The end of December is the traditional time for looking back and taking stock of the year that was. You won't find many positive assessments on 2016 — especially from those who aren't fans of orange tans and comb-overs. 

It may have generally been pretty dreary, but there were some bright spots from the arts and culture articles we published this year. 

The usual thing to do for these lists is to start at the bottom and work up to number one. Given the national outpouring of grief and the number of times he pulled our heart strings, I didn't think it would be right to start anywhere other than our post on Gord Downie, the tops arts story of the year.

Okay, so this is more culture-adjacent, but if 2017 is going to be the year marijuana is legalized in Canada, then 2016 was the year many jumped the gun. And, of course, our guide to six uptown marijuana dispensaries was remarkably popular.

What could be closer to Toronto's cultural heart than the romance between new Leaf Brooks Laich and his wife, actress Julianne Hough? Apparently, not much.

Actually, it was a banner year for our How They Met series. Installments about Global's Carolyn Mackenzie, CTV's Lindsey Deluce and Global's Farah Nasser all earned spots on the top-eight list.

TFC had an outstanding season and made it further into their playoff run than any other Toronto sports team has in a while. No surprise then that our story on Andi Pedrillo and Jon Conway also found a devoted audience.

And just as Toronto has two sports teams on the list, Canada also has two national rock bands. Many of you followed along as we check in with Jim Cuddy about the greatest love song in Canadian history and all things growing up in Toronto