Michael Jackson | 1982 | 4.06 ★ | 97 | 90 |
17 | Abbey Road | The Beatles | 1969 | 4.29 ★ | 100 | 92 |
18 | Kind of Blue | Miles Davis | 1959 | 4.24 ★ | 100 | 91 |
19 | The Dark Side of the Moon | Pink Floyd | 1973 | 4.26 ★ | 97 | 91 |
20 | Never Mind the Bollocks | Sex Pistols | 1977 | 3.91 ★ | 97 | 89 |
🎮 Video Games from hundreds of lists
Ranked by Video Game Canon
Ratings from Metacritic. If it's N/A, the game predates Metacritic or lacks a scored entry. See the Why It Matters section for clarification.
I would have used OpenCritic, but they don't have as many entries.*
# | Title | Year | Platform(s) | Metascore | User Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tetris (Game Boy) | 1988 | Multiple | N/A | N/A |
2 | Resident Evil 4 | 2005 | Multiple | 96 | 9.1 |
3 | The Last of Us (Remastered) | 2014 | PS4 | 95 | 9.2 |
4 | Half-Life 2 | 2004 | PC | 96 | 9.1 |
5 | Zelda: Breath of the Wild | 2017 | Switch | 97 | 8.9 |
6 | The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 2015 | PS4/XB1/PC | 92 | 9.1 |
7 | Hades | 2020 | Switch/PC/PS/Xbox | 93 | 8.6 |
8 | Zelda: Ocarina of Time | 1998 | N64 | 99 | 9.1 |
9 | Super Mario 64 | 1996 | N64 | 93 | 8.4 |
10 | Mass Effect 2 (Legendary Edition) | 2021 | PS4/XB1/PC | 96 | 8.9 |
11 | Zelda: A Link to the Past | 2002 | GBA (Four Swords) | 95 | 8.9 |
12 | BioShock | 2007 | Xbox 360 | 96 | 8.8 |
13 | Grand Theft Auto V | 2013 | PS3/X360/PC/PS4/XB1 | 91 | 8.5 |
14 | Super Metroid | 1994 | SNES | N/A | N/A |
15 | Shadow of the Colossus | 2018 | PS4 | 91 | 7.9 |
16 | God of War (2018) | 2018 | PS4 | 94 | 9.1 |
17 | Street Fighter II: The World Warrior | 1991 | Arcade | N/A | N/A |
18 | Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare | 2007 | Xbox 360/PS3 | 94 | 8.5 |
19 | Final Fantasy VII | 1997 | PlayStation | 92 | 9.1 |
20 | World of Warcraft | 2004 | PC | 93 | 8.0 |
Why It Matters
(if you don't understand why it's there. AI used for descriptions.)
📖 Books
Title | Why It Matters |
---|---|
Ulysses | Changed how novels were written by following characters' inner thoughts. |
The Great Gatsby | A classic story about the dark side of the American Dream. |
In Search of Lost Time | A huge, deep dive into memory and how time feels. |
The Catcher in the Rye | The definitive book about feeling like an outcast teenager. |
One Hundred Years of Solitude | Mixed fantasy with reality to tell an epic family story. |
Nineteen Eighty-Four | A famous warning about government control and surveillance. |
Moby-Dick | An epic story about obsession, nature, and humanity. |
The Sound and the Fury | Told a story from confusing, broken perspectives to show a family's decay. |
Don Quixote | The first modern novel; a funny and sad story about delusion. |
Anna Karenina | A masterpiece about love, society, and personal ruin. |
Crime and Punishment | A deep dive into the mind of a man consumed by guilt. |
Pride and Prejudice | A witty romance that was also a smart take on class and money. |
Lolita | A controversial but brilliantly written story told by a villain. |
War and Peace | A massive epic about war, love, and history in Russia. |
Wuthering Heights | A dark, passionate story of revenge that broke all the rules. |
The Lord of the Rings | The book that created the blueprint for modern fantasy. |
To Kill a Mockingbird | A powerful story about justice, racism, and growing up. |
The Bible | The foundation for many religions, laws, and stories in the world. |
The Brothers Karamazov | A classic novel that asks big questions about faith and morality. |
The Trial | A nightmare story about being trapped in a system that makes no sense. |
21st Century List
Title | Why It Matters |
---|---|
The Corrections | A big, funny, and sad novel about a modern American family falling apart. |
White Teeth | An energetic story about immigration and culture in London. |
2666 | A giant, mysterious novel about violence, art, and a dark secret. |
Atonement | A powerful story about a lie that ruins lives, set during World War II. |
Austerlitz | A haunting book about a man searching for his past after the Holocaust. |
Never Let Me Go | A sad sci-fi story about what it means to be human. |
The Road | A simple but powerful story of a father and son surviving the end of the world. |
Kavalier & Clay | An epic story about two friends who create a superhero during WWII. |
The Year of Magical Thinking | A raw and honest book about dealing with grief and loss. |
Oscar Wao | Mixed comic book fun with immigrant family history in a powerful new way. |
The Human Stain | A bold novel about secrets, identity, and scandal in America. |
A Visit From The Goon Squad | Tells a story about time and the music industry in a unique, chapter-hopping way. |
Middlesex | A sweeping family story that explores gender and identity. |
Wolf Hall | Made history feel immediate and personal by showing it through a politician's eyes. |
