Reading for the New Year
The DailyYou’re reading The New Yorker’s daily newsletter, a guide to our top stories, featuring exclusive insights from our writers and editors. Sign up to receive it in your in-box.Illustration by Daniel JurmanThe Best Films of 2024The year’s strongest films offered thrilling affirmation of cinema as a global medium.Our film critic Justin Chang explains the thinking behind his list of the year’s best. “With one exception, I have arranged the titles in pairs,” he writes, “firm in my belief that the movies speak to each other as deeply as they spoke to me.” Read the list »Plus: Richard Brody’s list shares just a few of the same films—and suggests that the art of cinema is expanding.More Critics’ PicksSuggestions for watching, listening, and reading.Illustration by Daniel Jurman“I lost interest in podcasts. I lost interest in silence. There was too much extraordinary work out there,” Amanda Petrusich writes, in her roundup of the year’s best albums.If you haven’t lost interest in podcasts, Sarah Larson’s list of top listens is for you—subjects range from an investigation of Elon Musk to our relationship with death.A Taylor Swift comeback, an unexpected Internet-rap collab, and an absurdist sample of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Carrie Battan on the year’s best songs.A middle-aged, murderous Tom Ripley; a boozy, stagestruck Mary Todd Lincoln; an unlikely pair of singers at the Grammys—these were the acts that broke through the noise of this fractious, tumultuous year. Michael Schulman catalogued the best performances of the year.“2024 was an exceptionally weak year for television,” Inkoo Kang writes. “Until the arrival of a few late, great contenders, I wondered whether I’d have enough entries for a conventional Top Ten list.” Yet she managed to pull it off.Can the art of opera ever escape the suffocating grip of its magnificent past? Judging from the contemporary works that reached the stage this year, Alex Ross finds many reasons for hope.This year, Broadway returned to boom times, but Off Broadway’s nonprofit companies continued to struggle. Helen Shaw explores the reasons for the divergence.A year of great reading: a dozen essential reads in nonfiction and a dozen, too, in fiction and poetry.The Year in NewsHow we made sense of the moment.Illustration by Timo LenzenFraudulent identities, Kanye West, R.F.K., Jr., the death of a health-care C.E.O., and more of our most-read stories this year.As the year closes, Iran is weaker—on multiple fronts—than it’s been in nearly half a century. Robin Wright on the remarkable collapse of the country’s influence.“Rewriting history, relitigating old fights, plain old revanchism—these worked for Trump in 2024, and it’s a safe bet that, along with revenge and retribution, they will be the themes of the new Trump Administration.” Susan B. Glasser on the strange new normal.Welcome to medicine’s Gilded Age. Dhruv Khullar takes stock of a year in which the dangers of corporate medicine became undeniable and inescapable.“The uncertainty about what’s coming next extends to some of the most basic systems on the planet.” Bill McKibben on what we know—and don’t know—about our changing climate.The Year in CultureVibes in a time of brain rot.Illustration by Ariel DavisThe Hawk Tuah Girl revealed the ever-shrinking path from total obscurity to mainstream broadcast personality. Kyle Chayka on how creators took over.“It wafted up from Little League dugouts and from gaga pits; it drew chemtrails across trampoline parks.” Jessica Winter on brain rot such as “Skibidi Toilet.”“A good joke doesn’t just fall out of a coconut tree.” Ian Crouch’s compendium of the year’s best jokes puts a suggestive tennis match and a manic “Hot Ones” interview into context.“This year, it was hard to feel good about humans. Moo Deng, Crumbs, and Pilaf kept us sane.” Naomi Fry on the animals that made it all worth it.Kendrick Lamar’s year on top—at least someone had a nice 2024. Hanif Abdurraqib reports.Daily Cartoon“I’m not actually an astronaut—I just came up here to get away from the news.”Cartoon by Lars KensethCopy link to cartoonCopy link to cartoonLink copiedShopShopMore Fun & GamesPlay today’s puzzle. The theme: On the fence.P.S. When you wake up tomorrow, let’s hope you don’t feel like the character in Dorothy Parker’s “You Were Perfectly Fine,” who can’t quite remember what trouble he got into the night before. “Everyone thought you were terribly funny,” his friend reassures him. “You were wonderful. We were all trying to make you stop singing for a minute, and eat something, but you wouldn’t hear of it. My, you were funny.”
