The results of our third annual user poll are in ...
For the third straight year, we asked our users to rank their favorite movies, games, TV shows, albums, and songs of the past 12 months. We received over 2,000 responses (a record), and the results are listed below.
Note that participants listed their five favorite titles of 2012 in each category, and we 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. Once again, we also asked users to name the single most "overrated" release of the year in each category, and those "winners"—determined solely by the number of votes received, rather than points—are also listed below in each section.
Movies
Christopher Nolan's third and final Batman film The Dark Knight Rises may not be a best picture contender at this year's Oscars, but it was easily the best film of 2012 with Metacritic users, scoring over 1,300 points higher than the next leading title. Just about half of all participants in our poll this year had TDKR ranked somewhere among their top five movies of the year. (Of course, if you scroll down to our list of most overrated movies, you'll see that some users held a slightly different view of the film.)
Comparing our users' favorites, below, with the year-end rankings from professional film critics reveals several similarities. Five films—Argo, Django Unchained, Lincoln, The Master, and Moonrise Kingdom—appeared in the top ten of the cumulative standings for both groups. The two films that stand out among our users' picks below are The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Prometheus, neither of which appeared on any of the 130+ critic top 10 lists that we tracked.
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| Movie | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 78 The Dark Knight Rises | 3,196 |  |
| 2 | 84 Moonrise Kingdom | 1,839 | |
| 3 | 81 Skyfall | 1,751 | |
| 4 | 86 Argo | 1,720 | |
| 5 | 84 Looper | 1,634 | |
| 6 | 69 The Avengers | 1,575 | |
| 7 | 86 The Master | 1,335 | |
| 8 | 86 Lincoln | 1,224 | |
| 9 | 80 Django Unchained | 1,151 | |
| 10 | 58 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | 1,030 | |
| 11 | 95 Zero Dark Thirty | 887 | |
| 12 | 81 Silver Linings Playbook | 781 | |
| 13 | 86 Beasts of The Southern Wild | 777 | |
| 14 | 79 Life of Pi | 677 | |
| 15 | 72 The Cabin in the Woods | 529 | |
| 16 | 84 Holy Motors | 478 | |
| 17 | 92 Amour | 431 | |
| 18 | 67 The Perks of Being a Wallflower | 380 | |
| 65 Prometheus | 380 | |
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| 20 | 55 Cloud Atlas | 366 | |
| Movie | Mentions | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 69 The Avengers | 216 |  |
| 2 | 78 The Dark Knight Rises | 154 | |
| 3 | 58 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | 71 | |
| 4 | 52 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 | 65 | |
| 5 | 67 The Hunger Games | 59 | |
Games
Last week, we crowned Telltale's The Walking Dead as our official game of the year thanks to its 2012-best Metascore of 95 (for the Xbox version), and now Metacritic users have also selected it as their favorite title of the year, narrowly edging out the third game in the Mass Effect trilogy and late-2012 arrival Far Cry 3. As a whole, our users seemed to like many of the same games that critics did, with most of the year's 90+ titles appearing near the top of our users' cumulative rankings. And, much like in last year's poll, the latest Call of Duty installment led the pack of most overrated games.
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| Game | Platforms | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Walking Dead | 360 95 / PC 91 / PS3 | 1,262 | |
| 2 | Mass Effect 3 | 360 93 / PS3 93 / PC 89 / WiiU 86 | 1,141 | |
| 3 | Far Cry 3 | 360 90 / PS3 90 / PC 88 | 1,102 | |
| 4 | Dishonored | PC 91 / PS3 89 / 360 88 | 996 | |
| 5 | Borderlands 2 | PS3 91 / 360 89 / PC 89 | 868 | |
| 6 | Halo 4 | 360 87 | 779 | |
| 7 | Journey | PS3 92 | 763 | |
| 8 | Assassin's Creed III | PS3 86 / WiiU 85 / 360 84 / PC 79 | 670 | |
| 9 | Call of Duty: Black Ops II | 360 83 / PS3 83 / WiiU 82 / PC 74 | 356 | |
| 10 | Max Payne 3 | PS3 87 / PC 87 / 360 86 | 354 | |
| 11 | XCOM: Enemy Unknown | 360 90 / PS3 89 / PC 89 | 296 | |
| 12 | FIFA Soccer 13 | 360 90 / PS3 88 / PC 86 / WiiU 70 | 238 | |
| 13 | Hitman: Absolution | PS3 83 / PC 80 / 360 79 | 185 | |
| 14 | Guild Wars 2 | PC 90 | 184 | |
| 15 | Sleeping Dogs | PS3 83 / 360 80 / PC 80 | 140 | |
| 16 | Xenoblade Chronicles | Wii 92 | 133 | |
| 17 | Hotline Miami | PC 85 | 127 | |
| 18 | NBA 2K13 | PS3 90 / 360 88 / WiiU 85 / PC | 119 | |
| 19 | Spec Ops: The Line | PS3 77 / 360 76 / PC 76 | 109 | |
| 20 | Persona 4 Golden | PS Vita 94 | 107 | |
| Game | Mentions | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops II | 236 | |
| 2 | Halo 4 | 86 | |
| 3 | Mass Effect 3 | 65 | |
| 4 | The Walking Dead | 49 | |
| 5 | Assassin's Creed III | 42 | |
TV shows
While last year's voting in the TV category could not have been closer—Breaking Bad lost out to Community by a mere two points—this year's first-place winner blew away the competition. Not only did Breaking Bad receive over twice as many points as its nearest competitor (Showtime's Homeland), the AMC drama was named on over 63% of all ballots cast. Overall, among the top 10 shows listed in the cumulative standings below, only two (Mad Men and Sherlock, neither of which aired in 2011) did not appear on last year's list. This year's highest-ranked first-year series was HBO's Girls, which placed 13th overall.
