The 100 Greatest Things about America 2021
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We’re back and better than ever!
Yes, I’m talking about America post (sort of) COVID-19, but also Yahoo Finance’s 100 Greatest Things about America list. Of course many of us have had a rough time of it this past year. What better reason then to celebrate the good things about our country. So before you mix up the G&Ts (and/or the margs) and fire up the grill (and/or the fireworks), please check out our latest list.
First a few notes. This project has been done for seven years running, (I started it in 2010 when I was the editor of Fortune, and skipped a few years), which means we now have 700 greatest things about America— and we could easily find 700 more. For the record, pretty much anything can be on the list — national parks, TV shows, favorite foods — subject to just one rule. People can be included, of course, but only the living. Ditto for dogs and cats. (Sorry Rin Tin Tin and Socks — see No. 39.)
Note that a few people from previous lists have passed away over the years. Also, picks from older lists may have not “aged well,” as they say, but we aren’t going to edit previous years’ lists, except this year in one instance. I discovered that Edward R. Murrow (“I Can Hear It Now”) somehow made the first list in 2010, (No. 55), a violation of our guidelines, since he died in 1965. While I have the greatest respect for the legendary CBS newsman, (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow, fyi), I am going to remove him and replace him with John Sidney McCain III, who passed away in 2018, (but of course was alive in 2010.)
With so many names it’s fun to search for great things you might think should be on the list (hit command F on a Mac.) You will see we added our third Taylor this year (Ham, No. 23), which joins Chuck Taylor No. 89 in 2013 and James Taylor, No. 49 in 2011. (Stand ready for 2022 Taylor Made!) We also added two doctors this year (Fauci No. 1 and Pepper No. 2) to join one on the 2012 list (Seuss No. 80.) And we now have three peanuts, the cartoon this year at No. 68, peanut butter at No. 56 in 2012 and just the plain old nut (er, legume) No. 30 in 2014. In other words you can have all kinds of fun with the list, which we very much encourage you to do.
So Happy Fourth of July everyone! And please enjoy—in no particular order—Yahoo Finance’s 100 Greatest Things about America 2021!
1. U.S. COVID-19 vaccines: Moderna, J&J, (and 50%) Pfizer
2. Dr. Anthony Fauci
3. Dr. Pepper
4. Statue of Liberty
5. The new space race: Bezos v. Musk
6. Simone Biles
7. Rice Krispies treats
8. Juneteenth an official federal holiday
9. Capitol Police officers
10. Free Britney movement
11. Ted Lasso
12. Rita Moreno
13. Elastic waistband dress pants
14. Stimulus checks
15. LGBT Pride Month
16. Grilled cheese
17. BLTs
18. Competitive eating
19. WWE SummerSlam
20. Muscle cars going electric
21. Ford all-electric F-150
22. New Jersey
23. Taylor Ham / Pork Roll
24. A free press
25. Ketchup
26. Paul Simon
27. Olivia Rodrigo
28. Meme stocks
29. Roaring Kitty
30. Meghan Markle
31. Emmanuel Acho
32. Big Tech (For better and worse)
33. NASA’s Perseverance Rover
34. HBOMax’s simultaneous movie/streaming release strategy
35. "Mare of Easttown"
36. Jean Smart
37. Podcasts
38. Zoom Cat
39. First pets (pets owned by U.S. presidents)
40. Reality TV shows
41. The 8-hour ‘shh’ sound to put babies to sleep on YouTube
42. Deeply discounted hand sanitizer
43. Full aisles of toilet paper
44. American Girl dolls
45. Whoopie Pies
46. Pop Rocks
47. Diet orange soda
48. Snow Cones with ice cream
49. College GameDay
50. Cherry blossoms by the Jefferson Memorial
51. Phil Mickelson
52. Dionne Warwick
53. Burt Bacharach
54. The Affordable Care Act
55. Stacey Abrams
56. Mitt Romney
57. Dairy Queen
58. “I voted” stickers
59. Boardwalks
60. Go-karts
61. Two oceans
62. Two Utah political opponents saying they respect each other
63. Wawa vs. Sheetz
64. "The Facts of Life" / "Diff’rent Strokes" / "Family Ties"
65. "Little House on the Prairie"
66. 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments
67. Marilynne Robinson
68. Peanuts cartoons
69. Bill Hader
70. Mountain bikes
71. Cher
72. The re-opened local coffee shop not named Starbucks
73. Mazie Hirono
74. Netflix giving shows like "The Flash" an afterlife
75. Crazy Horse Memorial
76. Peaceful transitions of power
77. The battle-scarred song: “I’m Proud to be an American”
78. “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty
79. “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy
80. The Onion
81. Fuddruckers
82. Billie Eilish
83. Tom Ford
84. Harrison Ford
85. Concert T-shirts
86. Red Rocks Amphitheatre
87. Empire State Building
88. Gluten-free foods
89. REM
90. Nick Saban
91. Chez Panisse
92. Charlie Munger
93. Moon landing
94. Vermont Maple Syrup
95. Spam
96. John Legend
97. Carolina Herrera
98. Hindenburg Research
99. Madden football
100. Barack Obama
Contributors: Stephanie Asymkos, Adriana Belmonte, Michael Claudio, Javier David, David Davis, Chance Davis, Erin Fuchs, Amanda Fung, Dan Howley, Laura Luan, Carrie Sansone, Brian Sozzi, McKenzie Stratigopoulos, Dee Dee Thomas and Betsy Wagner.