The Best Films of 2024
The year’s strongest films offered thrilling affirmation of cinema as a global medium.
Our film critic Justin Chang explains the thinking behind his list of the year’s best. “With one exception, I have arranged the titles in pairs,” he writes, “firm in my belief that the movies speak to each other as deeply as they spoke to me.” Read the list »
Plus: Richard Brody’s list shares just a few of the same films—and suggests that the art of cinema is expanding.
More Critics’ Picks
Suggestions for watching, listening, and reading.
“I lost interest in podcasts. I lost interest in silence. There was too much extraordinary work out there,” Amanda Petrusich writes, in her roundup of the year’s best albums.
If you haven’t lost interest in podcasts, Sarah Larson’s list of top listens is for you—subjects range from an investigation of Elon Musk to our relationship with death.
A Taylor Swift comeback, an unexpected Internet-rap collab, and an absurdist sample of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Carrie Battan on the year’s best songs.
A middle-aged, murderous Tom Ripley; a boozy, stagestruck Mary Todd Lincoln; an unlikely pair of singers at the Grammys—these were the acts that broke through the noise of this fractious, tumultuous year. Michael Schulman catalogued the best performances of the year.
“2024 was an exceptionally weak year for television,” Inkoo Kang writes. “Until the arrival of a few late, great contenders, I wondered whether I’d have enough entries for a conventional Top Ten list.” Yet she managed to pull it off.
Can the art of opera ever escape the suffocating grip of its magnificent past? Judging from the contemporary works that reached the stage this year, Alex Ross finds many reasons for hope.
This year, Broadway returned to boom times, but Off Broadway’s nonprofit companies continued to struggle. Helen Shaw explores the reasons for the divergence.
A year of great reading: a dozen essential reads in nonfiction and a dozen, too, in fiction and poetry.
The Year in News
How we made sense of the moment.
Fraudulent identities, Kanye West, R.F.K., Jr., the death of a health-care C.E.O., and more of our most-read stories this year.
As the year closes, Iran is weaker—on multiple fronts—than it’s been in nearly half a century. Robin Wright on the remarkable collapse of the country’s influence.
“Rewriting history, relitigating old fights, plain old revanchism—these worked for Trump in 2024, and it’s a safe bet that, along with revenge and retribution, they will be the themes of the new Trump Administration.” Susan B. Glasser on the strange new normal.
Welcome to medicine’s Gilded Age. Dhruv Khullar takes stock of a year in which the dangers of corporate medicine became undeniable and inescapable.
“The uncertainty about what’s coming next extends to some of the most basic systems on the planet.” Bill McKibben on what we know—and don’t know—about our changing climate.
The Year in Culture
Vibes in a time of brain rot.
The Hawk Tuah Girl revealed the ever-shrinking path from total obscurity to mainstream broadcast personality. Kyle Chayka on how creators took over.
“It wafted up from Little League dugouts and from gaga pits; it drew chemtrails across trampoline parks.” Jessica Winter on brain rot such as “Skibidi Toilet.”
“A good joke doesn’t just fall out of a coconut tree.” Ian Crouch’s compendium of the year’s best jokes puts a suggestive tennis match and a manic “Hot Ones” interview into context.
“This year, it was hard to feel good about humans. Moo Deng, Crumbs, and Pilaf kept us sane.” Naomi Fry on the animals that made it all worth it.
Kendrick Lamar’s year on top—at least someone had a nice 2024. Hanif Abdurraqib reports.
Daily Cartoon
P.S. When you wake up tomorrow, let’s hope you don’t feel like the character in Dorothy Parker’s “You Were Perfectly Fine,” who can’t quite remember what trouble he got into the night before. “Everyone thought you were terribly funny,” his friend reassures him. “You were wonderful. We were all trying to make you stop singing for a minute, and eat something, but you wouldn’t hear of it. My, you were funny.”
