In 2021, FiveThirtyEight’s visual journalists told stories of the pandemic, political gridlock and the world of sports. We’ve fought to make our work more accessible and to sharpen our storytelling. Through it all, we kept it weird. Now we continue our tradition of celebrating our best — and wackiest — charts of the year. Here are some of our favorites, grouped by topic but in no particular order beyond that. If you want more context for these (weird and wonderful) charts, don’t be shy! You can click any of them to read the stories in which they originally ran.
Politics
Sports
COVID-19
Science
Tokyo Olympics
And, last but not least, check out this calendar with the results from our debate about when each season begins.
Did you enjoy this long list of weird charts? Then boy, do we have content in the archives for you! Check out our lists from 2020, 2019, 2018, 2016, 2015 and 2014.
Can you solve this archery riddle? | FiveThirtyEight