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Most popular late-night hosts of all time

Late-night TV has been around for 75 years. In 1949, Faye Emerson became the first late-night TV host when her 15-minute self-titled variety series began airing on CBS at 11 p.m. Running for two years, the show covered everything from politics to entertainment, bringing on clowns and other circus performers in the gaps between interviews with people like Tennessee Williams and women’s Air Force and Army brigade leaders.

In one fateful 1951 episode, Emerson invited her friend, Steve Allen, to chat and play the piano on air. A couple of years later, Allen would create “The Tonight Show” for NBC, which is widely considered the first long-form, late-night show to hit national airwaves.

During his tenure on “The Tonight Show,” from 1954 to 1956, Allen solidified the format many late-night shows still follow today: an opening monologue, some audience work, celebrity chats, person-on-the-street interviews, and musical performances. Everyone who has followed in his footsteps—from Johnny Carson to Joan Rivers and Jimmy Kimmel—has added their own twists to the formula with varying levels of success.

That constant evolution is critical, especially since hosts like Kimmel and Seth Meyers have noted that the traditional talk show format is declining in favor of other media like podcasts as of June 2025. Meanwhile, the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in July 2025, which many attribute to his criticism of Paramount settling its lawsuit with President Donald Trump, had late-night writers and experts fearing future attempts at censorship. Those concerns were amplified in September 2025, when “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was temporarily suspended over comments Kimmel made following the death of rightwing activist Charlie Kirk, with the Federal Communications Commission threatening action against ABC affiliates.

The massive backlash, which included fiery defenses of free speech and a Disney boycott, prompted a reversal of the decision. For now, at least, late-night hosts like Kimmel and Colbert are staying loud. And many continue to hold pop cultural sway—some more so than others. To identify the most popular late-night hosts over the years, Stacker used survey data from YouGov on the most well known and liked TV personalities as of the fourth quarter of 2024 to rank the top 20 late-night hosts. They were then ranked by the percentage of survey respondents who had a favorable opinion of them. To qualify, a host had to host a late-night show (a talk show airing at 11 p.m. or later) for at least one full season. Ties were broken internally by YouGov.

Read on to see if your favorite host made the list and to learn more about these individuals’ contributions to the genre.

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#20. Dick Cavett

– Have positive opinion of: 46%
– Have heard of: 72%

Dick Cavett got his start in late-night TV behind the scenes, writing jokes for the likes of Jack Paar and Johnny Carson. Then, in 1968, ABC offered him his own show, simply titled “The Dick Cavett Show. ” This show ran as the network’s entry in the late-night wars, airing in the 11:30 p.m. slot. Often described as a more cerebral offering, the series ran until 1975 and took home multiple Emmys before Cavett moved on to other projects.

Now 88, Cavett’s latest late-night appearance was on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in 2020. However, he still gives interviews and even made an appearance in a 2024 music video.

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#19. Arsenio Hall

– Have positive opinion of: 46%
– Have heard of: 81%

When ratings for “The Late Show with Joan Rivers” began to sag in the late 1980s, Arsenio Hall was tapped by Fox as a guest host tasked with reviving the series. Though the show eventually folded, Hall impressed executives and audiences enough that he was awarded his own series with Paramount, “The Arsenio Hall Show.” Running from 1989 to 1994, the show was known for booking guests other hosts shied away from (like Public Enemy and Tupac Shakur) and for tackling topics Hall’s competitors often skirted around, from the HIV/AIDS epidemic to gang violence.

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#18. Mike Wallace

– Have positive opinion of: 47%
– Have heard of: 77%

Mike Wallace is best known for his four decades as a correspondent on “60 Minutes.” But before his time on the storied CBS news program began in 1968, Wallace hosted two hard-hitting talk shows in the 1950s: “Night Beat” and “The Mike Wallace Interview.” The former was one of the first half-hour newscasts in TV history, airing Tuesdays through Fridays at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. and consisting of news segments and sit-down interviews. “We were dinner conversation,” Wallace later told the Television Academy Foundation. “Everybody in sports, in theater, in movies, when they came to town, in politics… everybody wanted to be on ‘Night Beat.'”

