I wish I could vote for Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell a million times.

Amen.

If it's the best of the 21st century, why is "Lord of the Rings" on here?

These all were published before the year 2000:

The Lord of the Rings
Neverwhere
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The Sandman, The Dream Hunters
Wizard and Glass
The Darkest Road
Support Your Local Wizard
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever
The Eye of the World
The Fionavar tapestry
The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
Tigana
Winter's Tale
Darkfall
Gardens of the Moon
Daughter of the Forest
The Wood Wife

That's 17 out of the currently 84 books, or 1/5th of the books. Try harder people.

Beggars in Spain is not fantasy.

I'm pretty sure The Host by Stephanie Meyer is sci-fi, not fantasy.

Had to cut A Clash of Kings as it was published in 1997, The Thief as it was published in 1996, The Light Bearer as it was published in 1994, The Dragon Waiting : A Masque of History as it was published in 1983, The Land of Laughs as it was published in 1980, and Wild Seed because it was published in 1980.

I also removed the Viriconium omnibus as not only was it first published in 1988, but the individual novels it consists of were published in 1971, 1980, 1982, and 1984 respectively.

Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was by Angélica Gorodischer was originally published in 1983 as Kalpa Imperial - El Imperio Mas Vasto. I haven't removed it yet because it wasn't translated to English until 2003, so I thought I'd ask for some feedback before I cut it.

Same issue for Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko, published as Nochnoi Dozor in 1998 but translated in 2006.

It really amazes me how so many people, particularly on a site dedicated to reading, seem to lack the ability to comprehend what they read. It's like some people just see a list for fantasy and don't bother to read the rest and just throw whatever fantasy book they love on there whether it fits the list or not.

I would like to say something. Some of these books are not fantasy so I have no idea where they came from. No offence though...

I cleaned out the obvious non-fantasy ones.

The first two volumes of His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife) were both published before 2000.

If it were possible, I would include high on my list Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files taken as a unit. Together, the individual novels are an impressive achievement. Each novel makes up a complete story in itself, but it is also part of an overarching narrative. If Butcher maintains the quality as his project continues, I believe the series is destined to be a perennial classic.