The definitive ranking of every season of "American Horror Story" from worst to best

While I am well aware that I’m late to the game when it comes to watching “American Horror Story,” brought to life by Ryan Murphy in 2011, I pre-gamed for the spooky season by finally watching every season, from “Murder House” to the currently airing season, “Double Feature.” 

I absolutely fell in love with this show’s writing, acting and costumes. Ryan Murphy has a fun way of bringing in real-life historical events and then twisting them to fit within the frame of the show. Each season is a standalone story, and after much deliberation, I have come up with a definitive ranking of all the seasons. 

10. Cult (Season 7)

While I understand what Murphy was trying to do with this season, releasing it in 2017 to grapple with the Presidential election that brought us President Donald Trump, I think a lot of this season fell flat and was not well thought out. 

Many of the characters’ journeys did not make sense. How did Winter, played by Billie Lourd, go from devastated by Clinton’s loss in the Presidential election to part of her brother’s Trump-supporting cult? Evan Peters did a great job playing not only Kai, the cult leader and villain of the season but other real-life cult leaders as well like Charles Manson, Jim Jones and David Koresh. However, a lot of this season felt like Murphy wanted a reason to show historical events featuring famous cult leaders while doing little to explain the plot of the season consisely.

What was with the pinky thing? Why were people worshipping Kai in the first place? Although the ending of this season was pretty satisfying, there was truly a lack of forethought overall, which is why I had to put it last on my rankings. 

9. Roanoke (Season 6)

This season was one that I was looking forward to, as it is based on the Legend of Roanoke Island, also referred to as the “Lost Colony” of Roanoke. This legend states a group of English settlers vanished under mysterious circumstances, leaving behind only a single word carved into a tree – “Croatoan.”

Using this legend that has been told since the 1590s as the inspiration for this season was a great idea on Murphy’s part. However, I felt like the plot made very little sense by the end of the season, leaving the ending unsatisfying. The show took a completely different format this season. The first half of the season is a documentary called “My Roanoke Nightmare.” We see Shelby and Matt Miller, played by Lily Rabe and André Holland, recounting their story of buying a house on Roanoke Island and somehow managing to survive the ghosts of the Colony of Roanoke continuously trying to kill them. 

Sarah Paulson and Cuba Gooding Jr. play actors who star as Shelby and Matt in the reenactment scenes for the documentary. This part of the season was truly terrifying and captivating, and they probably should have ended it there. Instead, they continued by having all of the characters return to the Roanoke house for another kind of reality show where the characters end up having to fight for their lives. The ending of the season felt like a stretch and left much to be desired.

8. Hotel (Season 5)

This season is loosely based on the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, California, which is rumored to be haunted. People have died in the hotel and serial killers have stayed there, which Ryan Murphy brings into this season’s plot. However, there was a lot going on this season — maybe too much. 

Vampires, serial killers, kidnapped children and ghosts all make their way into the plot. While Lady Gaga and Matt Bomer did an excellent job as the main vampires of the season, the serial killer twist felt unfinished. It fell really flat because it wasn’t very believable.

I think I would have enjoyed this season more had they focused on one plot point and really fleshed it out as opposed to having multiple plots going on at the same time. This was also the first season after Jessica Lange’s departure and her absence was loud.  

7. 1984 (Season 9)

This season was the first season not to feature Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson. It played off of a typical 80’s horror film and followed a group of friends from Los Angeles to a sleepaway camp where they would be working for the summer. 

This camp was the site of a massacre where counselors had been killed, and this was the first year the camp would be reopened. Like “Hotel,” there were a few different plotlines going on – from the camp murders to a riff on the story of real-life serial killer Richard Ramirez.

However, unlike “Hotel,” all of these plots worked well together and didn’t feel like different stories that happened to be going on in the same season. The twists this season were satisfying, and the ending was really enjoyable.

6. Double Feature (Season 10)

Even though this season is currently airing, meaning I haven’t seen the ending, I’m still rating it at number six. This season is taking a different route than normal and is featuring two stories. The first story wrapped up two weeks ago, and was about a black pill that would amplify your talent, but also gave you a craving for blood.

This story had my jaw dropping to the floor more than once and did a really good job creating shocking moments that you don’t see coming. While we obviously don’t know exactly where the second story is going, this one being about aliens shot in black and white, the big reveal in the first episode was completely shocking and I have never been more excited to see where the story is going. That is why I rated it in sixth place; however, depending on how the rest of the season plays out, it could very well move up in the rankings. 

