TV Shows

The X-Files

Best x-files episodes

The community has spoken. Discover the world ranking, compare it to yours and see how everyone else voted.

Play this TopList

50contenders high-voltage

288votes

2TopList

0commentsUpdated on 08/25/2026 at 12:00 PM

03×10 – 7311255

The worldwide ranking generated by 288 votes

50 / 50

03×10 – 7311255

03×20 – Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'1253

02×25 – Anasazi1249

04×08 – Paper Hearts1245

04×05 – The Field Where I Died1232

06×03 – Triangle1231

01×12 – Beyond the Sea1231

04×17 – Tempus Fugit1226

02×05 – Duane Barry1223

#10

01×23 – The Erlenmeyer Flask1218

#11

11×04 – The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat1216

#12

06×08 – How the Ghosts Stole Christmas1215

#13

05×12 – Bad Blood1215

#14

02×20 – Humbug1214

#15

01×16 – E.B.E.1213

#16

03×16 – Apocrypha1211

#17

03×02 – Paper Clip1209

#18

03×04 – Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose1208

#19

07×11 – Closure1208

#20

06×21 – Field Trip1208

#21

06×20 – The Unnatural1208

#22

03×17 – Pusher1207

#23

06×15 – Monday1206

#24

01×07 – Ice1201

#25

04×24 – Gethsemane1200

#26

01×79 – Pilot1199

#27

03×12 – War of the Coprophages1199

#28

07×18 – Hollywood A.D.1198

#29

02×08 – One Breath1196

#30

04×03 – Home1195

#31

01×19 – Darkness Falls1193

#32

01×10 – Eve1192

#33

02×14 – Die Hand Die Verletzt1192

#34

07×12 – X-Cops1191

#35

01×02 – Squeeze1187

#36

06×02 – Drive1185

#37

06×04 – Dreamland1183

#38

09×13 – Improbable1183

#39

07×22 – Requiem1182

#40

04×20 – Small Potatoes1178

#41

10×03 – Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster1176

#42

02×13 – Irresistible1176

#43

02×17 – End Game1172

#44

01×20 – Tooms1170

#45

04×07 – Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man1169

#46

02×06 – Ascension1169

#47

04×15 – Memento Mori1169

#48

05×03 – Redux II1161

#49

05×06 – The Post-Modern Prometheus1146

#50

02×02 – The Host1137

What the community says

Rank the 50 best episodes of The X-Files, a cult sci-fi series packed with paranormal investigations.

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.