The Top 25 Best Picture Winners So Far (Updated for 2024)

Oh boy. All good things must unfortunately come to an end, and we’ve reached the end of this series. A new one will start soon (probably), but first, a final reminder. Yes, this is a tradition I’ve been keen on for years, ranking the new crop of Academy Award winners. For nearly all of the Oscar categories, you’ll see me list the top 25 recipients of that prize. Sometimes, our newest winner will appear. Other times, they’ll be relegated to the Honorable Mention category. Who knows, maybe one or two won’t even make the cut? It’s a list series that I’ll do each and every single year, in the weeks after the ceremony concludes. So, while this is a fun way to think about the Oscars in the aftermath of the latest telecast, it’s also a beginning for another column here on the site. Of course, definitely show us your own lists as well, in the comments section below. We’re definitely keen to know what you think!

It’s all come down to this…Best Picture. The big one. Any Oscar ceremony, barring the last one, wraps up with this massive category. Historically, my favorite films of any given year are not what win Best Picture at the Oscars, but occasionally, it does happen. Argo and Spotlight are two such examples. In terms of the best winners of this Academy Award, I think the upper echelon includes Annie Hall, The Apartment, Parasite, Schindler’s List, and The Silence of the Lambs. Not far behind are the likes of American Beauty, Casablanca, The Departed, The Hurt Locker, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Rocky, and obviously plenty more (including the aforementioned Argo and Spotlight). Where did I place Nomadland three years ago as compared to today? What about our prior Picture winner, CODA, two years ago? Does Everything Everywhere All At Once remain in a good spot after last year? Plus, there’s Oppenheimer. Where does it debut? Find out below, of course. Read on for the results, but also be sure to chime in as well…

Here now are what I consider to be the 25 best winners of the Oscar for Best Picture, to date:

25. The French Connection
24. Platoon
23. The Godfather
22. The Godfather Part II
21. Midnight Cowboy
20. Everything Everywhere All At Once
19. On the Waterfront
18. No Country for Old Men
17. Moonlight
16. CODA
15. Oppenheimer
14. The Departed
13. Spotlight
12. Million Dollar Baby
11. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
10. Argo
9. Casablanca
8. Rocky
7. The Hurt Locker
6. American Beauty
5. The Apartment
4. Schindler’s List
3. Parasite
2. The Silence of the Lambs
1. Annie Hall

Honorable Mentions: 12 Years a Slave, All About Eve, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Deer Hunter, Forrest Gump, Kramer vs Kramer, Marty, Nomadland, Ordinary People, and Rain Man

Stay tuned for all of our Oscar season coverage here at Awards Radar!