A version of this story appeared in Esquire\u2019s entertainment newsletter, t<\/em>he Cliff-Hanger<\/em>. Sign up here<\/a> to receive weekly criticism of the movie or television show of the moment shipped directly to your in-box.<\/em><\/p>\n Ever notice how art seems to grow more powerful the more people try to take it away from us? Take for example: the movies, TV shows, songs, and podcasts we watched and listened to this year. Paul Thomas Anderson and Leonardo DiCaprio made a movie in One Battle After Another<\/em> about revolutionaries who fight back against an authoritarian government. The Pitt<\/em> used a tried-and-true TV format the medical drama, to talk about our worsening health care system. Hell, even late-night TV took on the current presidential administration directly. But it wasn\u2019t all doom fighting against the gloom. Powerful music by Spanish-language and K-pop singers expanded our tastes and dominated the charts. Video games and novels helped us escape to new worlds, and the end of a certain podcast represented an all-important turning of the page as we enter 2026. So, as you read on below, I hope you enjoy our number-one picks of the year throughout film, TV, music, books, and more as much as we did.\u2014<\/em>Josh Rosenberg, news & entertainment editor<\/em><\/p>\n I don\u2019t care what movie raked in the most money or inspired the most discourse. <\/strong>One Battle After Another<\/em> is the movie of the year. Paul Thomas Anderson is working at the top of his craft in this Vineland<\/em>-inspired tale about an ex-revolutionary who, to quote Magnolia<\/em>, \u201cmight be through with the past, but the past ain’t through with.\u201d It\u2019s some of Anderson\u2019s most linear storytelling, and far and away the most commercial effort of his career. And yet, One Battle<\/em> manages to slip seamlessly between genres\u2014high-octane action, stoner comedy, modern Western\u2014and it pulls no punches. It\u2019s a film that holds a mirror up to rising American fascism and finds hope in communities banding together and new generations continuing to fight the good fight. Ultimately, though, like most Anderson films, One Battle<\/em> is a story about family and love, and the mess and sweetness in each. It\u2019s got several of the best performances of the year, the best chase sequence in a very long time, and wears its heart on its sleeve. What more could you ask for?<\/p>\n See the Best Movies of 2025<\/a><\/p>\n I not only don\u2019t want to live in a world where we don\u2019t have The Pitt<\/em>, but I can’t even imagine a world without it.<\/strong> Out of what felt like nowhere, The Pitt<\/em> gave us 15 episodes depicting one 15-hour shift at a Pittsburgh hospital with no music and at least a dozen performances worth shouting out. It’s staggering how lived-in The Pitt<\/em>‘s crew of doctors, med students, and surgeons feel; everyone from Gerran Howell’s bushy-tailed Whittaker, to Supriya Ganesh’s doing-okay-until-she-isn’t Dr. Mohan feels ripped from real life. You simply believe them. (If you don’t, that’s precisely what the show is criticizing.) And the commitment of The Pitt\u2019<\/em>s creative team\u2014including ER<\/em> veteran Noah Wyle, in what is increasingly looking like his career-defining role\u2014to maintaining medical accuracy while tackling all of America\u2019s most urgent problems at once? It’s this medium at the absolute peak of its powers.<\/p>\n See the Best TV Shows of 2025<\/a><\/p>\n At least once (or, let’s be honest, several) times per year, HBO drops a documentary that pierces you right in the heart. <\/strong>And, yes … Pee-Wee as Himself <\/em>did absolutely that. A few years ago, Paul Reubens\u2014the comedian\/actor behind the legendary children’s program Pee-Wee’s Playhouse\u2014was finally ready to open about his long, impactful, and sometimes controversial career. For Pee-Wee as Himself<\/em>, filmmaker Matt Wolf spent over 40 hours with Reubens, who died in July 2023. The result is a master class in maintaining both empathy and journalistic integrity in documentary filmmaking. <\/p>\n See the Best Documentaries of 2025<\/a><\/p>\n The year\u2019s most audacious and ambitious album is almost too much to wrap your head around. <\/strong>Drawing on orchestral music and opera as well as Rosal\u00eda\u2019s flamenco training and pop experience, and somehow sung in 13 different languages, Lux<\/em> is impossible to classify. It will require months, maybe years, to fully absorb. It\u2019s also riveting, powerful, rich and thrilling in ways no one could have anticipated\u2014and it will be fascinating to see what she does with it all on stage. Is it even a pop album at all? Happily, that didn\u2019t seem to matter\u2014Lux<\/em> was Rosal\u00eda\u2019s highest debut on the US album charts and the most-streamed album in the world in its week of release, blowing minds with every play.