“The Mike Wallace Interview” technically isn’t late-night by this list’s standards (it ran once a week on ABC at 10:30 p.m.) but it continued to lay the groundwork for Wallace’s cut-throat interview style. He interviewed a wide range of iconic figures, from authors (like Ayn Rand and Aldous Huxley) and actors (like Gloria Swanson and Tony Perkins) to legendary architects and artists (Frank Lloyd Wright and Salvador Dalí). Wallace lived until he was 93 in 2012.

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#17. Peter Jennings

– Have positive opinion of: 47%
– Have heard of: 82%

Peter Jennings anchored “ABC World News Tonight” for 22 years, rounding out the “Big Three” news anchors who got their big breaks in the 1980s: Jennings, Tom Brokaw of “NBC Nightly News,” and Dan Rather of “CBS Evening News.” Most people may not think of Jennings as a late-night host, but he actually hosted two late-night series in the 1960s: “Vue” on CJOH-TV in Ottawa, Canada, and then “CTV World News,” which he co-anchored at just 23 years old. Soon thereafter, he’d move stateside to ABC and eventually make history with his coverage of the Sept. 11 attacks. Four months after announcing his lung cancer diagnosis on the air in 2005, he died at the age of 67.

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#16. John Oliver

– Have positive opinion of: 49%
– Have heard of: 77%

British comedian John Oliver honed his cutting-edge political humor on stand-up stages across the U.K. before hopping across the pond in 2006 to become a correspondent on “The Daily Show.” In 2014, he was given his own late-night series, HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.” The show, which kicked off its 12th season on Feb. 16, 2025, has won 30 Emmys and is frequently praised for its insightful musings and for pressing on political, social, and cultural issues.

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#15. Sinbad

– Have positive opinion of: 49%
– Have heard of: 83%

After turns on hit shows “A Different World” and “The Sinbad Show,” a couple of HBO stand-up specials, and several movie roles in the ’80s and ’90s, comedian and actor Sinbad was given the opportunity to host the syndicated late-night show “Vibe” in 1997, replacing the series’ initial host, Chris Spencer. Although the gig only lasted one year, it stood out thanks to the type of audience it attracted—young, urban viewers vs. more middle-aged, suburban watchers.

While Sinbad has been out of the public eye for some time—he experienced a stroke in 2020 that had him hospitalized for five months—he returned to acting with a role in Tyler Perry’s “Straw,” which hit Netflix in June 2025.

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#14. Jon Stewart

– Have positive opinion of: 50%
– Have heard of: 86%

Thirty years ago, Jon Stewart launched MTV’s first talk show, “The Jon Stewart Show,” a job that eventually led to him hosting Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” From 1999 to 2015, Stewart helmed the late-night show, winning a slew of accolades along the way, including 10 consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Variety Series. After a nearly decade-long hiatus, during which he hosted “The Problem with Jon Stewart” on Apple TV+, Stewart returned to “The Daily Show” in 2024 and is currently slated to stay on through December 2025.

It should come as no surprise that the always outspoken and highly political Stewart has been speaking out about the cancellation of his former colleague Stephen Colbert’s late-night show in July 2025.

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#13. Seth Meyers

– Have positive opinion of: 50%
– Have heard of: 85%

A longtime cast member and writer on “SNL,” Seth Meyers was no stranger to late-night hours when he landed his gig as the host of NBC’s “Late Night” in 2014 after Jimmy Fallon announced his departure for “The Tonight Show” (once Jay Leno left for good). Meyers’ decade on the show since has resulted in 11 Emmy nominations. In his spare time, he has taken on several other projects, including co-creating the mockumentary series “Documentary Now!,” writing a children’s book called “I’m Not Scared, You’re Scared,” and filming a stand-up special, “Seth Meyers: Dad Man Walking,” which was nominated for a 2025 Golden Globe.

