The Daily Meal, the world’s largest food and drink lifestyle site, has unveiled its annual list of the 101 Best Pizzas in America. The top pizzas featured were spread all throughout the country, with this year’s list featuring 24 states.

"Our Mr. Bovino has selflessly devoted much of his life to the study of pizza," says Colman Andrews, editorial director of The Daily Meal. "He knows pizza like Clapton knows guitars. He lives and breathes pizza, and of course eats it every chance he gets. He'd walk a mile for a Margherita. If there were a Pizza Studies Department at Harvard, he'd be its Dean and its Distinguished Professor. You do not want to get into an argument about the finer points of pizza style with this guy, trust me; you'll just end up with mozzarella on your face."

The Daily Meal started with a list of 800 pizza places throughout the country, 100 more than last year, before eventually narrowing down to the 101 that made the list. The pizzas were chosen by a panel of experts, including The Daily Meal’s own in-house pizza experts and city editors. The rest of the 109-member panel was comprised of a geographically diverse collection of American chefs, restaurant critics, bloggers, writers and pizza authorities. Panelists included “The Pizza King” Dan Janssen, Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods, Los Angeles Times restaurant and Wine Critic S. Irene Virbila, and even the authority on pizzaology, “Blondie’s” Dagwood Bumstead.

“Putting together this year’s list of the best pizzas in America was an arduous process,” said Arthur Bovino, Executive Editor at The Daily Meal. “Of all the lists we put out each year, the pizza list definitely stirs up the most emotion in our readers, so we wanted to consider as many places as possible. The passionate feedback we receive shows us that there’s just something special about pizza.”

Of the 24 states that made the list, New York, the birthplace of American pizza, claimed 27 spots. After New York, the top five was rounded out by California (11), Connecticut (nine), Pennsylvania (seven), Illinois and Massachusetts (each six). Among the cities represented, New York City led the way with 23 pizza places included, followed by Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia tied at second with six spots each. 

The team at The Daily Meal encourages readers to provide feedback on the following list. Did your favorite pizza place make the cut? You can let The Daily Meal know which pizza on the list is your favorite — or if we missed one that you love — by tweeting @TheDailyMeal using the hashtag #101bestpizzas.