Journalism

The 100 Top News Stories of the 20th Century

(From the Newseum)

1. 1945: U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima, Nagasaki: Japan surrenders to end World War II
2. 1969: American astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on the moon
3. 1941: Japan bombs Pearl Harbor: U.S. enters World War II
4. 1903: Wilbur and Orville Wright fly the first powered airplane
5. 1920: Women win the vote
6. 1963: President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas
7. 1945: Horrors of Nazi Holocaust, concentration camps exposed
8. 1914: World War I begins in Europe
9. 1954: Brown v. Board of Education ends "separate but equal" school segregation
10. 1929: U.S. stock market crashes: depression sets in
11. (more...[external link])

The Top 100 Works of Journalism In the United States in the 20th Century

(From NYU Dept. of Journalism)

1. John Hersey. "Hiroshima." The New Yorker. 1946
2. Rachel Carson. "Silent Spring." Book. 1962
3. Woodward 'n' Bernstein. Watergate investigations for the Washington Post. 1972-73
4. Edward R. Murrow. "This is London . . ." radio reports for CBS on the German bombing of London. 1940
5. Ida Tarbell. "The History of the Standard Oil Company" investigation. In McClure's magazine. 1902-1904.
6. (more... [external link])

Sports

The Top 100 Sports Stories of the Century

(from the St. Petersburg Times)

1. Jackie Robinson: A foot in the door
2. Ali's toughest foe: the Army
3. Terrorists turn '72 Munich Olympics into bloodbath
4. Owens spoils Hitler's party
5. Louis pounds German, Nazis
6. (more...[external link])

The Top 100 Athletes of the Century

(from The Associated Press)

1. Babe Ruth
2. Michael Jordan
3. Jim Thorpe
4. Muhammad Ali
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. more...[external link]

Top N. American athletes of the century

(from ESPN)

1. Michael Jordan
2. Babe Ruth
3. Muhammad Ali
4. Jim Brown
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. more...[external link]

Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century

(From The Blood-Horse)

1. Man o' War (b.1917)
2. Secretariat (b.1970)
3. Citation (b.1945)
4. Kelso (b.1957)
5. Count Fleet (b.1940)
6. (more... [external])

Literature

The 100 Best English-Language Novels of the 20th Century

(From The Modern Library, Random House)

1. Ulysses - James Joyce (1922)
2. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
3. A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man - James Joyce (1916)
4. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (1955)
5. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (1932)
6. (more...[external link])

(From The Radcliffe Publishing Course)

1. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
2. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger (1951)
3. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck (1939)
4. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (1960)
5. The Color Purple - Alice Walker (1982)
6. (more... [external cache])

(From The Madison Public Library)

1. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (1960)
2. The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger (1951)
3. 1984 - George Orwell (1949)
4. The Color Purple - Alice Walker (1982)
5. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
6. (more... [external cache])

(From The Library Journal)

1. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (1960)
2. The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger (1951)
3. Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien (1954)
4. Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell (1936)
5. Beloved - Toni Morrison (1987)
6. (more... [external link])

(Brian Kunde's attempt to statistically consolidate all the rival lists)

1. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
2. 1984 - George Orwell (1949)
3. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (1961)
4. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck (1939)
5. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (1955)
6. (more... [external link])

The 100 Best English-Language Non-Fiction Books of the 20th Century

(From The Modern Library, Random House)

1. The Education Of Henry Adams -- Henry Adams
2. The Varieties Of Religious Experience -- William James
3. Up From Slavery -- Booker T. Washington
4. A Room Of One's Own -- Virginia Woolf
5. Silent Spring -- Rachel Carson
6. Selected Essays, 1917-1932 -- T. S. Eliot
7. The Double Helix -- James D. Watson
8. Speak, Memory -- Vladimir Nabokov
9. The American Language -- H. L. Mencken
10. The General Theory Of Employment, Interest, And Money -- John Maynard Keynes
11. (more...or here... [external links])

100 Plays of the Century

(the Royal National Theatre of Britain)