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#12. Steve Allen

– Have positive opinion of: 51%
– Have heard of: 76%

Steve Allen got his start in radio in the 1940s before becoming a late-night pioneer in the 1950s. The co-creator and first host of “The Tonight Show” only sat behind the desk for five years (from 1953 to 1957), but his style and sense of humor set the precedent for much of what we still see on these types of shows today, including man-on-the-street interviews and audience participation. After stepping back from “The Tonight Show,” Allen hosted several other game shows, variety shows, and talk shows, and he also composed hundreds of songs for the stage and other artists. He died in 2000 at the age of 78.

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#11. Wanda Sykes

– Have positive opinion of: 51%
– Have heard of: 85%

A 1987 Washington D.C. talent show was the catalyst that led Wanda Sykes to leave her first career as a National Security Agency officer to become one of the most beloved comedians of her generation. After spending five years writing for “The Chris Rock Show” in the 1990s, Fox offered Sykes the opportunity to host her own late-night program, “The Wanda Sykes Show,” in 2009. Though it only lasted for a single season due to low ratings, the fumble hasn’t stopped the comic, who’s appeared on series like “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Good Fight,” “Black-ish,” and “The Upshaws.” In 2023, she even guest-hosted “The Daily Show” after Trevor Noah left the gig in 2022. She’s been nominated for 17 Emmys and won one for her writing on “The Chris Rock Show.”

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#10. Stephen Colbert

– Have positive opinion of: 52%
– Have heard of: 88%

One of the longest-running correspondents on “The Daily Show,” Stephen Colbert was given his own late-night show in 2005, Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.” He left that gig in 2014 to take over CBS’s “The Late Show” after David Letterman’s retirement. Now the #1 show on late-night TV, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” has won the Peabody Award and has more than 30 Emmy nominations.

On July 17, 2025, CBS announced that it would be ending “The Late Show” after the next TV season, calling the move a “financial decision.” That reasoning didn’t pass muster with many observers, who noted the timing of the firing, mere days after Colbert called out parent company Paramount for settling its lawsuit with President Trump in advance of the FCC deciding on Paramount’s planned merger with Skydance. The massive backlash to CBS’ decision may not save “The Late Show,” but it does have Colbert setting new ratings records.

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#9. Joan Rivers

– Have positive opinion of: 53%
– Have heard of: 88%

A trailblazer for women in comedy, Joan Rivers began her stand-up career in the mid-1960s, telling her blunt, self-deprecating, sometimes acerbic jokes on stages all across New York City. In 1965, she was invited to perform on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,” and her career took off from there. She became a regular on that show and eventually landed her own groundbreaking late-night program, Fox’s “The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers,” in 1986.

Rivers’ tenure only lasted seven months, thanks to blacklisting from her mentor-turned-rival Carson and fights between her husband-producer Edgar Rosenberg and studio executives. The fallout almost ended her career, but she made a comeback in the early ’90s doing red carpet and fashion commentary until her death in 2014. Rivers will go down in history as the first woman to headline a long-form late-night talk show.

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#8. Conan O’Brien

– Have positive opinion of: 54%
– Have heard of: 94%

Conan O’Brien got his start in the entertainment industry writing for hit series like “Saturday Night Live” and “The Simpsons.” In 1993, he made his late-night hosting debut as the second host of NBC’s “Late Night” franchise after David Letterman departed for CBS. In 2009, O’Brien left that show to helm “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” in the wake of Jay Leno’s “retirement,” but he was ousted when Leno decided to come back in one of the most controversial moments in late-night hosting history. O’Brien then left network late-night entirely to host “Conan” on TBS, where he stayed from 2010 to 2021. These days, he keeps busy with a podcast and an HBO Max travel show, which earned him an Emmy in 2024.

