The Best Skate Videos & Parts of 2020 — QS Readers Poll Results

Illustration by Cosme Studio
Ballot Tally Assist by 4Ply Magazine

One of the biggest cliches is discussing just *how much* skate content there is. Everything is available at once, and keeping track of it for one viewing — let alone multiple — is hard.

Last year’s decade poll aimed at a snapshot of skateboarding in a ten-year span, as it grew exponentially into the content waterfall it is today. It was very fun to do, but perhaps easier in that with ten years to reflect on, it was apparent what loomed large over tricks, styles and trends. We brought it back for a single year to try and form a canon at a time when so much of the conversation is geared around things moving too fast for a consensus.

Yes, you’ll notice an inherent recency bias here, and year-end content is obviously an imperfect art — the poll closed on December 4, which is before John’s Vid and Third Shift came out online, two projects that definitely would’ve ranked if eligible. (Honestly, John’s Vid might’ve ended up being #1 or #2 given the readership of this website.)

So here it is. No commentary for the full-lengths this round. Full-length skate videos capture a zeitgeist, and sometimes, it takes a while for those effects to truly make themselves known.

Shout out to all the writer friends from the internet who helped with write-ups, and extra major shout out to the team at 4Ply Magazine for the help on tallying the ballots.

And if you’re joining us, this ranking was voted on by QS readers during the first week of December, with voting ending on the 4th.

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#QSTOP10 — Top 10 of 2020

As observed in last year’s edition, “This is just a Vine compilation with a bunch of bangers tacked on to the end.”

Like usual, particular weight was placed on tricks that were heavy on the #repost circuit, discussed on group chats, and — gasp! — brought up in human conversation this past year. It leans heavy on huckery towards the end, but in a year that contained so much staring out into the abyss — when given the chance to look away and towards a lipslide into a cement wall, or a front 3 off an over head-high wall into another almost-wall — the huckers gave our hearts reason to beat ♥

Guessing #1 should be easy ;)

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Midtown On The Weekend, Like Usual — Best of 2020

It’s not that choosing music for the annual recycled footage holiday party was harder this time around — Pop Smoke was a given, the year’s most incessant Drake song was somehow a creature comfort reminiscent of simpler years soundtracked by incessant Drake songs, and Lil’ Baby + Dugg were basically our government for the past 12 months. But it stands to reason that in a normal year, with parties and bad nightclubs providing a different barometer, maybe, just maybe hearing “W.A.P” in a crowded room full of humans hammered at 2 A.M. would’ve elevated its stature, and thus to the soundtrack of this year’s “Best of” clip.

Alas, in 2020, we were robbed of hearing “W.A.P” in a crowded room full of humans hammered at 2 A.M. (Tried to get Josh to call his part “Wet Ass Part” but it didn’t stick.)

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