1. Waiting for Godot (Samuel Beckett)
2. Death of a Salesman (Arthur Miller)
3. A Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams)
4. Look Back in Anger (John Osborne)
5. Long Day's Journey into Night (Eugene O'Neill)
6. The Crucible (Arthur Miller)
7. Private Lives (Noël Coward)
8. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead (Tom Stoppard)
9. Angels in America (Tony Kushner)
10. The Caretaker (Harold Pinter)
11. (more... [external link])

The 100 Best [American] Writers of the 20th Century

(From Writers Digest)

1. John Steinbeck
2. Ernest Hemingway
3. William Faulkner
4. Eugene O'Neill
5. T.S. Eliot
6. (more... [external link])

Misc. Things

Top 100 American Speeches of the 20th Century

(From the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Texas A & M University)

1. "I Have a Dream" (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
2. Inaugural Address (John F. Kennedy)
3. First Inaugural Address (Franklin D. Roosevelt)
4. "A Date which Will Live in Infamy" (Franklin D. Roosevelt)
5. Keynote Speech to the Democratic National Convention (Barbara Jordan)
6. (more... [external link])

The Top 100 Science Fiction (thingies) of the 20th Century

(The Renegade)

1. The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
2. Forbidden Planet (1956)
3. The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov
4. Dune by Frank Herbert
5. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
6. Star Wars (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
7. Ringworld by Larry Niven
8. It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
9. Metropolis (1926)
10. King Kong (1933)
11. (more... [external link])

100 Words of the Century

Jahrhundertworter

It's an interesting concept: 100 new words which typify the changes of the 20th Century. In no particular order, and in German, but don't let that scare you because about half of these new words are either English words that found their way into German (Aids, Rock 'n' Roll), German words that found their way into English (Blitzkrieg, Autobahn), or 3rd-party words that found their way into both German and English (Apartheid, Sputnik)

Top 100 Business Events at a Glance

(From TheStreet.com)

1. Eisenhower creates the interstates: June 29, 1956
2. Intel invents the single-chip microprocessor: 1971
3. The Federal Reserve is formed: 1913
4. The Great Crash of 1929: Oct. 24-29, 1929
5. Equal pay for equal work: June 10, 1963
6. Ford introduces the assembly line: 1913
7. Kaiser's World War II shipyards surpass all expectations of production: 1942
8. The first Wal-Mart opens: 1962
9. The current bull market begins: August 1982
10. Carrier Engineering is founded, beginning the commercialization of air conditioning: 1915.
11. (more... [external link])

Top 100 Advertising Campaigns

(From Advertising Age)

1. Volkswagen, "Think Small", 1959
2. Coca-Cola, "The pause that refreshes", 1929
3. Marlboro, The Marlboro Man, 1955
4. Nike, "Just do it", Wieden & Kennedy, 1988
5. McDonald's, "You deserve a break today", 1971
6. DeBeers, "A diamond is forever", 1948
7. Absolut Vodka, The Absolut Bottle, 1981
8. Miller Lite beer, "Tastes great, less filling", 1974
9. Clairol, Does she...or doesn't she?", 1957
10. Avis, "We try harder", 1963
11. (more... [external link])

The 100 Most Important Art Works of the 20th Century

(The Historical Atlas of the 20th Century)

1. Pablo Picasso: Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907)
2. Pablo Picasso: Guernica (1937)
3. Umberto Boccioni: Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913)
4. Marcel Duchamp: Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (1912)
5. Constantin Brancusi: Bird in Space (1928)
6. Gustav Klimt: The Kiss (1907-08)
7. Salvador Dali: The Persistence of Memory (1931)
8. Richard Hamilton: Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing? (1956)
9. Constantin Brancusi: The Kiss (1912)
10. Rene Magritte: The Human Condition I (1933)
11. more ...

