Observer critics’ review of 2021
Our writers on the best film, TV, radio, podcasts, theatre, dance, pop, classical, architecture and games of the year
Barbara Ellen’s best TV of 2021
Sarah Crompton’s best dance of 2021
Miranda Sawyer’s best audio of 2021
Emma Barnett and Anita Rani shook up Woman’s Hour, commercial radio wooed sixtysomethings, and Barack and the Boss got chatting on Spotify
Laura Cumming’s best art of 2021
The blockbuster battled on, British Caribbean art came home, and from Iran to Nero’s Rome, art transported us far and wide
Mark Kermode’s best films of 2021
Chloé Zhao’s best director Oscar, an unforgettable turn by Joanna Scanlan and Céline Sciamma’s flawless fairytale stood out, but the year belonged to Bond…
Kitty Empire’s best pop and rock of 2021
Live streams – and TikTok – came into their own, 1969 burst on to the screen, and everywhere, the sound of one producer’s Midas touch
Fiona Maddocks’s best classical music of 2021
Conductors came and went, while the return of live performances – from the Albert Hall to urban sheds and rustic glades – felt like a gift as never before
Susannah Clapp’s best theatre of 2021
Little Amal stirred hearts, Chaucer hit Willesden, Cush Jumbo was a perfect prince, and once again James Graham said it all
Simon Parkin’s best video games of 2021
Rowan Moore’s best architecture of 2021
