Documentary's Greatest Years, Ranked

When was the golden age of Documentary? We ranked every year by the accumulated weighted rating of its best Documentary titles — a year rises when it delivered many strongly-rated entries, not just a lone classic. Data from 3eyedraven's catalog.

  1. #1 2019 25 great titles Best: Our Planet
  2. #2 2020 25 great titles Best: David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
  3. #3 2022 25 great titles Best: Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me
  4. #4 2021 25 great titles Best: The Beatles: Get Back
  5. #5 2018 25 great titles Best: Burn the Stage: The Movie
  6. #6 2015 25 great titles Best: Human
  7. #7 2017 25 great titles Best: Nude
  8. #8 2023 25 great titles Best: Captains of the World
  9. #9 2016 25 great titles Best: Planet Earth II
  10. #10 2024 25 great titles Best: No Other Land
  11. #11 2025 25 great titles Best: Squid Game: Making Season 2
  12. #12 2011 25 great titles Best: Frozen Planet
  13. #13 2010 25 great titles Best: Senna
  14. #14 2014 25 great titles Best: Cosmos
  15. #15 2026 25 great titles Best: BTS THE COMEBACK LIVE | ARIRANG
  16. #16 2009 25 great titles Best: Life
  17. #17 2013 25 great titles Best: Nathan for You
  18. #18 2012 25 great titles Best: Searching for Sugar Man
  19. #19 2005 25 great titles Best: Earthlings
  20. #20 2004 24 great titles Best: Long Way Round
  21. #21 1896 25 great titles Best: Bicyclist
  22. #22 2008 21 great titles Best: Waltz with Bashir
  23. #23 2007 19 great titles Best: The Universe
  24. #24 1895 22 great titles Best: Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory
  25. #25 2003 16 great titles Best: Mayday
  26. #26 2006 15 great titles Best: Planet Earth
  27. #27 1999 14 great titles Best: Walking with Dinosaurs
  28. #28 1894 15 great titles Best: Caicedo (with Pole)
  29. #29 2001 12 great titles Best: The Blue Planet
  30. #30 2002 11 great titles Best: 9/11
  31. #31 1897 12 great titles Best: Serpentine Dance
  32. #32 2000 9 great titles Best: As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
  33. #33 1997 7 great titles Best: The Nazis: A Warning from History
  34. #34 1984 6 great titles Best: Stop Making Sense
  35. #35 1989 6 great titles Best: Isle of Flowers
  36. #36 1992 6 great titles Best: Baraka
  37. #37 1998 6 great titles Best: The Life of Birds
  38. #38 1991 5 great titles Best: Paris Is Burning
  39. #39 1996 5 great titles Best: Microcosmos
  40. #40 1978 5 great titles Best: Top Gear