Films

The Top 100 American Films of the 20th Century

(From The American Film Institute)

1. Citizen Kane, 1941
2. Casablanca, 1942
3. The Godfather, 1972
4. Gone With the Wind, 1939
5. Lawrence of Arabia, 1962
6. The Wizard of Oz, 1939
7. The Graduate, 1967
8. On the Waterfront, 1954
9. Schindler's List, 1993
10. Singin' in the Rain, 1952
11. (more... [external link])

100 Best British Films

(From the British Film Institute)

1. The Third Man (1949)
2. Brief Encounter (1945)
3. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
4. The 39 Steps (1935)
5. Great Expectations (1946)
6. (more... [external link])

100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century

(Leonard Maltin)

* 100 listed in chronological order [external link]

The Century's Top 100 Films

(James Verniere)

* 100 listed in chronological order [external link]

Top 100 Films Of The Century

(From Ren's World Of Horror )

1. Star Wars - A New Hope (1977)
2. The Matrix (1999)
3. Titanic (1998)
4. Casablanca (1942)
5. ET The Extraterrestrial (1982)
6. (more... [external link])

100 Greatest Film Scores of the 20th Century

(Scorelogue)

1. Gone with the Wind (Max Steiner)
2. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (Bernard Herrmann)
3. King's Row (Erich Wolfgang Korngold)
4. Lawrence of Arabia (Maurice Jarre)
5. To Kill a Mockingbird (Elmer Bernstein)
6. (more... [external link])

Television

The 100 Most Memorable Moments in TV History

(From 29 June 1996 TV Guide)

1. Armstrong Walks on the Moon (20 July 1969)
2. Lucy in the Candy Factory (15 Sept. 1952)
3. John-John's Salute (25 Nov. 1963)
4. The Beatles First Appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show (9 Feb. 1964)
5. Newhart Final Episode (21 May 1990)
6. The Final Episode of The Fugitive (29 Aug. 1967)
7. The O.J. Simpson Verdict (3 Oct. 1995)
8. The Wedding of Charles & Diana (29 July 1981)
9. Bette Serenades Johnny (21 May 1992)
10. Elvis's 1998 Comeback Special (3 Dec. 1968)
11. There are 90 more, but I haven't yet found an Internet site with the entire list, and for copyright reasons, I wouldn't want to list the whole bunch here.

The 100 Most Important Moments in TV History

(From February 12, 1999 Entertainment Weekly Magazine)

1. John F. Kennedy's assassination.
2. Mary Tyler Moore throws her hat.
3. Dallas: Who shot J.R.?
4. Roots premieres.
5. I Love Lucy: The birth of Little Rickie
6. The birth of MTV
7. All In The Family: "Sammy's visit."
8. Man walks on the moon.
9. The Ed Sullivan Show: The Beatles' first appearance.
10. The Tonight Show: Johnny Carson takes over.
11. (more... [external link])

The 100 Greatest TV Episodes of All Time

(From 28 June 1997 TV Guide and Nick at Night)

1. The Mary Tyler Moore Show (25 Oct 1975: "Chuckles Bites the Dust")
2. I Love Lucy (5 May 1952: "Lucy Does a TV Commercial")
3. ER (9 March 1995: "Love's Labor Lost"))
4. Seinfeld (12 Feb 1992: "The Boyfriend")
5. The Odd Couple (1 Dec 1972: "Password")
6. The Honeymooners (28 Jan 1956: "The $99,000 Answer")
7. Cheers (27 Nov 1986: "Thanksgiving Orphans")
8. The Dick Van Dyke Show (15 Sept 1965: "Big Mouth")
9. The Bob Newhart Show (22 Nov 1975: "Over the River and Through the Woods")
10. The X-Files (13 Oct 1995: "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose")
11. (more... or here... [external links])

Top 100 Shows of All Time

(From the Classic TV Database)

1. I Love Lucy (CBS, 1951-61)
2. M*A*S*H (CBS, 1972-83)
3. Star Trek (NBC, 1966-69)
4. The Andy Griffith Show (CBS, 1960-68)
5. Cheers (NBC, 1983-93)
6. (more... [external link])

100 Greatest American Prime-Time TV Series

(From Doug Nye)

1. "Playhouse 90" (1956-61, CBS)
2. "All in the Family" (1971-83, CBS)
3. "The Ed Sullivan Show/Toast of the Town" (1948-71, CBS)
4. "The Twilight Zone" (1959-65, CBS)
5. "Your Show of Shows" (1950-54, NBC)
6. (more... [external link])

