Vulture’s 20 Most-Read Stories of 2024

From brat summer to a scandalous fall, here’s what our readers loved most this year.

Early in our second-most read article of the year, “Four Friends, Two Marriages, One Affair — and a Shelf of Books Dissecting It,” author Chris Heath describes the story as being one of “turmoil, epiphany, evolution, damage, hope, betrayal, rancor, joy.” That’s also a decent characterization of the year that was, which in our corner of the New York universe included more bad boys being exposed, Megalopolis fever, the unsettling encroachment of AI, and the invigorating ubiquity of Brat (the album) and brat (the ethos).

Those immense cultural mood swings are represented in our 20 most-read stories of the year, a list that’s based on the total minutes our visitors spent engaging with those posts. It’s a top 20 that may well change after the seismic simultaneous release of Babyferatunknown in theaters on Christmas Day, but it’s the one we have for the moment, and we’re very proud of it.

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Movies  

20. The Perks of Not Being a Wallflower

By Bilge Ebiri 

Actor Adam Pearson has his biggest role to date in a dark comedy inspired by his upbeat personality. Read the story.

SNL  

19. Heidi Gardner Couldn’t Prepare for What She Saw

By Devon Ivie 

A sketch about Beavis and Butt-Head made the SNL star break after years of resistance. She’s “still trying to figure out what exactly happened.” Read the story.

TV  

18. The Great British Baking Show Needs a New Judge

By Fran Hoepfner 

Paul and Prue are legends, sure, but their tastes have gotten a bit stodgy. Read the story.

Profile  

17. Creature From the Brat Lagoon

By Brock Colyar 

Charli XCX owned the summer with an album that is also a vibe. Should she be sweating the fall? Read the story.

Art  

16. Watch the Throne

By Rachel Corbett 

Kehinde Wiley built an empire out of painting young Black men into art history. Can it survive accusations of sexual assault? Read the story.

Awards Season  

15. Why Emma Stone Beat Lily Gladstone for Best Actress

By Nate Jones 

The Poor Things star’s second Oscar was the most unexpected development on a night that mostly went chalk. Read the story.

Movies  

14. Megalopolis Is a Work of Absolute Madness

By Bilge Ebiri 

There is nothing in Francis Ford Coppola’s perhaps-final testament that feels like something out of a “normal” movie. Read the story.

Reality TV  

13. The Last Inappropriate Man on Television

By Jessica Pressler 

How Andy Cohen survived the ‘Reality Reckoning’ (at least for now). Read the story.

Movies  

12. We All Owe Lin-Manuel Miranda an Apology

By Louis Peitzman 

Without him, every song in Moana 2 is as flimsy and disposable as the last. Read the story.

profile  

11. Therapy Daddy

By Lila Shapiro 

Phil Stutz has made a career in Hollywood doing what most psychologists advise against: telling his patients exactly what to do. Read the story.

profile  

10. The Zone of Interest’s Final Moments Are a Nazi Workaholic’s Nightmare

By A.A. Dowd 

What if Rudolf Höss isn’t vomiting out of remorse? What if it’s his own irrelevance dawning on him instead? Read the story.

TV  

9. Fire Jeff Probst

By Brian Moylan 

It’s time for Survivor’s stalwart host to hang up his buff for good. Read the story.

Celebrity  

8. The Disappearing Timeline of Rose Hanbury

By Ellie Hall 

A timeline of the Marchioness of Cholmondeley’s media coverage shows reports of an alleged affair with Prince William have quietly disappeared. Read the story.

Movies  

7. Irish Wish Is a Crypto-Fascist, AI-Generated Harbinger of Doom

By Rachel Handler 

Netflix’s latest Lindsay Lohan vehicle is cluttered with right-wing dog whistles and ChatGPT-like dialogue. Read the story.

TV  

6. The Double Loss of Under the Bridge

By Jen Chaney 

Quinn Shephard on the beauty and grief of adapting the Hulu series with the book’s late author, Rebecca Godfrey. Read the story.

Extremely Online  

5. Glasgow’s Sad Oompa Loompa Isn’t Gonna Sugarcoat This

By David Mack 

“I don’t know how else you can put sprinkles on shit, but we were trying to be the sprinkles on shit.” Read the story.

Celebrity  

4. Diddy’s Open Secrets

By Craig Jenkins 

The rap mogul shook off decades of rumored bad behavior with wholesome PR revamps. Read the story.

Celebrity  

3. The Man Who Gossiped Too Much

By Lila Shapiro 

For years, John Nelson anonymously posted blind items on the blog Crazy Days and Nights. Then his identity was revealed. Read the story.

Books  

2. Four Friends, Two Marriages, One Affair — and a Shelf of Books Dissecting It

By Chris Heath 

A tale of literature and treachery. Read the story.

Crime  

1. A Hidden Sexual-Assault Scandal at the New York Philharmonic

By Sammy Sussman 

Two players were fired for sexual misconduct. Why were they allowed back in the orchestra? Read the story.