I searched far and wide for lists of best romance or romantic movies of all time. Criteria included the movies being ranked, not just listed, and covering all time, not just a decade. The lists were generally created by groups, whether teams or committees or based on general public voting (like Ranker.com).

I was able to find 24 lists. I took the 24 lists and added all their content into a spreadsheet, noting the rank of every film. The total number was over 1,200 including all the repeats. I experimented with different formulas, trying to balance the value of being ranked high on any list and being included on the most lists. I ended up averaging the rankings each movie got (there were 225 that were on at least 2 lists) and dividing that average by the number of lists that movie was on. The lowest score meant a high ranking average on many lists. The complete spreadsheet is attached at the bottom.

The movies that were on the most lists (out of 24) were:

  • The Notebook (2004) – 19 lists
  • Casablanca (1942) – 18 lists
  • When Harry Met Sally (1989) – 17 lists
  • Titanic (1997) – 17 lists
  • Dirty Dancing (1987) – 13 lists
  • Gone with the Wind (1939) – 12 lists
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) – 12 lists
  • Pretty Woman (1990) – 12 lists
  • Brokeback Mountain (2005) – 12 lists
  • A Star Is Born (2018) – 12 lists

Here are links to the lists I used along with dates the lists were created:

Best-Romance-Movies-of-All-TimeDownload