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#7. Jimmy Fallon

– Have positive opinion of: 54%
– Have heard of: 95%

The other late-night Jimmy, Jimmy Fallon, was castmates with Seth Meyers on “SNL” before he landed his gig on NBC. After succeeding Conan O’Brien as “Late Night” host from 2009 to 2014, Fallon moved to “The Tonight Show,” where he still reigns. In addition to his nightly appearances, Fallon has written several children’s books and still appears in movies and on TV shows, like “Jurassic World” and “Only Murders in the Building,” usually as himself.

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#6. Pat Sajak

– Have positive opinion of: 54%
– Have heard of: 85%

Most folks know Pat Sajak as the host of “Wheel of Fortune,” a job he held from 1981 until 2024. But some may remember his brief foray into late-night TV, hosting “The Pat Sajak Show” from 1989 to 1990. While the program is largely forgettable, there was one moment that will go down in history—when conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh acted as a guest host in 1990, bringing up the hot-button issue of abortion and essentially getting yelled out of the studio. The series was canceled two weeks later.

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#5. David Letterman

– Have positive opinion of: 55%
– Have heard of: 93%

David Letterman spent 33 years on network late-night TV, hosting more than 6,000 episodes of “Late Night” on NBC and “The Late Show” on CBS, making him the longest-serving host in late-night history. Between the two series, he also won five Emmy awards. Since retiring from the “Late Show” desk in 2015, Letterman has focused on his new Netflix talk show “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction,” which has been running since 2018.

Letterman does make occasional appearances elsewhere, including a stop on Busy Philipps’ QVC talk show “Busy This Week” in July 2025, where he admitted, “I just love being on TV.” And though the Letterman YouTube channel is mostly home to clips from his late-night hosting career, Letterman does sometimes post new content. Also in July, he shared a Zoom video, where he called CBS’ firing of Stephen Colbert “gutless.”

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#4. Trevor Noah

– Have positive opinion of: 55%
– Have heard of: 81%

Born and raised in South Africa, comedian Trevor Noah began working as a correspondent on “The Daily Show” in 2014. The following year, Comedy Central announced that he’d be replacing Jon Stewart as full-time host, a position he held until 2022. For that final season, Noah won the Emmy for Outstanding Talk Series. He’s kept very busy since leaving “The Daily Show,” hosting award shows like the Grammys and touring worldwide while filming multiple comedy specials. He’s also the host of the hit interview podcast “What Now?” and made headlines in June 2025 when he moved it from Spotify to SiriusXM.

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#3. Jay Leno

– Have positive opinion of: 55%
– Have heard of: 93%

Comedian Jay Leno began his TV career as a frequent guest on “The Tonight Show” in the 1970s before eventually taking over as host in 1992 when Johnny Carson stepped down. He spent two separate stints behind the “Tonight Show” desk, one from 1992 to 2009 and another infamous one from 2010 to 2014, before permanently moving on to other projects like CNBC’s “Jay Leno’s Garage” and the Fox game show “You Bet Your Life.” In July 2025, Leno provoked ire after criticizing current late-night hosts for being overly partisan.

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#2. Jimmy Kimmel

– Have positive opinion of: 57%
– Have heard of: 95%

Just a few years after his TV debut on Comedy Central’s “Win Ben Stein’s Money,” Jimmy Kimmel was handed his own late-night series, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Now in its 22nd season, the show still draws sizable audiences and is ABC’s longest-running late-night program. However, that all may end sooner rather than later—Kimmel started hinting in February 2024 that he won’t renew his contract, which is set to expire after the show’s 23rd season ends. In an April 2025 interview with Rolling Stone, Kimmel said of his potential retirement, “I’ve realized that there’s no point in talking about it. It upsets the people I work with.”

