The 30 Best Sitcoms of All Time, Definitively Ranked

Let's settle the bar argument right now: the best sitcom of all time is Seinfeld. The "show about nothing" — TV Guide once called it the greatest television program ever made — is our #1, ranked above the more-watched Friends and the endlessly rewatched The Office. It earns the crown not on nostalgia but on craft: four self-absorbed New Yorkers, four storylines colliding in the final act, and a "no hugging, no learning" rule that made every episode a perfectly engineered joke machine.

Below is our definitive critic's countdown of the 30 greatest sitcoms of all time, ranked, spanning the best American sitcoms of the 90s and 2000s plus a few essential British imports. We back each placement with hard credentials — Emmy hauls, Nielsen viewership records, and cultural footprint — so you can see exactly why each legend lands where it does. If you only want the top of the list, here it is.

The top 10 sitcoms of all time, ranked

1. Seinfeld (1989–1998) — The most influential comedy ever made. Airtight plotting, zero sentimentality, and a finale watched by 76 million people.
2. The Office (US) (2005–2013) — The mockumentary that conquered streaming. Now arguably the most binged sitcom of all time among younger viewers.
3. Cheers (1982–1993) — The platonic ideal of the hangout sitcom. Its 1993 finale drew a colossal audience north of 80 million.
4. Friends (1994–2004) — The most popular sitcom of its era and the comfort-watch that defined "Must See TV."
5. Frasier (1993–2004) — The smartest spin-off ever, and the Emmy champion: 37 wins, a record for a comedy that stood until 2016.
6. I Love Lucy (1951–1957) — The blueprint. Lucille Ball invented the multi-camera, live-audience format every sitcom still uses.
7. The Simpsons (1989–present) — The longest-running scripted primetime series in U.S. history and the most quotable show on Earth.
8. Arrested Development (2003–2019) — The most densely written comedy ever, with callbacks that pay off seasons later.
9. 30 Rock (2006–2013) — Tina Fey's joke-per-second satire of the TV business; pound-for-pound the densest gag rate on this list.
10. Parks and Recreation (2009–2015) — The kindest great sitcom, and the gold standard for the workplace ensemble.

Why is Seinfeld ranked above Friends and The Office?

This is the debate the whole list hinges on, so let's resolve it. Friends was bigger in its moment and remains the warmer comfort-watch; The Office has become the default streaming binge for a generation. But Seinfeld is the one that changed what a sitcom could be. It built episodes like farces — every thread (Jerry's, George's, Elaine's, Kramer's) snapping together in the last two minutes — and it refused to let its characters grow, learn, or be likable. That discipline is why it tops every serious critics' poll and most "greatest of all time" rankings, even when Friends wins the popularity contest. Call it the difference between the funniest sitcom ever made and the most beloved one. For our money, the craft wins.

The best sitcoms of the 90s

The 1990s were the genre's commercial peak, anchored by NBC's "Must See TV" Thursday block. Seinfeld, Friends, and Frasier all overlapped on the same network, a concentration of talent television hasn't matched since. Beyond NBC, the decade gave us the surreal brilliance of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (Will Smith's launchpad), the warmth of Everybody Loves Raymond, and the genre-bending animation of The Simpsons at its mid-90s creative zenith. If you want a starting point for the best sitcoms of the 90s, that NBC trio is the holy trinity — three shows that between them collected dozens of Emmys and rewrote the rulebook for ensemble comedy.

The best sitcoms of the 2000s and 2010s

The 2000s traded studio-audience gloss for the single-camera mockumentary, and the genre got smarter for it. The Office (US), Arrested Development, 30 Rock, and Parks and Recreation formed a new canon built on awkwardness and density rather than punchlines and applause. Curb Your Enthusiasm (Larry David's improvised Seinfeld spiritual sequel), It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (now one of the longest-running live-action sitcoms ever), and Community rounded out the era's cult favorites. Network TV had a last hurrah too: Modern Family tied Frasier's record of five consecutive Outstanding Comedy Series Emmys, and The Big Bang Theory became the most-watched comedy on television for years running. Brooklyn Nine-Nine carried the workplace-ensemble torch into the late 2010s.

The full ranking: best sitcoms 11–30

11. Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000–2024)
12. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005–present)
13. MAS*H (1972–1983) — its finale remains the most-watched scripted episode in U.S. history at ~105 million viewers.
14. The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977) — the show that made the single working woman a sitcom lead.
15. Community (2009–2015)
16. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013–2021)
17. Modern Family (2009–2020)
18. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990–1996)
19. Everybody Loves Raymond (1996–2005)
20. How I Met Your Mother (2005–2014)
21. The Big Bang Theory (2007–2019)
22. Fawlty Towers (1975–1979) — only 12 episodes, routinely voted Britain's greatest sitcom.
23. Malcolm in the Middle (2000–2006)
24. Scrubs (2001–2010)
25. Seinfeld's sibling in spirit, The Larry Sanders Show (1992–1998)
26. Will & Grace (1998–2006)
27. Roseanne (1988–1997)
28. Schitt's Creek (2015–2020) — swept all four acting comedy Emmys plus Best Series in 2020.
29. Ted Lasso (2020–2023)
30. Abbott Elementary (2021–present) — proof the network sitcom still has life in it.

What are the best sitcoms to binge, and where can you stream them?

If you're here for the binge rather than the debate, these are the most rewatchable picks and where to stream them (U.S.; availability shifts, so confirm before you commit a weekend).

• The Office (US) — Peacock
• Parks and Recreation — Peacock
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine — Peacock / Netflix
• Friends — Max
• Seinfeld — Netflix
• 30 Rock — Peacock
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia — Hulu
• Schitt's Creek — Hulu
• Cheers / Frasier — Paramount+

For more guided viewing, see our roundup of the best HBO shows and, if you want a heavier follow-up after all the laughs, our review of The Bear — a comedy on paper that hits like a drama. Craving prestige TV instead? Our best limited series to stream has your next obsession.

Which sitcoms are the most popular by viewership?

Popularity and quality aren't the same thing, which is exactly why this list isn't just a ratings chart. By raw viewership, the MAS*H finale (~105 million) towers over everything, followed by the finales of Cheers and Seinfeld (both in the 76–80 million range) and Friends (~52 million). For sustained weekly audience in the streaming-adjacent era, The Big Bang Theory led network comedy for the better part of a decade. But the most-watched show is rarely the best one — MASH* and Cheers happen to be both, while a ratings juggernaut like The Big Bang Theory lands mid-pack here on craft. That gap is the whole point of a ranked list.

The bottom line

The greatest sitcoms of all time reward different moods: Seinfeld for sheer comic engineering, Friends and The Office for the cozy infinite rewatch, Frasier for wit, Cheers and I Love Lucy for the foundations everything else is built on. Argue the order all you like — that's the fun — but the #1 isn't really up for debate. The show about nothing is still about everything that makes a sitcom great.

Further reading: Steve Carell on Wikipedia · Where to watch on JustWatch.

Sources

• Television Academy — Primetime Emmy Awards nominees and winners database
• Wikipedia — List of most-watched television broadcasts in the United States (finale viewership)
• Wikipedia — Seinfeld
• Wikipedia — The Simpsons (longest-running scripted primetime series)
• Wikipedia — Frasier (Emmy records)