Cartoon Tier List: The Best Animated Shows
All 32 shows here, ranked by 114 players. Avatar: The Last Airbender leads: it wins 69.4% of its matchups (n = 255) and was champion in 19 of 114 brackets. Disagree? Your first pick is right here. No sign-up.
Size
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!1969-1970
Teen Titans2003-2006
Tap a poster to make your pick. Crowd numbers appear after you choose.
Animated TV Shows: the community’s best
Win rate across 3,046 head-to-head picks from 114 finished brackets. n is the number of matchups behind each win rate; only entrants with 30 or more are listed.
| # | Cartoon | W–L | Win rate | vs .500 | Titles | n |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Avatar: The Last Airbender2005-2008 | 177–78 | 69.4% | 19 | 255 | |
| 2 | The Simpsons1989-present | 180–93 | 65.9% | 10 | 273 | |
| 3 | South Park1997-present | 172–90 | 65.6% | 13 | 262 | |
| 4 | SpongeBob SquarePants1999-present | 169–89 | 65.5% | 9 | 258 | |
| 5 | Adventure Time2010-2018 | 169–96 | 63.8% | 7 | 265 | |
| 6 | Gravity Falls2012-2016 | 168–99 | 62.9% | 5 | 267 | |
| 7 | Regular Show2010-2017 | 135–90 | 60% | 8 | 225 | |
| 8 | Rick and Morty2013-present | 139–96 | 59.1% | 4 | 235 |
Animated TV Shows: the community tier list
From 3,046 head-to-head picks in 114 finished brackets. Placed by win rate, steadied toward 50% for entrants with few matchups: S is 75% or more, A 60%, B 50%, C 40%, D 25%.
Stier, win rate 75% or more
- Nobody yet
Atier, win rate 60% or more
- Avatar: The Last Airbender
- The Simpsons
- South Park
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- Adventure Time
- Gravity Falls
Btier, win rate 50% or more
- Regular Show
- Rick and Morty
- Dragon Ball Z
- Invincible
- Teen Titans
- Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
- Family Guy
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars
- + 2 more
Ctier, win rate 40% or more
- X-Men '97
- Samurai Jack
- The Boondocks
- The Legend of Korra
- American Dad!
- BoJack Horseman
Dtier, win rate 25% or more
- Arcane
- Bob's Burgers
- King of the Hill
- Cowboy Bebop
- The Owl House
- Castlevania
- Primal
- Archer
Ftier, win rate 0% or more
- Big Mouth
- The Venture Bros.
How the Animated TV Shows bracket works
This cartoon tier list is played, not dragged into rows. You get one matchup at a time — The Simpsons or Rick and Morty? South Park or Avatar: The Last Airbender? — and after 15 picks the bracket has a champion, with everything else placed by how far it got. The awkward pairings are the point: they are the calls a drag-and-drop tier list quietly lets you avoid.
This bracket runs 4 rounds at the default 16-slot size (Round of 16, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Final), drawn from a pool of 32 shows. Entrants are drawn by a seed that changes daily, and New draw picks a fresh one, so an early upset in one run may never happen in the next. You can also play it at 8 or 32 slots for a shorter or longer run.
15 picks, 4 rounds
- Round of 168 matchups
- Quarterfinals4 matchups
- Semifinals2 matchups
- Final1 matchup
Roughly 1-2 minutes start to finish at the default size.
All 32 entrants
All 32 entrants are listed below, including The Simpsons, Rick and Morty, South Park and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Updated
- The Simpsons1989-present
- Rick and Morty2013-present
- South Park1997-present
- Avatar: The Last Airbender2005-2008
- Futurama1999-present
- Family Guy1999-present
- Bob's Burgers2011-present
- BoJack Horseman2014-2020
- Arcane2021-2024
- Adventure Time2010-2018
- Gravity Falls2012-2016
- SpongeBob SquarePants1999-present
- Invincible2021-present
- Archer2009-2023
- American Dad!2005-present
- The Legend of Korra2012-2014
- Regular Show2010-2017
- The Boondocks2005-2014
- Big Mouth2017-2025
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars2008-2020
- Batman: The Animated Series1992-1995
- Cowboy Bebop1998-1999
- Castlevania2017-2021
- The Venture Bros.2003-2018
- King of the Hill1997-present
- Primal2019-present
- Teen Titans2003-2006
- X-Men '972024-present
- The Owl House2020-2023
- Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!1969-1970
- Dragon Ball Z1989-1996
- Samurai Jack2001-2017
Tier list instead?
Load all 32 into the tier list maker and sort them into S through F yourself: same entrants, no matchups.
Open the tier list makerMissing something?
Build your own cartoon bracket with exactly the entrants you want, then share the link.
Open the bracket makerGetting a ranking you actually agree with
- Judge the whole run, not just the best season, or every prestige show wins by default.
- Start at 16 slots. If the result feels too obvious, replay at 32 so more of the 32 shows make the field.
- Watch for the show you keep beating reluctantly. That is usually the sign you should undo and reconsider the pick before it.
Questions people ask
What is the best cartoon?
According to 114 BracketRanker players, Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008). It wins 69.4% of its head-to-head matchups (n = 255) and was champion in 19 of 114 brackets (16.7%).
How many shows are in the Animated TV Shows bracket?
The pool holds 32 shows. A default run uses 16 of them and takes 15 picks across 4 rounds: Round of 16, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Final. Other field sizes are available too — 8, 16, 32 slots.
Which shows are included?
The Simpsons, Rick and Morty, South Park, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Futurama, Family Guy, Bob's Burgers, BoJack Horseman, Arcane, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls and SpongeBob SquarePants, plus 20 more. Every entrant is listed further down this page with its artwork.
How long does the Animated TV Shows bracket take?
About 1-2 minutes — 15 choices at the default size, or 7 if you drop to an 8-slot bracket. No account is needed, and a run saves after every pick, so you can stop and jump back in later.
Can I turn the result into S/A/B tiers?
Both are here, and the bracket is closer to a tier list than it looks. It ends with a champion, a runner-up and then every other show grouped by the round it went out in — which is exactly a set of tiers, decided by 15 direct comparisons rather than by your first guess at a layout. What it deliberately does not do is claim a precise gap between two shows that never met. If you would rather place the shows into S through F rows yourself, the tier list maker loads all 32 of them at bracketranker.com/tier-list-maker.
Can I compare my order with other people's?
Every completed bracket feeds the Animated TV Shows community results page, which aggregates win rates across all plays and tracks how often each of the 32 entrants takes the title. It updates continuously, so it moves as more people play.
What if a show I wanted is missing?
Use the bracket maker: add your own shows, name it, and share the link so other people play the same field. That is the route to take when this pool of 32 is missing something you would have picked, or when you want a version scoped to one era, label or franchise.