In September 2025, Kimmel made headlines following comments he made about the death of Charlie Kirk, which prompted FCC threats against ABC affiliates and the temporary suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The move prompted an enormous outcry and defenses of Kimmel, including from fellow late-night hosts. When Kimmel returned to the air on Sept. 23, 2025, he did not mince words about the importance of being able to speak out without fear of government reprisal. “A government threat to silence a comedian the president doesn’t like is anti-American,” he said in his first monologue after the suspension. “This show is not important. What’s important is that we live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.”

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#1. Johnny Carson

– Have positive opinion of: 62%
– Have heard of: 83%

Finally, the most popular host in late-night TV history is Johnny Carson, the 30-year host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show” between 1962 and 1992. Known for his quick wit and casual, conversational hosting style (perhaps as a result of his shy nature), Carson was “seen by more people on more occasions than anyone else in American history,” according to PBS. He died in 2005 at 79 years old, but he’s still known as “The King of Late Night” today.

Additional writing by Jaimie Etkin. Data reporting by Luke Hicks. Story editing by Jaimie Etkin. Copy editing by Tim Bruns. Photo selection by Lacy Kerrick.

Best summer rom-coms of all time

When you hear the term “rom-com,” certain classic movie moments may come to mind: Audrey Hepburn’s glamorous meal outside the title store in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” Molly Ringwald’s iconic homemade prom dress in “Pretty in Pink,” or the ding of AOL Instant Messenger as Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan chat online in “You’ve Got Mail.” Yet the definitions of this popular film genre aren’t quite so cut and dried. While Glamour describes a rom-com as “a movie or play that deals with love in a light, humorous way,” the American Film Institute labels it “a genre in which the development of a romance leads to comic situations.”

These subtle differences lend themselves to a wide variety within the genre, with tropes evolving over time. During the 1930s, comedies of manners—when a wealthy character falls for someone less well-off—and screwball comedies—think slapstick—were popular. In the 1950s and ’60s, love interests were often pitted against one another, and the burgeoning sexual revolution encouraged bawdier stories. The ’70s saw a shift away from sex in favor of films questioning true love and championing independence. A neotraditional style emerged and remains popular today, focusing on practical relationship considerations, like compatibility and compromise.

Summer 2025 is offering a predictably eclectic mix of rom-coms. June 13 saw the release of “Materialists,” featuring the buzzy trio of Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal, with a script and direction from Celine Song of “Past Lives” fame. In July 2025, “Oh, Hi!” hit theaters, starring Molly Gordon and Logan Lerman as a couple off on a romantic weekend that takes a rather unusual turn. And on August 22, 2025, the Cannes film festival hit “Splitsville” will premiere with an even less conventional rom-com storyline.

These films may have different styles and approaches to the genre. Still, they all seem to recognize that summer’s warm, sunny days are perfect for releasing new romantic comedies—not to mention revisiting old favorites. To generate a list of the best, Stacker collected data on all rom-com feature films on IMDb and ranked the top 20 released during the summer by IMDb user ratings. Ties were broken by the number of IMDb user votes. Films released from May to August were considered, along with April releases whose box-office life bled into summer. To qualify, the film had to be listed as both a romance and a comedy on IMDb, have at least 5,000 votes, and have had at least limited distribution in the U.S. Metascores have been provided for critical context.

While some fan favorites didn’t make the cut based on these criteria, the varied selections on this list just might encourage you to use a broader lens when considering what a rom-com can be.

#20. Midnight in Paris (2011)

– Director: Woody Allen
– IMDb user rating: 7.6
– Metascore: 81
– Runtime: 94 minutes

In the first of three Woody Allen films on this list, Owen Wilson stars as Gil, a screenwriter who magically travels back in time while vacationing in Paris with his fiancée (Rachel McAdams). Each day at midnight, Gil is inexplicably transported to the Roaring Twenties, where he escapes his real-life relationship woes to rub elbows with the likes of Salvador Dalí (Adrien Brody), F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston), and Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates). These adventures not only provide Gil with fresh inspiration, but he also finds a second love: Pablo Picasso’s mistress, Adriana (Marion Cotillard).

