This story contains spoilers for Grey’s Anatomy.
For over 20 seasons, Grey’s Anatomy has pulled on the heartstrings of millions of viewers who tune in to watch surgeon Meredith Grey and a cast of characters navigate countless dangerous and dramatic scenarios, medical and personal. With over 430 episodes, Grey’s has become the longest running primetime medical drama of all time for a reason: the bombs never stop dropping (or literally exploding) in the haunted halls of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.
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The first few seasons of the series are among its most watched, thanks to the unparalleled chemistry between the original five interns introduced in season 1. But Grey’s has much more to offer past Meredith, George, Cristina, Alex, and Izzie’s first months on the job, and plenty of the later seasons are well worth a watch. We decided to look back through the Grey’s archives, poring over stunning cliffhangers and wrenching cast sendoffs, to rank all 20 seasons and determine which one is the very best. To do so, we considered the number of standout episodes, the cast, and the seasons’ finales.
Here, every season of Grey’s Anatomy, ranked.
20. Season 11
The series’ first season without Cristina Yang is a bummer for many reasons, the biggest being that in an unthinkable twist, Derek Shepherd is killed off before the finale. While it proves to be a necessary reset for the series, his abrupt death undermines many of the season’s bigger plot developments. For most of season 11, Meredith and Derek were having very real arguments about ego, ambition, and work-life balance and it briefly seemed like they weren’t going to make it. He even kissed another woman! But everything is tied up too neatly and then he’s fatally hit by a semi-truck. What comes after is a slog to watch: a two-part episode that speeds through the next nine months, in which Meredith is MIA, so we spend a lot of unnecessary time with Ben and Bailey discussing their marriage in bed.
19. Season 14
This is a mish-mash of a season in which Amelia Shepherd’s character is completely rewritten when she discovers that she’s had a benign brain tumor for years and it’s greatly impacted her behavior and decision-making. Mostly, this season is ranked so low because Arizona Robbins and April Kepner were written off after having wonderful, complicated arcs that did not seem to be anywhere close to resolved. (Lucky for us they make guest appearances later on in the series, but still!)
18. Season 12
This is a boilerplate season with a few standout episodes. Among them is “The Sound of Silence,” directed by Denzel Washington, in which a newly widowed Meredith is attacked by a patient and has to have her jaw wired shut. Over the powerful episode, Meredith is forced to finally confront the anger she’s been carrying in the aftermath of Derek’s death. There’s also “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” which takes the doctors outside of the hospital to Meredith’s house for a dinner party for the ages, where an unexpected (and unwelcome) familiar face shows up. This season is also Callie’s last—and her sendoff is complicated by a nasty custody battle against Arizona over their daughter after the orthopedic surgeon decides to move to New York City.
17. Season 13
Meredith falls for the wrong guy, her sister Maggie’s latest crush and Owen’s arch nemesis, Nathan Riggs. After so much buildup to their eventual courtship, its quick dissolution in the matter of a few episodes is disappointing. But for Jackson and April fans, this season is huge: they have serious conversations about their relationship after the birth of their daughter Harriet in the season 12 finale.
16. Season 16
After committing insurance fraud, Meredith, Alex, and Richard are fired, setting up a season in which fan favorite doctors are not really involved in hospital shenanigans for a few episodes. This gives plenty of time to Amelia and Link and their blossoming relationship and allows necessary growth for Jo after a season of heartbreak (more on that later). The season also draws on the deep well of nostalgia associated with the series through the episode “My Shot,” in which several of Meredith’s old patients come to her defense as the medical board contemplates revoking her license. But it’s ultimately a low-ranked season because Alex is written off out of nowhere, just as Jo is learning to love herself again.
15. Season 20
The newest group of residents (more on them later) are up to some crazy antics in this 10-episode season (reduced in length due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes). Though Meredith’s only in half the season, she’s doing important work over in Boston, potentially undoing Derek’s legacy as she continues to work on her groundbreaking Alzheimer’s research. Her controversial findings set the stage for a big showdown against Catherine Avery.
14. Season 19
Grey’s has seen several rounds of new residents across the years and the batch introduced in season 19 are perhaps the best since the OGs. There’s Simone Griffith, Lucas Adams, Benson Kwan, Mika Yasuda, and Jules Millin, all doctors who wound up at Grey Sloan as a last resort. Their drama is juicy and they are funny to boot. This season also sees more Addison (who popped up in season 18 as well) in thrilling episodes about abortion care. Also, Meredith leaves Seattle (!) for Boston so her daughter can attend a more challenging school.
