How scoring works
How this list was built
We collected the Top 10 of the year lists published by critics, outlets and publications, the lists for TV and the for Books, and the same method runs in every category. Every list is published and linked on the category page, so you can check any of them. Each list scores points for its picks: 10 points for a #1 pick, 9 for a #2, down to 1 point for a #10. A list with no ranking scores 5 points for each pick, and picks ranked 11 to 20 score 1 point. We added the points up across all the lists, and the ten titles with the most points are the Consensus Top 10. Ties break by #1 votes, then by how many lists a title appeared on.
Collection closes on January 8, 2027. A list published after that date is not in this year's consensus.
How your list is scored
You score for every pick that makes the Consensus Top 10, the higher it ranks, the more it is worth, plus a bonus when your rank is at or near theirs.
Your prediction list is the one that is scored. Your true Top 10 is never scored. Each pick that makes the consensus earns 11 minus its consensus rank: a consensus #1 is worth 10, a #10 is worth 1. On top of that, ranking a pick at exactly the consensus spot earns +3, one slot off +2, two slots off +1. A pick that misses the consensus scores 0. The most a list can score is 85.
Scores land in two beats. On January 3, see how your lists are stacking up: a first look at the compiled Top 10 in each category, built from the lists collected by December 31, with your provisional score and the community's Top 10 in full. More critics' lists are still coming in after that. The final lists and results land January 9, once every best-of list we can find from every corner of the internet is in and counted. The January 9 score is the one that counts.
A worked example
Say the consensus comes out: 1 Arc Raiders, 2 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, 3 Hollow Knight: Silksong, 4 Hades II, 5 Donkey Kong Bananza, 6 Blue Prince, 7 Split Fiction, 8 Death Stranding 2, 9 Ghost of Yōtei, 10 Mario Kart World. A player predicted Expedition 33 at 1, Silksong at 2, Arc Raiders at 3, Hades II at 4, Blue Prince at 5, Donkey Kong Bananza at 6, Split Fiction at 7, Mario Kart World at 8, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II at 9, and Death Stranding 2 at 10. Nine of their ten made the consensus, most within a slot or two of the real rank, and the list scores 70 of 85.
The dates
Submissions open December 1, 2026 and lock December 31. Expert collection closes January 8, 2027. The Consensus Top 10 reveals January 9, 2027 at noon ET, all five categories at the same moment. Expert lists publish while submissions are open, so you can read part of the pool before you lock. Every player has the same information. The game is part taste, part calling the consensus.