#19. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

– Director: Edgar Wright
– IMDb user rating: 7.6
– Metascore: 69
– Runtime: 112 minutes

Based on a series of graphic novels about average Joe-type Scott Pilgrim, played by Michael Cera, who must fight seven of his new girlfriend’s exes, this unique mash-up of fantasy, comic book aesthetics, and romantic comedy boasts a long list of now-famous actors: Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, and Brie Larson, to name a few. “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” may not have been a box-office smash—the film grossed $35 million less than its production budget—but the endearing characters attracted a cult following faithful enough to spawn a video game in 2010 and a Netflix anime series in 2023.

#18. The Music Man (1962)

– Director: Morton DaCosta
– IMDb user rating: 7.7
– Metascore: 76
– Runtime: 151 minutes

Before taking on the role of matriarch on the classic ’70s TV show “The Partridge Family,” Shirley Jones starred opposite Robert Preston in “The Music Man.” This adaptation of the hit Broadway musical follows Harold Hill, a con artist whose plan to swindle small-town Iowans by pretending to be a marching band leader is derailed when he falls in love. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards and picked up a Golden Globe win for Best Motion Picture Musical in 1963.

#17. Top Hat (1935)

– Director: Mark Sandrich
– IMDb user rating: 7.7
– Metascore: 93
– Runtime: 101 minutes

This classic musical stars one of film’s most beloved dancing duos, who shine in the fourth of 10 films they headlined together. “Top Hat” is a story of love—and mistaken identity—between an American dancer (Fred Astaire) and a model (Ginger Rogers) in Britain. Film critic Roger Ebert lauded the on-screen dance, saying it reached “such perfection as is attainable.” Irving Berlin’s lively soundtrack, which includes the Oscar-nominated song “Cheek to Cheek,” continues to resonate with viewers nearly 90 years later.

#16. Flipped (2010)

– Director: Rob Reiner
– IMDb user rating: 7.7
– Metascore: 45
– Runtime: 90 minutes

Director Rob Reiner lands on this list with not one but two tales of opposites attracting—first with this adaptation of Wendelin Van Draanen’s young adult novel. Described by The New York Times’ Stephen Holden as Reiner’s tribute to “young love, back when it was innocent and sweet,” the film spans six years in the tween-to-teenage lives of neighbors Juli Baker and Bryce Loski (Madeline Carroll and Callan McAuliffe). The nostalgic 1950s and ’60s setting, paired with an alternating point-of-view as both leads narrate their history, make “Flipped” a rom-com to remember.

#15. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)

– Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
– IMDb user rating: 7.7
– Metascore: 74
– Runtime: 105 minutes

This sharp and darkly funny coming-of-age story is based on Jesse Andrews’ book of the same name about an unlikely high school trio. Greg, played by Thomas Mann, spends his free time making film parodies with his best friend, Earl, until his mother forces him to spend time with Rachel, a classmate recently diagnosed with leukemia. While the book has found itself on banned-book lists in schools across America for including a joke about sex, the film won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for Dramatic Film at Sundance.

#14. When Harry Met Sally… (1989)

– Director: Rob Reiner
– IMDb user rating: 7.7
– Metascore: 76
– Runtime: 95 minutes

Arguably the most iconic friends-to-lovers romantic comedy of all time, “When Harry Met Sally” follows Billy Crystal as Harry Burns and Meg Ryan as Sally Albright, polar opposites who, over the years, banter, become best friends, and ultimately realize their romantic connection. Thirty-five years after the film’s release, director Rob Reiner revealed the script originally ended with the titular couple going their separate ways—but thankfully, when Reiner met his wife, Michele Singer, during filming, he decided to give Harry and Sally a happy ending too.