13. Season 17
The COVID-19 season of Grey’s was divisive. The pandemic was still going strong in the outside world, did we really need to see our favorite fictional doctors suffer, too? Meredith spends much of the season in a hospital bed hooked up to a ventilator after testing positive for COVID-19. But there was plenty of necessary joy in season 17, too. Stuck between living and dead, Meredith dreamed of her “afterlife beach,” where she was reunited with old friends and lovers. Chief among them: McDreamy. The show managed to keep Ellen Pompeo and Patrick Dempsey’s scenes a secret, so when Derek arrived, years after his final appearance in season 11, it was the best kind of surprising twist. More beloved (and deceased) characters—Mark Sloane, Lexie Grey, and George O’Malley—also made appearances.
12. Season 4
The interns finally become residents (except for George, who failed his exam) in season 4, which also sees the introduction of Meredith’s half-sister Lexie. With Burke gone, Erica Hahn becomes chief of cardio and starts getting close with Callie. Meredith and Derek are still in the throes of their will-they-won’t-they dynamic, culminating in the season finale when Meredith builds the iconic house of candles to profess her commitment to him. While this season has plenty of standout moments, there’s some charm lost after the original five interns are pulled in different directions.
11. Season 15
There’s a fun Meredith-DeLuca-Link love triangle going on this season, but the reason why it’s a cut above the rest of the back half of the series is because of Jo’s journey of self-discovery. The resident, who was left at a fire station as a newborn and raised in the foster care system, decides to find her birth mother. She ends up uncovering an awful truth about her past, and shuts out everyone in her life as a result. This is a backstory that’s told delicately and ends up having far-reaching consequences for the character. Simultaneously, Owen is dealing with baby mama drama as Teddy reveals she’s pregnant with his child just as he’s cozying up to Amelia again.
10. Season 6
The start to season 6 ushered in a new era of Grey’s. With George dead and Izzie fired from the hospital, the original group of interns are truly over as we knew them. It’s just Meredith, Alex, and Cristina left at Seattle Grace. There’s also the Mercy West merger (hello Jackson and April!) and the introduction of Teddy as chief of cardio. The drama is much more insular (no bombs or ferry explosions) until the season’s gutting end, which is one of the series’ very best. Unfurling in two installments, the tense tearjerker of a finale centers on a shooting in the hospital, with consequences that reverberate for years to follow.
9. Season 18
If you’re wondering how such a recent season made it so high up on this list, there’s one answer, and that’s Nick Marsh. Played by a very charming Scott Speedman, the transplant doctor that Meredith operates on in season 14 returns as the duo reunites in Minnesota. For the first time since Derek’s death, Meredith meets someone who can truly match her intellect, and supports her dreams. He’s also very patient with her. Finally, Meredith’s relentless streak of bad luck makes a turn for the better, and season 18 basically plays out like a rom-com for her and Nick. She also gets some much needed closure with Addison, who returns this season. Amelia also gets involved with someone new, Dr. Kai Bartley, a researcher on Meredith’s Parkinson’s project. Their relationship allows Amelia to explore her sexuality and gives her some refreshing clarity on what—and who—she wants in life.
8. Season 8
This is a banger of a season with one of the best casts of the series, a mix of OGs and fresh faces like Jackson, April, Teddy, and the short-lived Henry. Standout episodes include the two-part “Dark Was the Night” and “Suddenly,” which finds Meredith helping the victims of a car crash after her daughter’s adoption looks like it’s about to fall apart. There’s also “If/Then,” a hilarious sliding doors episode that envisions an alternate reality as Meredith wonders what her life would look like if her mother didn’t have Alzheimer’s. But even the most gripping scenes of the season are nothing compared to its finale, the iconic plane crash episode that leaves Meredith, Derek, Cristina, Arizona, Lexie, and Mark stranded in the woods in dire conditions. Though Grey’s is never afraid to kill off their series regulars—it’s still horrific and shocking when Lexie dies crushed under a piece of the airplane not even halfway through the finale.