5. Asylum (Season 2)

This season was definitely one of the eeriest, and like "Hotel,” probably had too many plots going on. However, unlike “Hotel,” the plot points all worked together seamlessly, but they did not have enough time within the allotted episodes to fully flesh out each plot. The season begins with an alien abduction, which claims the wife of Kit Walker, played by Evan Peters. He is then wrongly convicted of her murder and placed in the asylum, ran by Sister Jude Martin, played by Jessica Lange. 

Lange truly brings her all to this season, playing a woman who you love to hate, but are also subsequently rooting for by the end. This plot brings in many different historical references, like human experiments performed by Nazis as well as the imprisonment of gay people in asylums under false pretenses. I truly love this season. 

However, I rated it in fifth place, because like “Hotel,” there were too many plot points going on at the same time. If they had time to wrap every plot point up it would have been higher up on the list. However, we didn’t really get an ending to the Nazi portion, and the audience is definitely left wondering about the aliens and why Kit was so important to them.   

4. Murder House (Season 1)

This is the season that started it all! 

This season is loosely based on the real-life story of the Los Feliz Murder House. This season follows the Harmon family who moves into a house that has a history of the death of its residents after Ben, played by Dylan McDermott, cheats on his wife, Vivien, played by Connie Britton. While this is a great season to kick off the series, and there are a lot of twists throughout, my only reason for rating it at four and not higher is because of its predictability. 

I guessed what is supposed to be the big reveal almost off the bat. While I actually did enjoy “Asylum” more than “Murder House”, I rated “Murder House” higher because the plot points were more wrapped up than the following season. This is definitely an important season too because not only is the house and Sarah Paulson’s Billie Dean Howard brought into later seasons, Murphy also brings the Murder House back for a few episodes in his Hulu spin-off series, “American Horror Stories.”

3. Coven (Season 3)

“Coven” is a season I recommend everyone to watch, even if you aren’t a fan of horror. This is the first season that Emma Roberts, who plays the witch you love to hate named Madison Montgomery, is introduced. Also being introduced are Kathy Bates who plays real-life New Orleans serial killer, Madame Delphine LaLaurie, and Gabourey Sidibe, who plays the witch Queenie. 

This witch has the coolest power of any witch, as she is basically a living voodoo doll. Between Sarah Paulson’s Cordelia, Jessica Lange’s Fiona, and Frances Conroy’s Myrtle Snow, this is definitely a season with the most beloved characters. I’d go as far as to say that this is the first season where you love and are invested in every single character, no matter how evil or good they are. The plot of this season is also succinct and Murphy doesn’t bite off more than he can chew. 

All of the plotlines are wrapped up in a nice bow by the end of the season, and the audience isn’t left to wonder about anything. Stevie Nicks even makes an appearance this season! What is there not to love about “Coven”?

2. Freak Show (Season 4)

This season is about human oddities in a traveling freak show and features one of the scariest villains, Twisty the killer clown. Elsa Mars, played by Jessica Lange, is the creator of the freak show and is a woman who, above all else, dreams of being famous. 

This is one of Lange’s best characters throughout the series who has many different layers, some with bad intentions and some that pull on your heartstrings. We get musical numbers this season, which fit in well with the plot, and she does an incredible job with singing. This season also features Sarah Paulson’s Bette and Dot, conjoined twins who Mars brings into the freak show, but she becomes extremely jealous of as they begin to impede on her spotlight. 

The season is also somewhat of a prequel season to “Asylum,” as we see multiple characters from “Asylum” make an appearance in the season set years before it takes place. We see how Pepper ends up placed in the Asylum, and it helps to wrap up some questions you didn’t even know you had after watching “Asylum.” This is the first season that brings back characters from a previous season, and that was really fun to see as a viewer. 

1. Apocalypse (Season 8)

“Apocalypse,” in my opinion, is hands down the greatest season of the series. This season brings back many beloved characters from “Coven” and “Murder House,” and is the first appearance Lange makes on the show in years, reprising her role of Constance Langdon. 

In this season, we see the witches from “Coven” trying to save the world from the apocalypse brought on by the Antichrist. In their attempt to save the world they must first visit the Murder House to find out more information on the Antichrist to defeat him. Without giving too much away, this season has one of the best endings of any season and also leaves it on a bit of a cliffhanger. Will we get to see the witches from “Coven” for part three? We can only hope. 

“American Horror Story” is currently streaming on Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Netflix. New episodes air Wednesdays at 10 pm on FX.