Fairfax newspapers

As the year winds down and most industries move right on into holiday mode, one thing can be guaranteed: serious news dries up and news outlets are finding themselves increasingly desperate for content. And the evergreen format for all topics and rounds is a list of things from the year that was.

And, in the spirit of best-of lists, Crikey has rounded up some of the best lists we’ve seen so far this season.

2017 in review: ‘Disruption, despair and dumpster fires’ — Associated Press

The most general of lists, the news wire service has done the hard yards with a wrap of all the year’s biggest news stories. They have a full catalogue of lists ready for their news outlet subscribers to use, including the most heart-warming stories, best photographs and the things from this year the author would rather forget.

Jealousy list 2017 — Bloomberg BusinessWeek

Every year, the journalists at Bloomberg’s BusinessWeek publication share one story each written by another journalist that they wish they’d written. Some of the stories you’ve probably seen (The New Yorker‘s original Harvey Weinstein expose), others got a little less traction (FastCompany’s ‘The War to Sell You a Mattress is an Internet Nightmare’).

The 100 most engaging stories of the year — Chartbeat

Internet analytics company Chartbeat has used the data it collects to pull together the 100 stories that prompted the most online engagement from readers over the year. The Atlantic‘s ‘My Family’s Slave’ came out on top.

The 25 most-read New Yorker articles in 2017 — The New Yorker

You’ve probably read at least the first few on this list — the Harvey Weinstein revelations by Ronan Farrow, the viral short story Cat Person, the account of short-lived White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci’s rant to reporter Ryan Lizza. But there’s still plenty of popular reads here to catch up on over the summer.

The year in reporter’s facial expressionsThe Cut

It’s an interesting time for US political journalists. And this list from The Cut is primarily made up of journalists in the White House briefing room reacting to press secretaries Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders explaining President Donald Trump’s words, actions and tweets.

The best thing I ate in 2017 — The Observer

A warning: don’t read this one if you’re already a bit peckish. The Observer has interviewed chefs and food critics about the very best food they’ve eaten this year, and the descriptions are mouthwatering, sometimes moving, such as critic Bee Wilson speaking of the crisps she ate in Cambridgeshire:

I was eating with my oldest son, to toast him getting a college offer and turning 18. He would soon be off on gap year in China and there wouldn’t be many more shared meals like this one. We didn’t realise Rushmer would close The Hole in the Wall a few months later, so the memory of that meal is bittersweet. The restaurant is gone. My son’s place at the family dinner table is empty. But I remember the crisps.

Five times the internet was actually fun in 2017 — The New York Times

The Gray Lady is showing she’s down with the kids and the internet with this little wrap of some of the best memes and viral online content for the year. They’ve got the BBC dad, knife kid plus a few honourable mentions in there.

2017’s most awkward TV moments — The Sydney Morning Herald

It’s been a big year in Aussie TV. It’s been 11 long months since white jacket-gate, and Fairfax has wrapped up some of the most awkward on-air moments from the year.

Cop the most eye-rollingly stupid moments from Aussie politics in 2017Pedestrian

There have been some especially stupid things that have happened in politics this year, and Pedestrian has brought them all together for us. Remember when MP Graham Perrett laughed so hard at Veep he fell over and gave himself a black eye? Or Rod Culleton?

2017: A year in apologies — The New York Times

A video entry, The New York Times has wrapped up some of the most high-profile apologies this year. There’s been a few — it goes for four minutes.

The top 10 underrated TV performances of 2017Vulture

Pop culture website Vulture has a few best-of lists across the arts and culture beats, but this is our pick largely because we so fiercely agree with its number-one underrated performance: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend‘s Donna Lynne Champlin.

The year in Kate Middleton’s hair, 2017 editionVanity Fair

An on-brand photo album for the royal-loving magazine, Vanity Fair has been wrapping up some of the Duchess of Cambridge’s best hairdos from the year for five years now.