My Brilliant Friend | An intense and honest story about a lifelong friendship between two women. |
Cloud Atlas | Connects six different stories across time to explore how our lives are linked. |
Americanah | A smart and funny novel about race, love, and what it means to belong. |
Gilead | A quiet, beautiful book about a father's thoughts on life, faith, and family. |
The Years | A unique biography told from a collective "we," capturing the feeling of an era. |
House of Leaves | A horror novel that plays with how words are laid out on the page, messing with your head. |
🎬 Film
Title & Director | Why It Matters |
---|---|
Citizen Kane, Orson Welles | Changed how movies looked and felt with its unique camera angles and fractured story. |
Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock | A suspenseful masterpiece about obsession, with a dizzying, dream-like feel. |
2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick | Turned science fiction into art with stunning visuals and big ideas about humanity. |
Tokyo Story, Yasujiro Ozu | A simple, quiet, and heartbreaking film about family and growing old. |
The Rules of the Game, Jean Renoir | A clever and tragic look at high society right before a world war. |
The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola | The ultimate gangster film, blending family drama with epic crime. |
8½, Federico Fellini | A famous film about a director who doesn't know what film to make, blurring reality and dreams. |
Sunrise, F.W. Murnau | A silent film masterpiece that used visuals to tell a powerful, poetic story of love. |
The Searchers, John Ford | A classic Western that explored darker themes of racism and obsession. |
Seven Samurai, Akira Kurosawa | The original "getting the team together" movie; a huge influence on action films. |
Singin' in the Rain, Donen & Kelly | A joyful musical about Hollywood's change from silent films to "talkies." |
Jeanne Dielman, Chantal Akerman | A groundbreaking feminist film that shows the hidden reality of a woman's daily life. |
Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola | A wild, fever-dream movie about the madness of the Vietnam War. |
Bicycle Thieves, Vittorio De Sica | A simple, powerful story about a poor man's desperate search for his stolen bike. |
Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese | A dark and gritty look at a lonely man's breakdown in a corrupt city. |
Persona, Ingmar Bergman | A mind-bending film that explores what makes us who we are. |
In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar-wai | A beautiful, sad film about two people who fall in love but can't be together. |
Breathless, Jean-Luc Godard | A cool, stylish film that broke all the rules and started the French New Wave. |
The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carl Dreyer | A silent film that creates incredible emotion just by focusing on actors' faces. |
L'Atalante, Jean Vigo | A dreamy and realistic love story about a couple living on a river barge. |
21st Century List
Title & Director | Why It Matters |
---|---|
In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar-wai | A beautiful, sad film about two people who fall in love but can't be together. |
Mulholland Dr., David Lynch | A weird, dream-like mystery that twists Hollywood into a nightmare. |
Yi Yi, Edward Yang | A deeply human look at a family in Taiwan, showing life from different points of view. |
Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki | A beautiful animated fantasy that's a modern classic for all ages. |
There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson | An intense epic about a greedy oil man's rise and fall. |
Tropical Malady, Apichatpong Weerasethakul | A strange, hypnotic film from Thailand that's part love story, part jungle myth. |
Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Céline Sciamma | A beautiful, slow-burn romance about a forbidden love between two women. |
The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick | A poetic film that mixes one family's story with the creation of the universe. |
The Gleaners & I, Agnès Varda | A charming documentary about people who find value in what others throw away. |
Moonlight, Barry Jenkins | A powerful and tender story about a young Black man growing up and finding himself. |
Parasite, Bong Joon-ho | A thrilling and funny movie about class warfare that made history at the Oscars. |
Caché, Michael Haneke | A tense thriller about a family being watched, exposing hidden secrets and guilt. |
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Michel Gondry | A creative and heartbreaking romance about trying to erase memories of a lost love. |
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Apichatpong Weerasethakul | A strange, beautiful film about a man spending his last days with ghosts and spirits. |
