The Best and Worst of 2018, in 85 Lists

Let the arguments begin

December 27, 2018 9:00 am

We realize it’s a bit early to sum up 2018 — after all, we’ve got half a week to go and it was just Monday when Kevin Spacey made the worst decision of, well, ever.

But barring other boneheaded ideas by disgraced national figures, we’re ready to call it a year.

Herein: 85 lists from around the web that sum up the year that was.

Most of it good! The pop culture highs, some breathtaking photography, roundups of fantastic beers, memes and SUVs.

And, of course, the lows … where you better believe Facebook made its mark.

POP CULTURE

The Best Music Books of 2018

The Best Movie Posters of 2018

30 Best Rap Albums of 2018

NPR’s 50 Best Albums of 2018

The 10 Best Music Videos of 2018

The Quietus Albums of the Year (congrats…Gazelle Twin?)

Spotify’s Top Songs, Artists, Playlists, and Podcasts of 2018

The Best Bits from 2018’s Best Songs

Jay-Z’s 2018 Playlist

The Best Rap Verses of 2018

InsideHook’s 80 Best Songs (and 18 Best Albums) of 2018

2018 in Netflix

The Best Books of 2018

The 75 Best Book Covers of 2018

The Best Podcasts of 2018

The 25 Best Films of 2018: A Video Countdown

Pitchfork’s Top 100 Songs of 2018

The 12 Best Record Sleeves of 2018

The 11 Best Documentaries of 2018

The Best Dressed Celebrities of 2018

The Ringer’s 2018 TV Superlatives

The Best Film Soundtracks of 2018

What Your Favorite Album of 2018 Says About You (“Greta Van Fleet ,  Anthem of the Peaceful Army: You clicked away when you saw the emojis, because you hate emojis, and also music made after 1980.”)

(Ed. note: Special Bonus: Year-End Lists: All the Critics’ “Best Of” Lists, in One Place)

TECH, CARS, GEAR

The 24 Coolest Gadgets of 2018

The 2018 New York Times Good Tech Awards

The Best Video Games of 2018

10 Top Automotive Stories of 2018

The 35 Top Motorcycles of 2018

The 100 Greatest Innovations of 2018

MotorTrend’s Best Trucks, Cars and SUVs

PHOTOGRAPHY

Serious Eats: Favorite Images of 2018

The Best Beltway Photos of 2018

67 of the Best Travel Photos of 2018

National Geographic’s Best Photos of 2018

Top 25 News Photos of 2018

Reuters: Pictures of the Year

Hopeful Images of 2018

The New York Times Year in Pictures

MISCELLANEA

The Best Viral Video of 2018

The Best Salad Posts of 2018

NYC’s Top 10 Apartment Sales of 2018 ($74 million for a duplex?)

Who Had the Most Average 2018?

Pocket’s Top Content in 2018

FiveThirtyEight’s “What I Got Wrong in 2018”

The Best News Bloopers of 2018

The Best Political Writing of 2018

The Best Memes of 2018

The Weirdest Places Curbed Found Scooters in 2018

101 Funniest Tweets of 2018

The 25 Best Cigars of 2018

The 19 Best and Worst Airline Moments of 2018

The 25 Best-Dressed Men of 2018

Statistics of the Year (#1: 90.5% of plastic waste has never been recycled)

Skift’s 2018 Innovators in Travel, Hospitality and Aviation

Best of the Best Beers of 2018

The Most Popular Items Ordered on Amazon Prime

The Best Beer Label Designs of 2018

52 Things I Learned in 2018 (#4 35% of Rwanda’s national blood supply outside the capital city is now delivered by drone)

Top 10 Private Houses of 2018

The Most Popular GIFs of 2018

The 25 Best Ads of 2018

4 Things That Got Better in 2018

The 10 Best Cocktail Books of 2018

The Ringer’s 45 Best Sports Moments in 2018

NSFW

What Did We Get Stuck in Our Rectums in 2018? (“Leg of telescope”… really, people?)

THE WORST

The Worst Luxury Cars of 2018

Top 10 Betting Bad Beats of 2018

The Worst Design of 2018

The Worst Gadgets of 2018

The 5 Worst Media Fails of 2018

33 Media Corrections from 2018

FactCheck.Org’s Whoppers of 2018

The Worst New TV Shows of 2018, According to Metacritic

The Top 18 Media Grinches of 2018

The Worst Things on the Internet in 2018

11 Worst Business Name Changes of 2018

The 25 Most Popular Passwords of 2018

Esquire’s 2018 Dubious Achievement Awards

The 21 (and Counting) Worst Facebook Scandals of 2018

The Best of 2018’s Worst Restaurant Reviews

The Best and Worst Airports of 2018

A LOOK AHEAD

The Economist’s The World in 2019

The 50 Best Places to Travel in 2019

Fire, Floods and Famine: The Pessimist’s Guide to 2019

10 New TV Shows to Obsess Over in 2019

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