The 2020 list:
1. Voting
2. Poll workers
3. Dwayne Johnson
4. Triple Berry Pie
5. Water parks
6. “Friday Night Lights” (the book, the movie, and the show)
7. Our flag
8. “Shark Tank”
9. Ava Duvernay
10. Neil Diamond singing “Coming to America”
11. Eddie Murphy starring in “Coming to America”
12. Frontline workers
13. Hip hop
14. Meryl Streep
15. Tom Hanks
16. Southern accents
17. Brooklyn accents
18. Charleston Chews
19. Roadside diners
20. Sandra Oh
21. “Hamilton,” the musical (and the book too!)
22. Fireball
23. Black Lives Matter
24. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial
25. Second-line parades in New Orleans
26. Reed Hastings
27. Deviled eggs
28. Popeye’s Chicken Sandwich
29. Whoopi Goldberg
30. Plant nurseries
31. Queer Eye’s Fab Five
32. Kellyanne, George and Claudia Conway
33. Banana bread
34. White Claw and the spiked seltzer trend
35. Matthew McConaughey
36. Pennsylvania sweet corn
37. Speakeasies
38. C-SPAN
39. Elmo and Elmo’s dad
40. “The Office”
41. Promposals
42. Tax refunds
43. Dude with a sign meme page
44. Block parties
45. Mike Trout
46. First Black Bachelor
47. Peloton
48. Innovation
49. Potlucks
50. Spike Lee
51. John Roberts
52. Kentucky bourbon
53. Mirror
54. Ozark
55. Spider-Man
56. The McElroy Family
57. Laverne Cox
58. New Jersey’s official Twitter page
59. Landscape Arch at Arches National Park
60. Pacific Crest Trail
61. Alcohol to-go
62. Lobster rolls
63. The Pumpkin Spice Latte
64. Sarah Cooper
65. “Succession”
66. Megan Rapinoe
67. Strand Book Store
68. Live video messaging services (Zoom, Webex, Google Hangout, Microsoft Teams, Blue Jeans)
69. Watermelon
70. Americana music
71. Amazon Prime
72. Etsy
73. Disney+
74. Farmer’s markets
75. Larry David
76. “Love Is Blind”
77. Guys still “selling” CDs in tourist hotspots
78. The Central Park Dance Skaters in NYC
79. Supper clubs
80. Acai Bowls
81. Good pizza
82. Allen’s Coffee Brandy
83. “The Sopranos”
84. Vermont’s Mad River Glen ski cooperative
85. Beanie Babies
86. “Tiger King”
87. Stephen King
88. Regina King
89. Tater Tot Hotdish
90. Podcasts
91. Impossible and Beyond burgers
92. Same-sex marriage
93. Mad Magazine
94. Razor clams
95. Mac and cheese and Country “gravy”
96. Parents dancing with their kids on TikTok
97. Cities banning (or charging) for the use of plastic bags and plastic straws
98. Best Buy
99. Ad boycotts
100. Jhumpa Lahiri
Contributors: Dan Roberts, Tracey Marx Bernstein, Rick Newman, Olivia Cross, Adriana Belmonte, Brian Sozzi, Amanda Fung, Andy Hoffman, Julia La Roche, Stephanie Asymkos, Mckenzie Stratigopoulos, Hannah Smart