#13. 500 Days of Summer (2009)

– Director: Marc Webb
– IMDb user rating: 7.7
– Metascore: 76
– Runtime: 95 minutes

Although the title may be misleading, “500 Days of Summer” is about a girl, not the season. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Tom, a broken-hearted man looking back on his whirlwind romance with Summer, played by Zooey Deschanel, in this rom-com that proves not all love stories have happy endings. An unforgettable soundtrack shapes the ups and downs of their relationship: The duo sings karaoke to the Pixies’ “Here Comes Your Man” and Nancy Sinatra’s “Sugar Town,” Tom’s hopeless romanticism is underscored by the Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want,” and a song-and-dance number to Hall & Oates’ “You Make My Dreams (Come True)” perfectly conveys what it feels like to fall in love.

#12. Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)

– Director: Ang Lee
– IMDb user rating: 7.8
– Metascore: 80
– Runtime: 124 minutes

Ang Lee is known for directing a diverse array of hits—”Brokeback Mountain,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Life of Pi”—but his film career started in the early ’90s with the so-called “Father Knows Best” trilogy. “Eat Drink Man Woman,” the third in this series of stand-alone films, is a rom-com about the lives and loves of Chu, played by Sihung Lung, a chef in Taiwan, and his three adult daughters. The New York Times’ Janet Maslin compared the film to “Like Water for Chocolate” and praised it as “wonderfully seductive.”

#11. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

– Director: Frank Capra
– IMDb user rating: 7.8
– Metascore: Data not available
– Runtime: 115 minutes

Nearly a decade before making “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Frank Capra picked up an Oscar for Best Director with this story about a small-town man navigating life in New York City after receiving a large inheritance. Amid various trials and tribulations, Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) ultimately finds love with big-city reporter Louise “Babe” Bennett (Jean Arthur). The film’s premise was inspired by a short story by Clarence Budington Kelland, and its themes have demonstrated staying power: the film was remade in 2002 and starred Adam Sandler.

#10. You Can’t Take It with You (1938)

– Director: Frank Capra
– IMDb user rating: 7.8
– Metascore: Data not available
– Runtime: 126 minutes

With his second film on this list, Frank Capra not only picked up another Academy Award for Best Director but also the Best Picture Oscar that year. This big-screen adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play features James Stewart as a banker whose father tries to profit by ousting his future daughter-in-law’s family from their home. The result: an early example of the popular rom-com trope of inlaw-induced chaos, seen in later films like “Meet the Fockers” and “Crazy Rich Asians.”

#9. Manhattan (1979)

– Director: Woody Allen
– IMDb user rating: 7.8
– Metascore: 83
– Runtime: 96 minutes

Perhaps the most controversial film on this list, “Manhattan” stars director Woody Allen as a 42-year-old writer who dates a 17-year-old high school student (Mariel Hemingway)—an age gap that came under increased scrutiny years later, after Allen broke up with girlfriend Mia Farrow to date her college-age daughter. Despite this, many found the film moving, including critic Roger Ebert, who praised how the film’s “tone and timing slip so gracefully between comedy and romance.”

#8. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

– Director: Wes Anderson
– IMDb user rating: 7.8
– Metascore: 84
– Runtime: 94 minutes

Coming-of-age stories may not be common tropes in the rom-com canon, but eccentric director Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom” certainly fits the bill. The film follows a pair of 12-year-olds (Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward) who fall in love and run away into the wild, causing a search party to scour the island for them as a storm approaches. A star-studded cast—featuring some of Anderson’s frequent collaborators, including Bill Murray, Edward Norton, and Jason Schwartzman—makes for pure movie magic in what The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw calls an “evocation of young love in a more innocent America.”

#7. The Thin Man (1934)

– Director: W.S. Van Dyke
– IMDb user rating: 7.9
– Metascore: 86
– Runtime: 91 minutes

William Powell and Myrna Loy star as Nick and Nora Charles, a married couple who investigate a murder for fun, in this film based on the 1933 novel by Dashiell Hammett. Upon its release, The Hollywood Reporter praised “The Thin Man” as a “murder story with a brilliant cast, a brilliant script, brilliant direction, and photography that tells the story in no mean terms.” This successful combination of mystery and rom-com spawned five sequels over the next several years.

