Metacritic Users Pick the Best of 2010

Our first annual users poll: The results are in!

Over the past month, 2,591 of you submitted your picks for the best movies, videogames, TV shows, albums, and songs of 2010. We asked you to name your five favorites in each category, and we have assigned a value of 5 points to each first-place vote, 4 points for second place, and so on down to 1 point for each fifth-place vote. The leading point-getters in each category are listed below. We also asked you to name the worst release of the year in each category, and those "winners" are also mentioned below.

Movies

Our users' consensus pick for movie of the year -- Inception -- was named on more ballots (by nearly half of all survey respondents) than any other title in any category in our poll. Many users also named The Social Network on their ballots, though that film was only the second-leading point-earner with our users after finishing as the consensus first-place pick with critics.

In fact, there was an overlap of six films between the critics' and users' top 10 choices, with the latter group liking Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, True Grit, Kick-Ass, and Shutter Island more than the professionals did. Films that critics mentioned frequently on their year-end lists but that did not land in our users' top 20 below include imports Carlos, Dogtooth, and Animal Kingdom, dramas Another Year and Blue Valentine, and the documentary Inside Job.

Although there were far fewer votes cast for the worst movie of the year, M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender 20 was chosen more than twice as often as any other film to take home the title. Sex and the City 2 27 and Vampires Suck 18 (the year's lowest-scoring film) placed second and third, respectively, among other films selected as 2010's worst.

Best Movie of 2010 as Voted by Metacritic Users

	Movie	Points
1	Inception 74	4,984
2	The Social Network 95	3,932
3	Toy Story 3 92	2,668
4	Black Swan 79	1,379
5	Scott Pilgrim vs. The World 69	1,045
6	True Grit 80	634
7	Winter's Bone 90	632
8	Kick-Ass 66	614
9	127 Hours 82	489
10	Shutter Island 63	468
11	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I 65	452
12	The King's Speech 88	449
13	The Town 74	446
14	The Kids Are All Right 86	402
15	The Fighter 79	321
16	Exit Through the Gift Shop 85	312
17	A Prophet 90	296
18	How to Train Your Dragon 74	284
19	The Ghost Writer 77	235
20	Let Me In 79	208

Games

In user voting for the year's top videogame, Rockstar Games' open-ended Western adventure Red Dead Redemption narrowly defeated BioWare's space sequel Mass Effect 2, though the latter game will be announced as Metacritic's Xbox 360 Game of the Year when our Best Games of 2010 are revealed later this month.

Despite placing fourth in total points in voting for the best game of the year, Call of Duty: Black Ops also grabbed the most votes for 2010's worst videogame, defeating the second-place Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (a critically reviled release) by more than a 2-1 margin.

Best Videogame of 2010 as Voted by Metacritic Users

	Game*	Platform(s)	Points
1	Red Dead Redemption 95	360 | PS3	2,196
2	Mass Effect 2 94	360 | PC	2,069
3	Super Mario Galaxy 2 97	Wii	1,055
4	Call of Duty: Black Ops 82	360 | PS3 | Wii | PC | DS	887
5	Halo: Reach 91	360	684
6	God of War III 92	PS3	672
7	Heavy Rain 87	PS3	554
8	Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood 90	360 | PS3	524
9	Fallout: New Vegas 84	360 | PS3 | PC	388
10	Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty 93	PC	364
11	Battlefield: Bad Company 2 87	360 | PS3 | PC	359
12	Donkey Kong Country Returns 87	Wii	239
13	FIFA Soccer 11 78	360 | PS3 | Wii | PC | DS | PSP	220
14	Gran Turismo 5 84	PS3	213
15	LIMBO 90	360	212
16	Alan Wake 83	360	195
17	Civilization V 90	PC	193
18	Rock Band 3 89	360 | PS3 | Wii | DS	190
19	Super Meat Boy 90	360	167
20	Bioshock 2 88	360 | PS3 | PC	161

* If a game has been released on more than one platform, the Metascores displayed are averages of the individual scores

TV shows

Metacritic users were in agreement with professional television critics for the best show of 2010: AMC's Mad Men. In fact, users helped that network complete a trifecta, with newcomer The Walking Dead and returning drama Breaking Bad taking spots two and three in user polling. Modern Family, Community, and 30 Rock were the only sitcoms to crack the users' consensus top 10.

But the 20 highest-polling shows with our users contained many of the same names that appeared in the critics' top 20. Users showed more love for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Glee, How I Met Your Mother, South Park, and The Big Bang Theory than the professionals did, while critics championed dramas such as The Good Wife, Rubicon, Justified, and Treme, and miniseries The Pacific, in their place.

The worst television show of 2010? Earning the most mentions from our users was Glee, despite the fact that Fox's musical also scored enough points to finish 10th for the best show of the year. Jersey Shore, Outsourced, Bleep My Dad Says, and Bridalplasty were also in the running for the year's worst show, finishing second through fifth in voting, respectively.