La Ciénaga, Lucrecia Martel | A film that perfectly captures the feeling of being stuck, focusing on a rich family's lazy decline. |
Goodbye, Dragon Inn, Tsai Ming-liang | A slow, sad, and beautiful tribute to the magic of watching movies in an old theater. |
A Separation, Asghar Farhadi | A stressful and brilliant drama about a family in Iran facing impossible choices. |
Melancholia, Lars von Trier | A beautiful and sad film that uses the end of the world as a metaphor for depression. |
Werckmeister Harmonies, Béla Tarr | A slow, haunting, black-and-white film about social collapse. |
City of God, Meirelles & Lund | An energetic and violent look at life for kids growing up in the slums of Rio. |
🎧 Albums
No. | Album | Artist | Year | Why It Matters |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pet Sounds | The Beach Boys | 1966 | Made pop music into art with its beautiful and complex sound. |
2 | Nevermind | Nirvana | 1991 | Brought grunge rock to the mainstream and defined the '90s. |
3 | The Velvet Underground & Nico | The Velvet Underground | 1967 | A dark, weird, and hugely influential album that inspired punk and indie rock. |
4 | Revolver | The Beatles | 1966 | Pushed rock music forward with new studio tricks and psychedelic sounds. |
5 | OK Computer | Radiohead | 1997 | A classic album about feeling anxious in the modern world. |
6 | London Calling | The Clash | 1979 | A punk masterpiece that mixed in rock, reggae, and pop. |
7 | What's Going On | Marvin Gaye | 1971 | A beautiful soul album that was one of the first to tackle social issues. |
8 | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | The Beatles | 1967 | The famous concept album that turned the album itself into a work of art. |
9 | Highway 61 Revisited | Bob Dylan | 1965 | Changed music forever when Dylan mixed folk lyrics with a rock & roll band. |
10 | Blonde on Blonde | Bob Dylan | 1966 | A sprawling double album that captured Dylan's songwriting at its peak. |
11 | Exile on Main St. | The Rolling Stones | 1972 | The ultimate messy, gritty, and brilliant rock and roll record. |
12 | Ziggy Stardust | David Bowie | 1972 | A classic concept album about a rockstar alien that defined glam rock. |
13 | It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. | Public Enemy | 1988 | Revolutionized hip-hop with its loud, political, and groundbreaking sound. |
14 | The White Album | The Beatles | 1968 | A huge, sprawling album that showed off the band's incredible range. |
15 | To Pimp a Butterfly | Kendrick Lamar | 2015 | A modern masterpiece that blended hip-hop with jazz to explore Black identity. |
16 | Thriller | Michael Jackson | 1982 | A pop mega-hit with iconic music videos that broke racial barriers on MTV. |
17 | Abbey Road | The Beatles | 1969 | A perfect final statement from the world's biggest band. |
18 | Kind of Blue | Miles Davis | 1959 | The best-selling and most famous jazz album of all time. |
19 | The Dark Side of the Moon | Pink Floyd | 1973 | A legendary concept album about life and death that's a sonic masterpiece. |
20 | Never Mind the Bollocks | Sex Pistols | 1977 | The loud, angry, and essential album that kicked off the punk rock movement. |
📺 Television
Title | Why It Matters |
---|---|
Breaking Bad | The story of a good man's transformation into a villain, told with incredible suspense. |
The Simpsons | A cartoon that has brilliantly made fun of American life for decades. |
The Wire | Showed how drugs, police, and politics are all connected in a struggling city. |
The Sopranos | The show that proved TV could be art, with its story of a mob boss in therapy. |
Game of Thrones | A huge fantasy epic that became a worldwide phenomenon. |
Mad Men | A stylish and smart show about advertising, identity, and the 1960s. |
Twin Peaks | A weird, surreal, and influential mystery show that broke the rules of TV. |
Seinfeld | The classic "show about nothing" that changed sitcoms forever. |
Friends | The ultimate comfort show about a group of friends that defined a generation. |
The Twilight Zone | Told creepy, clever sci-fi stories that were really about our own world. |
Doctor Who | A classic British sci-fi show that is always reinventing itself. |
BoJack Horseman | A cartoon about a talking horse that's one of the best shows about depression. |
Better Call Saul | A prequel that became just as good as Breaking Bad, showing a man's slow moral decay. |
Lost | A huge hit that got everyone talking with its plane crash mystery and sci-fi puzzles. |
Arrested Development | A super-clever sitcom packed with running jokes and hidden gags. |
South Park | A cartoon that makes fun of current events faster and more brutally than anyone else. |
Stranger Things | A fun and scary show full of 80s nostalgia about kids fighting monsters. |
The Office (US) | A hilarious and heartwarming comedy about quirky coworkers. |
The X-Files | The classic show about two FBI agents investigating aliens and conspiracies. |
