Mobile menu toggle

Apple gives us its list of the year’s best apps, movies, music and podcasts

By •

bestof2016
Apple's got some recommendations for you!
Photo: Apple

Looking for recommendations for possible Christmas gifts or end of year purchases? Don’t worry, Apple’s got you covered — and, crazily enough, all of it’s stuff you can buy through Apple.

Kidding aside, Apple just dropped its 2016 picks for the years best apps, movies, music, TV shows, podcasts and books. It’s a comprehensive list, and you can check out all the details below.

Best apps

iPhone App of the Year: Prisma
iPhone Game of the Year: Clash Royale

iPad App of the Year: Sketchbook Motion
iPad Game of the Year: Severed

Apple TV App of the Year: Twitter
Apple TV Game of the Year: Riptide GP: Renegade

Apple Watch App of the Year: MySwimPro – Personal Swim Trainer
Apple Watch Game of the Year: Field Day

Mac App of the Year: Bear
Mac Game of the Year: Life is Strange

Best movies of the year

Best Blockbuster: Deadpool
Best Comedy: Sausage Party
Best Hollywood Romance: La La Land
Best Animated Movie: Kubo & the Two Strings
Best Documentary: Weiner
Best Feel-Good Movie: Sing Street
Breakout Star of the Year: American Honey
Best New Filmmaker: Moonlight

Best music of the year

Top Song: “One Dance” from Drake
Top Album: “Views” from Drake

Best TV shows of the year

This Year’s Obsession: American Crime Story: People v. O.J. Simpson
Late Night Rule-Breaker: Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Vol. 3
Best New Comedy: Atlanta, Season 1
Most Original Kids Show: Steven Universe
Extravaganza of the Year: RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars, Season 2
Most Consistently Great: The Americans, Season 4
Best New Drama: This Is Us, Season 1

Best books of the year

Novel of the Year: Moonglow by Michael Chabon
Nonfiction of the Year: Evicted by Matthew Desmond
YA Novel of the Year: If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
Debut of the Year: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Mystery: Charcoal Joe by Walter Mosley
Thriller: Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris
Popular Fiction: Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danker
Literary Fiction: What Is Not Your Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi
Fantasy: The Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
Kids: Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo
Cookbook: Everything I Want to Eat by Jessica Koslow
Graphic Novel: March: Book Three by John Lewis

Best podcasts

Revisionist History
How I Built This
In the Dark
Jocko Podcast
Anna Faris is Unqualified
NPR Politics
My Favorite Murder
2 Dope Queens Accused
FiveThirtyEight Elections Heavyweight
Pardon My Take

There are plenty of other picks as well, including runners-up and the top picks based on downloads, but these are the editorial picks made by Apple staffers.

Interestingly, there’s also some localization depending on where you live — so in the United Kingdom the pick for Best Song goes to “Tilted” by Christine and the Queens, while Best Album is “Konnichiwa” by Skepta.

I’d recommend checking out iTunes for more information, particularly if you’re looking for a recommendation to close out 2016.

  • Subscribe to the Newsletter

    Our daily roundup of Apple news, reviews and how-tos. Plus the best Apple tweets, fun polls and inspiring Steve Jobs bons mots. Our readers say: "Love what you do" -- Christi Cardenas. "Absolutely love the content!" -- Harshita Arora. "Genuinely one of the highlights of my inbox" -- Lee Barnett.

Popular This Week

One response to “Apple gives us its list of the year’s best apps, movies, music and podcasts”

  1. susie.bruce says:

    1 yr ago I finally quit my office job and that decision changed everything for me… I started working from comfort of my home, for a company I discovered online, several hrs a day, and I earn much more than i did on my old job… Check i got for last month was for Nine thousand bucks… Awesome thing about it is that now i have more time with my kids… URLIN.IT/143f7e

Leave a Reply