Best Television Show of 2010 as Voted by Metacritic Users

	Show	Points
1	Mad Men (AMC)	1,559
2	The Walking Dead (AMC)	1,342
3	Breaking Bad (AMC)	1,294
4	Modern Family (ABC)	1,043
5	Community (NBC)	975
6	Lost (ABC)	905
7	Dexter (Showtime)	786
8	Boardwalk Empire (HBO)	727
9	30 Rock (NBC)	670
10	Glee (Fox)	391
11	The Office (NBC)	390
12	Fringe (Fox)	367
13	It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX)	322
14	Parks and Recreation (NBC)	291
15	The Big Bang Theory (CBS)	282
16	Friday Night Lights (DirecTV/NBC)	230
17	Terriers (FX)	222
18	How I Met Your Mother (CBS)	212
19	South Park (Comedy Central)	206
20	True Blood (HBO)	195

Music

While Kanye West ran away with the voting in music critics' year-end lists for his album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, the rapper was edged out in user polling by Arcade Fire's The Suburbs. However, users and critics agreed on the six best albums of 2010, even if they didn't precisely agree on the ordering of those albums.

Eminem's Recovery, Flying Lotus's Cosmogramma, The Tallest Man on Earth's Wild Hunt, and Mumford & Sons' Sigh No More are the only four albums to place in the top 20 with users that did not similarly crack the critics' top 20 list (though the latter album did appear for a time on the critic chart). And albums by Ariel Pink, Caribou, Rick Ross, and Drake, which appeared in the critic top 20, did not fare as well with users (though Caribou's Swim just missed, finishing 21st.)

Justin Bieber's My World 2.0 68 earned the title of worst album of the year by appearing on twice as many user ballots as any other album. Other albums falling behind Bieber in the worst category included The Beginning 47 by Black Eyed Peas and Teenage Dream 52 by Katy Perry.

Best Album of 2010 as Voted by Metacritic Users

	Album / Artist	Points
1	The Suburbs 87 by Arcade Fire	2,125
2	My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 93 by Kanye West	2,022
3	High Violet 85 by The National	1,112
4	This Is Happening 84 by LCD Soundsystem	816
5	The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III) 91 by Janelle Monae	633
6	Teen Dream 82 by Beach House	581
7	Halcyon Digest 86 by Deerhunter	460
8	Contra 81 by Vampire Weekend	445
9	The Age of Adz 81 by Sufjan Stevens	403
10	Plastic Beach 77 by Gorillaz	392
11	Brothers 82 by The Black Keys	381
12	Recovery 63 by Eminem	310
13	Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty 90 by Big Boi	302
14	Treats 84 by Sleigh Bells	299
15	Have One on Me 85 by Joanna Newsom	289
16	Body Talk 87 by Robyn	246
17	Cosmogramma 85 by Flying Lotus	165
18	The Monitor 82 by Titus Andronicus	160
19	Wild Hunt 79 by The Tallest Man on Earth	150
20	Sigh No More 68 by Mumford & Sons	140

Of the 15 tracks on the Arcade Fire album (not including the reprise of the title track at the end), a whopping 14 turned up on user ballots for the best song of the year, and four of those scored enough points to place among the 20 highest-scoring songs listed below. But the Canadian indie-rockers were not the only act to appear so frequently on our chart; Kanye West also landed four songs in the top 20, including the second-highest-scoring track overall and three of the top five. Also coming close was LCD Soundsystem, with three songs in the top 20.

However, the title of best song of the year goes to Cee-Lo Green's "Fuck You," possibly the catchiest song ever to feature an obscenity so prominently. The worst song of 2010? "Baby" by Justin Bieber feat. Ludacris topped user voting, with "California Gurls" by Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg and Black Eyed Peas' "The Time (Dirty Bit)" finishing second and third.

Best Song of 2010 as Voted by Metacritic Users

	Song / Artist	Points
1	"Fuck You" by Cee-Lo Green from the album The Lady Killer	638
2	"Runaway" by Kanye West feat. Pusha T from the album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy	555
3	"Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" by Arcade Fire from the album The Suburbs	389
4	"Power" by Kanye West from the album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy	352
5	"Monster" by Kanye West feat. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, and Bon Iver from the album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy	264
6	"Tightrope" by Janelle Monae from the album The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III)	249
7	"Dancing on My Own" by Robyn from the album Body Talk Pt. 1	223
8	"The Suburbs" by Arcade Fire from the album The Suburbs	214
9	"Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem feat. Rihanna from the album Recovery	190
10	"Bloodbuzz Ohio" by The National from the album High Violet	186
11	"Ready to Start" by Arcade Fire from the album The Suburbs	175
12	"Dance Yrself Clean" by LCD Soundsystem from the album This Is Happening	172
13	"Shutterbugg" by Big Boi feat. Cutty from the album Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty	158
14	"We Used to Wait" by Arcade Fire from the album The Suburbs	138
15	"I Can Change" by LCD Soundsystem from the album This Is Happening	138
16	"Tighten Up" by The Black Keys from the album Brothers	121
17	"Not Afraid" by Eminem from the album Recovery	118
18	"All I Want" by LCD Soundsystem from the album This Is Happening	105
19	"All of the Lights" by Kanye West from the album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy	103
20	"On Melancholy Hill" by Gorillaz from the album Plastic Beach	95

How did you do?

What do you think of the consensus picks of your fellow users? Let us know in the discussion section below.