#6. Shrek (2001)

– Directors: Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson
– IMDb user rating: 7.9
– Metascore: 84
– Runtime: 90 minutes

The most surprising entry on this list is a film about a cantankerous green ogre who must rescue a princess in order to save his home—but as Shrek himself says, “You know, Donkey, sometimes things are more than they appear.” “Shrek” isn’t just another animated kids film; the outcast love story, paired with lots of laughs, makes it a unique rom-com in its own right. A slate of A-list actors brought “New Yorker” cartoonist William Steig’s children’s book to life, with Mike Myers voicing the title role; Eddie Murphy as his friend, Donkey; Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona; and John Lithgow as the evil Lord Farquaad.

#5. Roman Holiday (1953)

– Director: William Wyler
– IMDb user rating: 8
– Metascore: 78
– Runtime: 118 minutes

In “Roman Holiday,” Audrey Hepburn plays an overwhelmed European princess befriended by an American reporter (Gregory Peck) who tries to use her for a story before falling in love. The chemistry between the duo is palpable as they cruise the streets of Rome on a Vespa. Although it was her first major movie role, Hepburn earned an Oscar for Best Actress in what the American Film Institute named the fourth greatest cinematic love story of all time.

#4. Annie Hall (1977)

– Director: Woody Allen
– IMDb user rating: 8
– Metascore: 92
– Runtime: 93 minutes

Of the dozens of films Woody Allen has directed during his career, “Annie Hall” is his most beloved romantic comedy, according to IMDb user ratings. This film about comedian Alvy Singer, played by Allen himself, looking back on his failed relationship with aspiring singer Annie Hall, iconically portrayed by Diane Keaton, wasn’t even supposed to be a rom-com—an early draft of the script reportedly focused on a murder mystery subplot. The final product, however, became a huge success at the box office, making $44 million and beating out “Star Wars” for the Best Picture Oscar in 1978.

#3. The Gold Rush (1925)

– Director: Charles Chaplin
– IMDb user rating: 8.1
– Metascore: Data not available
– Runtime: 95 minutes

The oldest—and only silent—film to make this list is Charlie Chaplin’s classic about a prospector who falls in love amid the 1890s gold rush. In an original 1925 review of “The Gold Rush,” Variety raved that Chaplin “transcends everything that has ever gone before in comedy production, and it will be a long time before any one displaces him as the genius of pantomime.” These claims hold true nearly 100 years later, as viewers continue to adore this performance by the man the American Film Institute named the tenth greatest actor of all time.

#2. The Apartment (1960)

– Director: Billy Wilder
– IMDb user rating: 8.3
– Metascore: 94
– Runtime: 125 minutes

The Hollywood Reporter’s 1960 review perfectly captures what makes “The Apartment” stand out from other rom-coms about messy love triangles: Below the surface, it is also “a blistering commentary on contemporary ant-hill society and its amoral inhabitants.” Jack Lemmon stars as an insurance clerk who lets company executives use his New York City apartment for their romantic rendezvous. Things get complicated, however, when he learns the woman he is trying to woo, played by Shirley MacLaine, is also seeing his boss.

#1. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

– Directors: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly
– IMDb user rating: 8.3
– Metascore: 99
– Runtime: 103 minutes

The #1 film on this list explores a pivotal time in Hollywood history, as movies were transitioning from silent to talking pictures during the 1920s. The legendary Gene Kelly stars as a silent film star who falls for a chorus girl, played by Debbie Reynolds. Viewers may be surprised to learn that Reynolds was just 19 during filming, and Kelly was sick with a fever of 103 when he shot the film’s most memorable song and dance number, “Singin’ in the Rain.”

Story editing by Eliza Siegel. Copy editing by Paris Close. Photo selection by Clarese Moller.