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In moments of crisis, the journalistic urge to chronicle and memorialize becomes a kind of civic duty. That’s what 2020 was for “The Daily.” A rolling catastrophe that summoned us — to track down the most memorable characters, the most searing sounds, the most unforgettable scenes.

That’s what we tried to do, day after day, for the past 12 months. What follows is a list of what we think are our best shows of the year:

The pandemic

The pandemic is a story of unrelenting awfulness: lockdowns, infections and death. But it was also a story of resilience, and, in rare cases, joy. These episodes tell both stories — making them worth revisiting, even months later.

1. Finding the voice that could calm amid crisis

This was an unusual episode for us. The central event occurred half a century ago. But the parallels between the life-altering catastrophe that befell Anchorage in 1964 and the pandemic felt unmistakable, a connection captured in the opening words of “This is Chance!,” the book by Jon Mooallem that inspired the episode:

“There are moments when the world we take for granted instantaneously changes; when reality is abruptly upended and the unimaginable overwhelms real life. We don’t walk around thinking about that instability, but we know it’s always there: at random, and without warning, a kind of terrible magic can switch on and scramble our lives.”

Genie Chance’s voice steadied Alaska after an earthquake, and, for a moment, it steadied us too.

— Michael Barbaro, host of “The Daily”

Learn more about the episode.

2. Going to the heart of the crisis in Italy

I remember exactly when I realized that the coronavirus was about to change all of our lives: The morning of Feb. 27, 2020, when Donald G. McNeil Jr. came on “The Daily” and said that this thing was serious — that it had most likely spread further than we know and that it was something we needed to start preparing for right now.

Just a few weeks later, as new travel restrictions and forced business closures began spreading through the United States, and with more and more Americans concerned we might be overreacting, we interviewed a doctor in Italy trying to care for the overwhelming number of coronavirus patients that he was seeing every day. There was no way for me to hear his account and remain confused as to why we all needed to protect the most vulnerable. — Andy Mills, a producer

Learn more about the episode.

3. Offering a bit of relief

Gregg Breinberg and the chorus of Public School 22 on Staten Island reminded me that we can still find meaningful ways to connect in the midst of Covid. After listening to Mr. Breinberg inspire his students, and lead them through a pandemic, I was left only wishing I had him as my teacher. I still think about this episode from time to time. — Laura Kim, an editorial manager

Learn more about the episode.

4. Honoring the lives of those we’ve lost

Barbara Krupke won the lottery. Fred Walter Gray enjoyed his bacon and hash browns crispy. Orlando Moncada crawled through a hole in a fence to reach the United States. John Prine chronicled the human condition. Cornelia Ann Hunt left the world with gratitude.

“We made this episode after we lost 100,000 people to coronavirus in the United States. In doing so, we broke form, took a chance and made something entirely different than we’ve ever made before. Months later, this audio portrait is still a powerful vigil honoring — and celebrating — these lives.” — Lynsea Garrison, a producer

Learn more about the episode.

Protests against racial inequity

How do you cover the effects of centuries of systemic racism? By listening closely to those affected by it. This summer, we captured the sounds of the Black Lives Matter movement, unprecedented in scale, by traveling to the protests’ front lines. Then, we spoke with Black police officers and union leaders at the center of the debate over defunding.

5. Recording protesters on the front lines

The protests after the killing of George Floyd brought thousands of people out to the streets — some for the very first time — to voice the intensity of their emotional responses. This episode captured that moment through voices from across the country and across generations, showing that those feelings of anger and pain weren’t just for Mr. Floyd, but for many Americans who’ve experienced the effects of racial injustice and inequality. — Sydney Harper, a producer

Learn more about the episode.

6. Calling the subjects of the protests themselves

A summer of protesting raised one critical, and widely debated, question: What should the role of the police in America be?