The 2014 list:
1. The Kennedys
2. Superman
3. Mardi Gras in New Orleans
4. Serena and Venus Williams
5. Roller Rinks
To see the entire list, click here to go to Fortune.com
The 2013 list:
1. Comebacks
2. Wayfarer Sunglasses
3. Moxie
4. Reality TV
5. Annual Presidential Turkey Pardon
6. Cracker Jack
7. Pixar
8. The rule of law
9. Tupperware
10. Open source / free software movement
11. Las Vegas strip
12. North Face fleece
13. Beyonce
14. The liberty bell
15. Wisconsin Cheeseheads
16. Maryland Crab Cakes
17. Rap crews
18. Garfield
19. Niagara Falls
20. Drive-thrus
21. Betty White
22. Steve Carell as Michael Scott
23. Air Conditioning
24. Fast and Furious Franchise
25. Mel Brooks
26. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
27. The Amish
28. Billy Joel
29. Harlem Shake
30. Muhammad Ali
31. The Price is Right
32. Mall of America
33. The Wizard of Oz
34. Fallingwater House
35. Chicken and Waffles
36. OK Cupid/Online dating
37. The Federal Reserve
38. Stan Lee/Marvel
39. Buffalo Wings
40. Cotton Candy
41. Selfies
42. Long Island Ice Tea
43. The Coen Brothers
44. Post-Its
45. Little League
46. The Jersey Shore Boardwalk
47. Beer Pong
48. Doritos Locos Tacos
49. Southern Hospitality
50. New York Times Crossword
51. Fenway Park
52. Boston Marathon
53. National Spelling Bee
54. Oregon Trail
55. Sweet Caroline
56. Heinz
57. See’s Candies
58. The Mannings
59. The Big Mac
60. Baseball Caps
61. Cape Cod
62. Girl Scouts
63. Corn Dogs
64. Buy one, get one free
65. FroYo
66. YOLO
67. Supermarkets
68. Typewriter
69. Transcontinental Railroad
70. Hoodsie Cup
71. Extreme Couponing
72. Coney Island
73. Cupcakes
74. The Cola Wars
75. Derby Day
76. Joyce DiDonato
77. Free to Be You and Me
78. Marshmallow Fluff
79. Seventh-Inning Stretch
80. The Sousaphone
81. Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest
82. Roomba
83. Bluegrass Music
84. One-click buying
85. Puppy Bowl
86. The cronut
87. Transformers
88. The electric slide
89. Converse All Stars (Chuck Taylor)
90. Robert Caro
91. Pecan Pie
92. Free public schools
93. Bluth’s Original Frozen Banana Stand
94. Victoria’s Secret
95. Game of Thrones
96. Zombie Movies
97. Maya Angelou
98. 40 Watt Club
99. U.S. Peace Corps
100. The St. Louis Arch
The 2012 list:
1. Resilience
2. Title IX
3. The Ford assembly line
4. Batman
5. Bald eagle
To see the entire list, click here to go to CNN.com
The 2011 list:
1. Opportunity
2. The Interstate Highway System
3. The Sears Tower
4. Walmart Employees in Joplin, Mo.
5. Navy Seals
6. ESPN
7. FedEx
8. Steve Jobs
9. Whole Foods
10. Microsoft Word
11. Ford F-150
12. The Rockefeller Family
13. Caterpillar
14. Detroit
15. The Kindle
16. Duct Tape
17. The Bill of Rights
18. The Wall Street Bull
19. Carlos Santana
20. Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon
21. LinkedIn
22. Colin Powell
23. Bill and Melinda Gates
24. GEICO Commercials
25. The Mississippi River
26. Ben & Jerry’s
27. Bose noise-cancelling headphones
28. Self-stick stamps
29. The Boeing 747
30. Warren Buffett
31. Summer Friday hours
32. Poland Spring
33. Lebron James
34. GPS
35. Dallas Deal Websites
36. Friday Night Lights
37. Budweiser beer
38. “American Pie” by Don McLean
39. Jay-Z
40. Louisville Slugger Bats
41. Kevin Spacey voicing Honda commercials
42. Zappos
43. Oscar Mayer hot dogs
44. SEC Football
45. TMZ
46. Music Festivals
47. Glee
48. Hank Aaron
49. James Taylor
50. Tom Brady
51. NASCAR
52. The Great Gatsby
53. Gatorade
54. Sandusky, Ohio
55. Times Square
56. Aretha Franklin
57. Independent Bookstores
58. 60 Minutes
59. Clif Bars
60. Seinfeld
61. Diet Coke
62. Gmail
63. The Grand Canyon
64. Men and Women serving in the U.S. Armed Forces
65. Clint Eastwood
66. E-Z Pass
67. Jonathan Franzen
68. Windex
69. Michelle Obama
70. Gibson les Paul
71. Morton Salt
72. The Kardashians
73. Jeff Bridges
74. Nike
75. Prom
76. Diners
77. Old Spice
78. Disneyland/Disneyworld
79. Philly Cheesesteaks
80. Xerox PARC
81. Tina Fey
82. Blogging
83. Politicians who tweet
84. The Gulfstream G650
85. Coppertone Sunblock
86. Food labeling requirements
87. Drive-in Movies
88. Exxon Mobil
89. Sesame Street
90. Starbucks
91. Brian Williams
92. Mark Zuckerberg
93. Vineyard Vines, Ralph Lauren, J. Mclaughlin
94. Sully Sullenberger
95. Steven Spielberg
96. Girl Scout Cookies
97. Subway
98. Jeopardy!
99. The Pulitzer Prize
100. National Lampoon’s Vacation
The 2010 list:
1. The Internet
2. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights
3. Baseball
4. Mount Rushmore
5. Food in New Orleans
6. Rock and Roll
7. Hawaii
8. iPod, iPad, and everything Apple
9. Barbecue
10. Ford Mustang
11. Wikipedia
12. Buffalo
13. Slam Dunks
14. Broadway
15. Bluebirds
16. Google
17. Mark Twain
18. The national anthem
19. Iced Drinks
20. Beaches
21. Madison Square Garden
22. Delivery Pizza
23. The Grateful Dead
24. YouTube
25. The Super Bowl
26. Fishing
27. Monopoly
28. The Big Apple Circus
29. M&Ms
30. Facebook
31. Thanksgiving
32. Pickup Trucks
33. The Simpsons
34. Oprah Winfrey
35. Frisbees
36. Mad Men
37. New York/Boston sports rivalries
38. MRI Machine
39. Patagonia
40. Archie Comics
41.The Golden Gate Bridge
42. Jazz
43. Fantasy Football
44. Smores
45. Trader Joes
46. The 4th of July
47. Harley Davidson
48. March Madness
49. Scrabble
50. Kegs
51. Slip n’ Slide
52. Ice Cream
53. Yellowstone National Park
54. Oreos
55. Edward R. Murrow
56. Restaurant Week
57. Washington D.C. Monuments at Night
58. Bugs Bunny
59. Etch a Sketch
60. Coca Cola
61. Flip Flops
62. Vegas Weddings
63. Napa Wine
64. Willie Nelson
65. eBay
66. Blueberries
67. The Rockets
68. Charles Barkley
69. Blue Jeans
70. County Fairs
71.The Oscars
72. Veterans
73. Steak Houses
74. The Tiffanys Box
75. Sports Mascots
76. The Great Lakes
77. Salt Water Taffy
78. Roller Coasters
79. HBO
80. The Everglades
81. Bonnie and Clyde
82. Chewing Gum
83. The light bulb
84. Religious freedom
85. Bagels
86. Judd Apatow films
87. The billboard 100
88. Chipotle
89. Dalmatians on fire trucks
90. Disney Movies
91. New Year’s Eve
92. Elvis Presley
93. Cowboys
94. Turducken
95. Netflix
96. Spring Break
97. Escalators
98. Stand-up Comedy
99. Redwood Trees
100. Bendy Straws
101. Charlie Brown
This article was featured in a Saturday edition of the Morning Brief on July 3, 2021. Get the Morning Brief sent directly to your inbox every Monday to Friday by 6:30 a.m. ET. Subscribe
Andy Serwer is editor-in-chief of Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter: @serwer
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