7. Season 9
The trauma and financial implications of the plane crash touch nearly every episode of season 9. This is another turning point for the series: Callie and Arizona’s marriage falls apart after the latter’s leg is amputated following the crash, Jackson and April try to fight how they really feel about each other, and the hospital is put for sale due to the doctors’ lawsuit over being put on a faulty plane. But the season is not all doom and gloom as Bailey and Ben get married and Meredith and Derek have another baby. There are also new interns who have staying power as Jo Wilson, Stephanie Edwards, and Shane Ross start their first years at Seattle Grace.
6. Season 7
The aftermath of the shooting in season 6 plays out in devastating turns for every character at the hospital. Perhaps the most affecting storyline is that of Cristina, who operated on Derek with a gun pointed to her head. The unlikely duo end up spending a lot of time together as Derek takes Cristina under his wing (much to Meredith’s confusion) and they even go fishing together, in the quiet and moving episode “Adrift and at Peace.” The doctors are all making huge life decisions this season: Callie has Mark’s baby and later marries Arizona, and Meredith and Derek get married in order to adopt their daughter. Also, we can never forget the musical episode “Song Beneath the Song” that finds almost every doctor singing along to the songs that the show made famous.
5. Season 10
At the heart of Grey’s is a love story, and it’s never been between Meredith and Derek. It’s always been about the twisted sisters, and season 10 finds Meredith and Cristina at a crossroads: Meredith is struggling to balance work and motherhood, and Cristina is contemplating leaving Seattle for a new opportunity while juggling her relationship with Owen. They begin to grow apart and tensions start to rise that truly threaten the foundation of their friendship, leading to an epic fight where they yell at each other while being fitted for bridesmaids’ dresses. Their resolution is well-earned and ends with Cristina’s departure, a fitting goodbye between the two as they decide to dance it out one last time. This is also a huge season for Jackson and April—the former stops the latter’s wedding in a jaw-dropping twist, and April decides to leave her fiancée at the altar (poor Matthew) for the true love of her life.
4. Season 1
The season that started it all. The pilot is perfect. There’s an electricity moving between every character and especially between Meredith and Derek, whose chemistry is immediately palpable and feels familiar, even though the two meet just before Meredith’s first day at Seattle Grace. Though there’s plenty of drama this season, it’s certainly quieter than everything that follows, and the patient stories are particularly compelling, from a rhythmic gymnast with a brain aneurysm to a pregnant woman with breast cancer. The first twist in the series arrives at the season’s end as Addison Montgomery Shepherd appears at the hospital and delivers the shocking line to Meredith: “And you must be the woman who’s been screwing my husband.”
3. Season 3
The first three seasons of Grey’s follow the OG Magic Five in their intern year (save for George) and represent a defining era for Seattle Grace. They are still screwing a lot of things up, but also undergoing plenty of change. In season 3. George’s dad dies, Izzie confronts her grief after losing Denny, Meredith drowns and nearly dies, Alex falls in love, and Cristina is left at the altar on her wedding day to Burke. Katherine Heigl won an Emmy for this season of the show and it’s easy to see why, as Izzie confronts several elements of her past, including the daughter she gave up for adoption as a teenager, this season.
2. Season 5
Where were you when it was revealed that George was the unidentifiable man hit by a bus in the season 5 finale? This was a defining moment for the series, one that went down in the television history books as the episode ended with Izzie, who spent the season battling cancer, back in the dress she wore when Denny died, seeing George in his army uniform. Season 5 was full of these scenes that are foundational for the more than dozen seasons that follow, including Meredith and Derek’s Post-It note wedding. Plus, this is the beginning of Cristina and Owen’s tortured, years-long relationship.
1. Season 2
Season 2 takes the top spot because it contains the best episodes of the series, a stacked cast, incredible guest stars, and, of course, introduced the world to “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol. Let’s start with those episodes: premiering after the 2006 Super Bowl to the series’ largest audience (a whopping 38 million viewers), the two-part installment of “It’s the End of the World” and “As We Know It” finds Seattle Grace on lockdown. That’s because there’s a patient with unexploded ammunition in his chest—and a terrified paramedic, played by Christina Ricci, has her hand inside, holding the homemade bazooka steady. So the bomb squad is brought in, led by Dylan Young (Kyle Chandler), who has to instruct the doctors on how to proceed without blowing up the entire hospital. And that’s not all season 2 has to offer, as Izzie falls hard for her patient, Denny, leading her to make a brash decision that threatens the jobs of her fellow interns. There’s even more: Addison, one of the series’ best characters, is brought on full-time and her presence makes clear that things between her and Derek are much more complicated than Meredith ever could have anticipated.
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