Music

The Top 100 Songs of the 20th Century

(From BBC Radio 2)

1. Yesterday - Lennon/McCartney (1965)
2. Stardust - music: Carmichael/ words: Parrish (1929)
3. Bridge Over Troubled Waters - Simon (1970)
4. White Christmas - Berlin (1942)
5. Unchained Melody - m: North/ w: Zaret (1955)
6. Imagine - Lennon (1971)
7. My Way - m: Francois/Revaux/Thibaut/w: Anka (1969)
8. Summertime - m: Gershwin/ w: Heyward (1935)
9. Over the Rainbow - m: Arlen/w: Harburg (1939)
10. As Time Goes By - Hupfield (1931)
11. (more... [external links]) or here (use [CTRL][F], then BBC to find it.)

Songs of the Century

(From RIAA/NEA)

1. "Over the Rainbow" Judy Garland
2. "White Christmas" Bing Crosby
3. "This Land Is Your Land" Woody Guthrie
4. "Respect" Aretha Franklin
5. "American Pie" Don Mclean
6. more... [external links])

The 100 Most Important American Musical Works of the 20th Century

(from NPR)

* 100 listed in no particular order [external link]

Top 100 Rock Songs of the 1900s

(From VH1)

1. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," The Rolling Stones.
2. "Respect," Aretha Franklin.
3. "Stairway to Heaven," Led Zeppelin.
4. "Like a Rolling Stone," Bob Dylan.
5. "Born to Run," Bruce Springsteen.
6. more... [external links])

The 100 Most Played Songs of the Century

(from BMI)

1. You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin', Barry Mann, Phil Spector, Cynthia Weil
2. Never My Love, Donald & Richard Addrisi
3. Yesterday, John Lennon & Paul McCartney
4. Stand By Me, Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller
5. Can't Take My Eyes Off of You, Bob Crewe & Bob Gaudio
6. (more... [external links])

100 Greatest Videos Ever Made

(From MTV)

1. Michael Jackson - Thriller
2. Madonna - Vogue
3. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
4. Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
5. Run DMC w/ Aerosmith - Walk This Way
6. (more... [external links])

Women

The 100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century

(From Ladies Home Journal)

* 100 listed in no particular order [external cache]

100 Great 20th Century Works of Fiction by Women

(From Feminista)

* 100 listed in no particular order [external link]

(This blasted refusal to rank things hierarchically must be a female thing.)

100 Sexiest [Female] Stars of the Century

(From Playboy)

1. Marilyn Monroe
2. Jayne Mansfield
3. Raquel Welch
4. Brigitte Bardot
5. Cindy Crawford
6. Sophia Loren
7. Elizabeth Taylor
8. Pamela Anderson
9. Bo Derek
10. Jean Harlow
11. (more... [external link])

Misc. People

The 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century

(The Time 100)

Albert Einstein was declared Person of the Century, but the other 99 are listed in no particular order.

100 Greatest Entertainers

(From 11-05-99 Entertainment Weekly)

1. The Beatles
2. Elvis Presley
3. Marilyn Monroe
4. Steven Spielberg
5. Madonna
6. (more... [external link])

Top 100 Catholics of the Twentieth Century

(From The Daily Catholic)

1. Pope John Paul II
2. Mother Teresa
3. Blessed Padre Pio
4. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
5. Blessed Sister Marie Faustina Kowalska
6. (more... [external links])

Top 100 Leaders of African Descent in the 20th Century

(From Sellassie)

* 100 listed in no particular order [external link]

The Most Important Indians of the 20th Century

(From India World)

1. Mahatma Gandhi
2. Sardar Vallabhai Patel
3. Mother Teresa
4. Subhash Chandra Bose
5. J.R.D. Tata
6. (more... [external cache])

The 100 Most Eminent Psychologists of the 20th Century

(from Steven J. Haggbloom, et al.)