In the process, many wondered whether the culture of policing can be changed or if the system needs to be reimagined entirely. We decided to talk to an officer leading one of the country’s largest police unions. “This was a conversation I hadn’t heard anywhere else, and it came right when I needed to hear it. It was an interview that sought to understand but also hold power to account,” Eric Krupke, a producer, said.

Later, in our episode “Who Replaces Me,” we spoke with one Black officer in Flint, Mich., and heard him “grapple with the immense pressure Black police officers are under to carry the torch. The episode explores how excruciating it must feel to dedicate your entire life to something and not be sure if you made a real difference.” — Lynsea Garrison, a producer

Politics and power dynamics

This year began (in what feels like a decade ago) with the United States on the brink of war with Iran and President Trump impeached by the House of Representatives. It concluded with Joe Biden as president-elect of the United States. In the interim, the world reckoned with power — who wields it, how and why. To answer these questions, we investigated the political turmoil at home, traveling to 16 states for our series “The Field” in the lead up to the presidential election. But we also looked beyond the United States to tell these stories, meeting extraordinary people through dispatches examining power around the world.

7. Capturing America’s fear

This episode about an uptick in gun sales ahead of the 2020 presidential elections gave me such a human sense of fear in this country. — Lynsea Garrison, a producer

This is just about the platonic ideal of what we were trying to do in our series “The Field”: offer a high-stakes episode with two very different perspectives told with clear eyes and contrasting tones. It was done very, very deftly. — Daniel Guillemette, a producer

Learn more about the episode.

8. Interviewing Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer

The end of this episode will forever be burned into my memory. I helped produce this episode and I will never forget the feeling in the studio when Megan Twohey, an investigative reporter, asked Donna Rotunno, the lawyer behind Harvey Weinstein’s legal strategy during his monthlong trial, which ended with his conviction for a felony sex crime and rape: “I had another question, which was whether or not you’ve been sexually assaulted.”

Ms. Rotunno replied, “I have not.” She then said, “Because I would never put myself in that position.” We scrambled to keep her talking. After the interview, I said “This interview is going to make news.” And it sure did. — Alexandra Leigh Young, a producer

Listening to Megan interview Donna was like watching an elephant and a narwhal play tennis. It’s unlikely, riveting — and quite strange. — Bianca Giaever, a producer

Learn more about the episode.

9. Following one man’s quest for freedom

This episode took me inside the world of who most people hear about only in the headlines. Then, in getting to know him, I got to experience his personality like it was almost fictional. — Rachelle Bonja, a producer

It was great to hear him say at the end that he knew what he was in for and he didn’t care. That was pretty inspiring. — Alix Spiegel, an editor

Learn more about the episode.

10. Listening to life under the Taliban

Mujib Mashal, previously our senior correspondent in Afghanistan, was the perfect person to tell this story. The images that stuck with me are as much from his own telling of his childhood growing up in the country under the Taliban. The apple tree the rocket cut through, the wall his dad built to hide their television, home to his rabbit cartoons; the turban he avoided wearing as a student for as long as possible so he wouldn’t be mistaken during airstrikes. Mujib could hold this memory and understanding, and tell it — alongside the geopolitical implications of this moment — with such nuance, humility and heartbreaking poetry. — Sindhu Gnanasambandan, a producer

Learn more about the episode.

The Daily is made by Theo Balcomb, Andy Mills, Lisa Tobin, Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Annie Brown, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Larissa Anderson, Wendy Dorr, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, Kelly Prime, Sindhu Gnanasambandan, M.J. Davis Lin, Austin Mitchell, Neena Pathak, Dan Powell, Dave Shaw, Sydney Harper, Daniel Guillemette, Hans Buetow, Robert Jimison, Mike Benoist, Bianca Giaever, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Alix Spiegel, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano and Soraya Shockley. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Mikayla Bouchard, Lauren Jackson, Julia Simon, Mahima Chablani, Nora Keller, Sofia Milan and Desiree Ibekwe.