Hit list: Is it time to retire Top 10 lists and random rankings?
Is it time to retire those Best Of, Top 10, Greatest Hits and Worst Ever rankings? Think about it. Every magazine and blog has one. They started out fine, recording what’s cool, what’s been added to the canon, what’s no longer the mood. Now, they’re largely troll bait, an opportunity for online engagement as fights break out in the comments: “How dare you insult India by calling upma the worst dish; what about poha?” “Why is Zendaya’s Joan of Arc/Cinderella/Mugler bodysuit/blue sari not among her Best Red Carpet Looks?” “Why was the 2003 edition of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time dominated by old American rock dudes?”
Make no mistake: Lists are wonderful, useful things. They create order from chaos. A list of the most profitable movies is how we know that four James Cameron films (the Avatar trilogy and Titanic) and one Chinese film (Ne Zha 2) have made more money than any Marvel, Star Wars or Harry Potter hit. But when adjusted for inflation, it’s Gone With The Wind, a movie from 1939, that comes out on top. We know, from lists, that France is the most visited country, that Singapore has the strongest passport, that the Kuwaiti Dinar is the most expensive currency. Lists show is that while Paris has more centi-millionaires (295) than Mumbai (205), more billionaires live in Mumbai (25) than in the French capital (22).
It’s when the rankings are opinion-based that things get thorny. Last week, Billboard published a list of the 25 biggest Halloween songs of all time, based on their Hot 100 performance. How Michael Jackson’s Thriller, the OG scary song, got pushed down all the way to 22, we’ll never know. Taste Atlas claims to draw on user reviews, ratings and expert opinions to generate its lists. But come on; Greek at No 1 on World’s Best Cuisines? Butter Garlic Naan and Amritsari Kulcha taking the top spots of the Best Breads In The World 2025? No wonder everyone’s triggered.
Meanwhile, no Indian village has made it to the UN’s Best Tourism Villages this year. Lonely Planet’s list of 25 best experiences in the world for 2026 has only one Indian entry, for what they’ve nebulously called “Kerala’s Culinary Culture”. Beauty portals put out tiresome Best Red Lipstick rankings even when there’s no single shade of red that is universally flattering. Besides, in an easy-access world, where Siri can compile a playlist for Nigerian pop and Polish death metal, what use is a Greatest Songs list, anyway?
Turns out, they’re incredibly useful for those just dipping their toes into a new subject. Red lipstick rankings are good guides for those building their first make-up kit, not for someone who’s swatched everything in the mall already. For those who’s never paid attention to global cinema; a top 10 list is probably the first time they’ll ever hear about Ne Zha 2.
The worst lists are not the ones you disagree with; they’re ones that are not transparent. This is where no one knows who did the picking, which parameters were considered, whether money changed hands (or if hot naans were even sent out for review), and whether the rankings were rigged to appeal to a specific audience. The only lists that should matter are those that are in constant revision. The poha-upma debates die down when a new worst-food list appears and there are fresh entries to rail about. Fans hope that the sixth instalment of Grand Theft Auto, delayed for more than a decade, will break into a Best Video Games list when it releases (or IF is releases) in May 2026. Even Rolling Stone’s sexist, outdated album rankings have been updated over and over since 2003. If a list comes off as exclusionary today and wants to make amends tomorrow, that’s the best Best Of of them all.
From HT Brunch, November 1, 2025
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