Parks and Recreation | A funny and optimistic comedy about local government and friendship. |
🎤 Podcasts
Title & Creator/Host | Why It Matters |
---|---|
This American Life, Ira Glass | The foundational pillar of audio storytelling; it established the template for narrative journalism. |
Serial, Sarah Koenig | The show that made podcasting a mainstream obsession with its gripping, episodic true-crime story. |
Radiolab, Jad Abumrad & Robert Krulwich | Redefined audio with its cinematic sound design, making complex ideas feel visceral and thrilling. |
S-Town, Brian Reed | Elevated the podcast to literary nonfiction, turning a mystery into a novelistic story of one man's life. |
99% Invisible, Roman Mars | Made the hidden world of design fascinating, proving any niche subject could have mass appeal. |
In the Dark, Madeleine Baran | Set the gold standard for investigative journalism as a tool for justice, freeing a wrongfully convicted man. |
Slow Burn, Leon Neyfakh / Slate | Transformed recent political history into a gripping thriller that revealed its relevance to the present day. |
Reply All, PJ Vogt & Alex Goldman | Used the weird corners of the internet to tell deeply compelling and surprisingly human stories. |
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, Dan Carlin | Proved audiences crave epic, multi-hour deep dives into history delivered with dramatic flair. |
WTF with Marc Maron, Marc Maron | Stripped away the artifice of celebrity interviews, pioneering a new standard of raw, honest conversation. |
My Favorite Murder, K. Kilgariff & G. Hardstark | Merged true crime with comedy to build a massive community and destigmatize morbid curiosity. |
Heavyweight, Jonathan Goldstein | Invented a unique genre of therapeutic documentary, helping people find closure by confronting their past. |
The Daily, Michael Barbaro / NYT | Made daily news an essential audio ritual by providing deep, narrative context to a single big story. |
The Joe Rogan Experience, Joe Rogan | Became the world's biggest podcast by championing unfiltered, long-form conversations on any topic. |
Stuff You Should Know, J. Clark & C. Bryant | A pioneer of the "explainer" podcast, proving the simple power of two curious friends talking. |
1619, Nikole Hannah-Jones / NYT | A Pulitzer Prize-winning show that reframed the national conversation on the legacy of slavery in America. |
Ear Hustle, Earlonne Woods & Nigel Poor | A groundbreaking look at life inside prison, told with unprecedented humanity by those living it. |
You're Wrong About, Sarah Marshall | Tapped into the cultural desire to re-examine the past, debunking myths about misunderstood events and people. |
Planet Money, NPR | Made complex economics accessible and wildly entertaining through creative, narrative storytelling. |
Homecoming, Eli Horowitz & Micah Bloomberg | Proved the cinematic potential of fiction podcasts with its star-studded, immersive psychological thriller. |
🎮 Video Games
Title | Why It Matters |
---|---|
Tetris | The perfect, timeless puzzle game that's simple to learn but impossible to master. |
Resident Evil 4 | Set the standard for modern action-horror games with its non-stop thrills. |
The Last of Us | A powerful, movie-like story about survival and love at the end of the world. |
Half-Life 2 | A landmark game that used physics and world design to tell its story. |
Zelda: Breath of the Wild | Changed open-world games by giving players total freedom to explore. |
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | An epic fantasy RPG with great writing and meaningful choices. |
Hades | A super-addictive game where dying is part of the story. |
Zelda: Ocarina of Time | The legendary 3D adventure that inspired countless other games. |
Super Mario 64 | The game that showed everyone how to make fun 3D platformers. |
Mass Effect 2 | An epic sci-fi adventure where your choices shape the galaxy. |
Zelda: A Link to the Past | The perfect 2D adventure game, with amazing puzzles and world design. |
BioShock | A smart shooter with a killer story and an unforgettable underwater city. |
Grand Theft Auto V | A massive and chaotic open-world game that satirizes modern America. |
Super Metroid | Created a whole genre of games about exploring a big, lonely, interconnected map. |
Shadow of the Colossus | An artistic game where you only fight giant, majestic creatures. |
God of War (2018) | A spectacular reboot that gave a famous character a new, more emotional story. |
Street Fighter II | The game that started the competitive fighting game boom. |
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare | Changed online multiplayer and made shooters feel like action movies. |
Final Fantasy VII | The game that made JRPGs a global phenomenon with its epic story. |
World of Warcraft | The MMO that became a cultural phenomenon, creating a massive online world. |