1. Sigmund Freud
2. B.F. Skinner
3. Jean Piaget
4. Albert Bandura
5. Leon Festinger
6. (more... [external link])

Overrated and Irrelevant

The 100 Most Overrated Events Of The 20th Century

(The Historical Atlas of the 20th Century)

1. 1995: Monica Lewinsky nails President Clinton
2. 1995: OJ Simpson is tried for the murder of his ex-wife and an innocent bystander
3. 1997: Film: "Titanic"
4. 1917: The Virgin Mary appears to some teenagers at Fatima
5. 1994: Paula Jones accuses Clinton of sexual harassment
6. 1950: Book: "Dianetics" by L. Ron Hubbard
7. 1947: Something mysterious crashes near Roswell, New Mexico
8. 1974: Patty Hearst is kidnapped
9. 1980: TV: JR is shot
10. 1991: Anita Hill accuses Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment
11. more ...

The Most Overrated People Of The 20th Century

(From The National Review)

1. John F. Kennedy
2. Hillary Clinton
3. Robert McNamara
4. Mikhail Gorbachev
5. Toni Morrison
6. (more... [external cache])

NOTE: <self-important grunt>Hrrumph!</self-important grunt> Not only did these guys steal my idea, but they didn't even have the decency to at least pretend to be non-partisan about it. They just rag on one liberal after another. I mean, sure, I'll grant them Barbara Streisand, Jackson Pollack and a busload of Kennedies, but, c'mon, where's Reagan? (Clearly the most overrated president of the past 50 years -- probably because he's the only recent president who actually has defenders.) The NatRev lists Alec Baldwin but how about Charlton Heston? (surely more overrated in both the acting and activism categories) And where's Paul Johnson? (the most overrated historian at work today) or George Will? (baseball fan)

Maybe it's time for me to whip up an addendum to my list.

The 100 Most Irrelevant Figures of the 20th Century:

(in no particular order [external link])

The Worst of the Century

The Top 100 Trainwrecks of the Century:

[You know, metaphorically speaking]

(From Anxiety's Toxic Snowglobe)

1. Ol' Dirty Bastard (a.k.a. Russell Jones)
2. Klaus Kinski
3. Howard Hughes
4. Michael Jackson
5. Jocelyne Wildenstein
6. Leona Helmsley
7. Courtney Love
8. Tallulah Bankhead
9. Joey Heatherton
10. Jan-Michael Vincent
11. (more... [external link])

The 100 Worst Songs of All Time That Charted:

1. 'Honey' - Bobby Goldsboro
2. 'Groovy Kind of Love' (remake) - Phil Collins
3. 'I'm Gonna Catch That Horse If I Can' - Byrds
4. 'Didn't We Almost Have It All' - Whitney Houston
5. 'Hero' - Mariah Carey
6. 'Wind Beneath My Wings' - Bette Midler
7. 'That God Song' - Joan Osbourne
8. 'The Stupid Poem After Knights In White Satin' - Moody Blues
9. 'Radio Ga-Ga' - Queen
10. 'Shiny Happy People' - REM
11. (more... [external link])

The 101 Worst Songs Ever Recorded:

1. David Geddes: Run, Joey, Run
2. Billy Vera & the Beaters: At This Moment
3. Henry Gross: Shannon
4. Bob Carlisle: Butterfly Kisses
5. Barnes & Barnes: Fish Heads
6. (more... [external link])

The 100 Worst Ideas of the Century

(From Time)

1. Prohibition
2. That Teensy Programming Decision That Led to the Y2K Bug
3. Geraldo's Opening of Capone's Vault
4. Telemarketing
5. The Jerry Springer Show
6. Mr. Simpson, Step Forward and Try on the Glove
7. Spandex in Plus Sizes
8. The Designated-Hitter Rule
9. Driftnet Fishing
10. Watches That Beep
11. (more... [external link])

The 100 Worst Books of the 20th Century:

(in no particular order [external link])

The 100 Worst Films of the 20th Century:

1. Battlefield Earth
2. Wild Wild West
3. Batman & Robin
4. Howard The Duck
5. Spice World
6. (more... [external link])