Every Season Of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Ranked According To IMDb

Thanks to the amusingly selfish main cast, the hot topic subject matter of the episodes, and the bizarre recurring characters, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia has been the favorite show of millions for more than fourteen years at this point. And unlike most other shows, it has barely seen a drop-off in quality whatsoever.

The variation in quality from season to season is so incremental that the difference between the very worst and the very best season is minuscule, and there are 14 whole seasons. The show’s longevity is one of the ways it’s the best sitcom on TV right now.

Updated on November 17, 2021, by Kevin Pantoja: Recently, it was announced that It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is going to make history. It was renewed for four additional seasons, which will bring its total to 18. That will take it even further as the longest-running live-action sitcom in American television history. Considering the fact that the quality remains remarkably consistent over about a decade and a half to this point, it makes it even more difficult to pinpoint what the best season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia actually is. It’ll also likely get you in the perfect mood to rewatch the best episodes ahead of the Season 15 premiere.

14 Season 13 (7.9)

Season 13 features some of the lowest-rated episodes of Always Sunny, including “The Gang Beats Boggs: Ladies Reboot.” An all-female version of the well-received earlier episode is a great idea on paper but the execution lacked in the minds of many viewers.

However, even being the worst of the entire series, season 13 is full of interesting episodes that still bring fresh ideas to the show. The season features “Time’s Up For The Gang,” wherein they are all forced to attend a sexual harassment seminar and this average rating further proves how great this series is.

13 Season 14 (8.22)

Though it’s technically one of the worst seasons, season 14 is arguably the most consistent, as there isn’t a single episode below 8.0. The thing holding it back is that it never quite reaches the heights of the best seasons either.

The crown jewel of the season is “The Janitor Always Mops Twice,” which turns the show into a parody of 1940s noir movies and is one of the reasons it’s one of the funniest Always Sunny episodes.

12 Season 1 (8.3)

As this is where it all started, Always Sunny premiered with a slew of controversial episodes right out of the gate. In fact, it arguably remains the most controversial season, as the episodes tackle racism, abortion, and it even features Charlie pretending to have cancer.

The season is hilarious, but with the absence of Danny DeVito and being fairly grounded in reality compared to the later seasons, it doesn’t quite feel totally like the Always Sunny that fans have come to love.

11 Season 7 (8.41)

Season 7 is famous for Mac putting on a ton of weight, and as actor Rob McElhenney actually put on the weight in real life, it parodies real-life actors putting on weight for dramatic roles in a meta kind of way.

It’s one of the many great things about the season, but best of all is that it houses arguably the best episode ever, “Chardee McDennis: The Game Of Games.” Seeing these characters interact with a wacky game made for some truly hilarious moments.

10 Season 6 (8.41)

With the season premiere being the most controversial of the series in a few years, as Mac fights gay rights (despite being in the closet himself), it starts off big.

Dee is pregnant throughout the season, and it’s one of the most interesting season arcs of them all. The season ends just as well as it began too, as “A Very Sunny Christmas” is one of the very best season finales. All in all, it makes for a season ranked among the show’s best.

9 Season 11 (8.48)

Being one of the best of the later seasons, it gets off to a great start with “Chardee McDennis 2: Electric Boogaloo,” providing a sequel to a classic. It also goes on to feature some of the most bizarre and fantastical episodes of the entire series.

The most absurd of them all is likely “Charlie Catches A Leprechaun,” which sees the gang literally finding a leprechaun and holding him captive. It’s one of their most unexpected adventures.

8 Season 10 (8.48)

Season 10 is full of classic episodes, including “The Gang Beats Boggs,” which has influenced a ton of copycats, and “The Gang Goes On Family Fight,” which has a great guest feature from Keegan-Michael Key.

With Charlie actually doing his job being one of the reasons why he’s a better character than Mac, and maybe the best character of the whole show, it all comes to its apex with “Charlie Work,” the highest-rated episode of Always Sunny ever, with a score of 9.8. The way the installment centered around how Charlie keeps things together and goes underappreciated, all shown in an impressive one-shot.

7 Season 8 (8.5)

Being home to “The Gang Gets Analyzed,” which has become one of Frank’s best episodes, season 8 of the series has a ton of great Frank moments. He’s likely the star of this set of episodes.

The season also includes “The Gang Dines Out,” where he and Charlie are at a standoff against Mac and Dennis, but end up bonding by harassing and assaulting an innocent civilian, as they always do.

6 Season 12 (8.58)

Between Dennis leaving the show and Cricket’s downward spiral somehow getting even worse, Season 12 has quite a few questionable and baffling moments.

However, the reason it’s so much higher than other classic seasons is that it’s propped up by some episodes that became instant classics. “The Gang Goes To A Water Park” is one of the most hilariously grotesque episodes of television ever, and “Hero Or Hate Crime” includes the now-iconic workout bike, the Ass-Pounder 4000.

5 Season 2 (8.6)

Season 2 marked the biggest improvement the show would ever see and significantly increased the quality of the show. Danny DeVito was introduced as Frank, Dennis and Dee’s father.

Though season 1 was great without DeVito, his character of Frank, who keeps the rest of the gang in check and at bay while at the same time being just as wild and selfish as the rest of them, has become one of the best things about the show.

4 Season 9 (8.62)

On top of featuring the now-classic episode, “The Gang Gets Quarantined,” which is full of moments that are peak 2020 for obvious reasons, season 9 sees each character get their own personal best episode.

“The Gang Broke Dee” proves that Kaitlin Olson is arguably the funniest character among the hilarious cast and “Flowers For Charlie” sees everyone believe the character is a genius. Plus, there’s more Lethal Weapon greatness, which is always welcome on this series.

3 Season 3 (8.62)

Always Sunny entered its golden age in season 3, as it kept its hilariously controversial narratives and built on the fascinating recurring characters. Ever since the McPoyles were introduced in season 1, the two weird, milk-loving brothers have been among  the best recurring characters of the series.

Their peak episode features in season 3, as “The Gang Gets Held Hostage” is one of the most memorable installments. The season is also the longest of the whole series, as it lasts for 15 episodes.

2 Season 5 (8.65)

“Paddy’s Pub: Home Of The Original Kitten Mittens” possibly has the most memorable soft opening of the series, as Charlie shows the gang a commercial he shot for the cats’ footwear, and the gang is just as confused as the viewer.

It’s one of Charlie’s best episodes, and the season also includes “The D.E.N.N.I.S. System” and “The Gang Hits The Road,” but the whole season is hilarious from start to finish.

1 Season 4 (8.66)

It doesn’t get better than season 4. It features “Sweet Dee Has A Heart Attack,” the episode that houses the infamous meme of Charlie in front of a corkboard full of strings and pictures as he’s trying to solve a mystery.

And, of course, the season ends with one of the greatest finales of all time, “The Nightman Cometh,” a dark musical with a ton of depth, which actually became a real-life musical for a short amount of time.