<\/p>\n Why is this woman not a huge superstar?<\/strong> Or is she already? When RAYE released this splashy single, it came with news of a world tour (which sold out pretty much instantly) and a forthcoming second album (which had been delayed when her car, with notebooks and work tapes, was stolen), so maybe 2026 will be her year. She\u2019s coming in hot anyway, with the powerhouse \u201cWhere Is My Husband!,\u201d a song she debuted at the Glastonbury Festival, with a frenetic, horn-powered arrangement reminiscent of \u201cCrazy in Love\u201d and her delightful, signature vocal blend of old-school wailing and hip-hop cadence.<\/p>\n See the Best Songs of 2025<\/a><\/p>\n As a lover of short books, I don\u2019t read many 700-page novels.<\/strong> <\/strong>But there are a few writers I\u2019m willing to make an exception for\u2014and Adam Johnson, author of the Pulitzer-winning masterpiece The Orphan Master\u2019s Son<\/em>, is one of those writers. The Pathfinder<\/em> is a magisterial, awe-inspiring feat of historical and imaginative fiction that genuinely feels like traveling back in time, visiting another world, and inhabiting another mind. The book is set 1,000 years ago on the Polynesian islands, including the Kingdom of Tonga, and decades from now we may look back at The Wayfinder as one of the most remarkable and enduring works of fiction written during the 2020s.<\/p>\n See the Best Books of 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Like most celebrated legacy TV shows, Marc Maron might not have perfectly stuck the landing. <\/strong>That\u2019s life. Endings are rarely perfect. WTF<\/em> wasn\u2019t created on the idea of impeccability\u2014Maron knew he wasn\u2019t perfect. Listening to Maron in 2025, compared to older episodes, feels like experiencing two different shows. Or maybe even three. Maron\u2019s evolution was plainly visible through his monologues and interviews, which ran the gamut of guests in entertainment, politics, and beyond. Others have written plenty on the importance of his show, myself included. Just as Maron was a pioneer in the medium when he started, he was a pioneer in ending it the way he did.<\/p>\n See the Best Podcasts of 2025<\/a><\/p>\n I didn\u2019t want to believe the hype. <\/strong>Throughout the year, we saw so much breathless praise for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33<\/em>, the debut role-playing game by French studio Sandfall Interactive, that it\u2019s hard to feel original naming it Esquire\u2019s Game of the Year. But there just isn\u2019t any way around it. It\u2019s not that Clair Obscur<\/em> is a wholly different RPG experience from what fans of Persona<\/em> or Final Fantasy<\/em> expect, but it lifts the best elements from each and simply wears its influences on its sleeve. With a dark original world, a cast of complex and lovable characters, and some of the most creative turn-based combat we\u2019ve experienced in years, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33<\/em> is the full package.<\/p>\n![\"Entertainment](\"http:\/\/www.esquire.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/clock-regular.b2f2888.svg\")
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\nThe Best Movie of 2025: One Battle After Another<\/strong><\/em><\/em><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nThe Best TV Show of 2025: The Pitt<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nThe Best Documentary of 2025: Pee-Wee As Himself<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nThe Best Album of 2025: Rosal\u00eda – Lux<\/em><\/h2>\n
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The Best Song of 2025: RAYE – “<\/strong>Where Is My Husband!<\/strong>“<\/h2>\n
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The Best Book of 2025: The Wayfinder<\/em> by Adam Johnson<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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The Best Podcast of 2025: WTF with Marc Maron<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n
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The Best Video Game of 2025: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n
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