Metacritic users and TV critics enjoy many of the same shows. The standings below are remarkably similar to the critics' picks for the best shows of 2012, though Metacritic users seem to like Dexter (and CBS comedies The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother) much more than the professionals do, while the critics placed Girls much higher in their rankings.
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| Show | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Breaking Bad (AMC) | 4,388 | |
| 2 | Homeland (Showtime) | 2,031 | |
| 3 | Game of Thrones (HBO) | 1,971 | |
| 4 | The Walking Dead (AMC) | 1,855 | |
| 5 | Community (NBC) | 1,599 | |
| 6 | Mad Men (AMC) | 1,431 | |
| 7 | Parks and Recreation (NBC) | 1,041 | |
| 8 | Louie (FX) | 883 | |
| 9 | Dexter (Showtime) | 719 | |
| 10 | Sherlock (PBS) | 580 | |
| 11 | Boardwalk Empire (HBO) | 505 | |
| 12 | Modern Family (ABC) | 468 | |
| 13 | Girls (HBO) | 439 | |
| 14 | Justified (FX) | 362 | |
| 15 | The Big Bang Theory (CBS) | 341 | |
| 16 | 30 Rock (NBC) | 302 | |
| 17 | American Horror Story (FX) | 281 | |
| 18 | How I Met Your Mother (CBS) | 271 | |
| 19 | New Girl (Fox) | 253 | |
| 20 | Downton Abbey (PBS) | 230 | |
| Show | Mentions | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Homeland (Showtime) | 173 | |
| 2 | The Walking Dead (AMC) | 99 | |
| 3 | The Big Bang Theory (CBS) | 85 | |
| 4 | Girls (HBO) | 56 | |
| 5 | Modern Family (ABC) | 54 | |
Music
After dominating music critic year-end polls and receiving the highest Metascore for any album released in 2012, Frank Ocean's Channel Orange easily won over Metacritic users as well to complete the trifecta. Our users' top four overall picks were actually identical to the critics' selections this year, and it is not until the users' #10 pick—Babel by Mumford & Sons—that we find an album that doesn't place among the critics' top 30 selections.
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| Album/Artist | Listen | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 92 Channel Orange by Frank Ocean |
Spotify | 1,590 | |
| 2 | 91 good kid, m.A.A.d. city by Kendrick Lamar |
Spotify | 989 | |
| 3 | 89 The Idler Wheel... by Fiona Apple |
Spotify | 687 | |
| 4 | 88 Lonerism by Tame Impala |
Spotify | 624 | |
| 5 | 86 Shields by Grizzly Bear |
Spotify | 469 | |
| 6 | 78 Bloom by Beach House |
Spotify | 401 | |
| 7 | 83 Blunderbuss by Jack White |
Spotify | 396 | |
| 8 | 83 Celebration Rock by Japandroids |
Spotify | 359 | |
| 9 | 80 Visions by Grimes |
Spotify | 310 | |
| 10 | 63 Babel by Mumford & Sons |
Spotify | 246 | |
| 11 | 64 Battle Born by The Killers |
Spotify | 232 | |
| 12 | 61 Born to Die by Lana Del Rey |
Spotify | 221 | |
| 13 | 83 Attack on Memory by Cloud Nothings |
Spotify | 191 | |
| 14 | 70 An Awesome Wave by Alt-J |
Spotify | 182 | |
| 15 | 77 Red by Taylor Swift |
169 | |
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| 16 | 81 The Money Store by Death Grips |
Spotify | 165 | |
| 17 | 80 Swing Lo Magellan by Dirty Projectors |
Spotify | 153 | |
| 18 | 85 Devotion by Jessie Ware |
152 | |
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| 19 | 87 The Seer by Swans |
Spotify | 141 | |
| 20 | 80 Kill for Love by Chromatics |
Spotify | 139 | |
| Album/Artist | Mentions | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 92 Channel Orange by Frank Ocean | 155 | |
| 2 | 77 Red by Taylor Swift | 70 | |
| 3 | 91 good kid, m.A.A.d. city by Kendrick Lamar | 49 | |
| 4 | 63 Babel by Mumford & Sons | 36 | |
| 5 | 68 Believe by Justin Bieber | 35 | |
Frank Ocean didn't just dominate the album voting; he also accounted for three of our users' top five songs of the year. Also placing in the top 10 is PSY's international hit "Gangnam Style." We think there might be a video for that one on YouTube.
| Song/Artist | Listen | Watch | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pyramids" by Frank Ocean from the album Channel Ocean |
Spotify | YouTube | 572 | |
| 2 | "Thinkin Bout You" by Frank Ocean from the album Channel Ocean |
Spotify | YouTube | 249 | |
| 3 | "The House that Heaven Built" by Japandroids from the album Celebration Rock |
Spotify | YouTube | 201 | |
| 4 | "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye feat. Kimbra from the album Making Mirrors |
Spotify | YouTube | 186 | |
| 5 | "Bad Religion" by Frank Ocean from the album Channel Ocean |
Spotify | 178 | |
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| 6 | "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen from the album Kiss |
Spotify | YouTube | 169 | |
| 7 | "Gangnam Style" by PSY from the album PSY 6 (Six Rules), Part 1 |
Spotify | YouTube | 168 | |
| 8 | "Skyfall" by Adele from the single "Skyfall" |
YouTube | 161 | |
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| 9 | "Yet Again" by Grizzly Bear from the album Shields |
Spotify | YouTube | 151 | |
| 10 | "Some Nights" by Fun. from the album Some Nights |
Spotify | YouTube | 147 | |
How did you do?
What do you think of the consensus picks of your fellow users? Let us know in the comments section below, and don't forget to visit our Best of 2012 section for all of our year-end coverage.
