Inspired by this post on SciFi.SE, I went through the yearly reputation league to see who the best new user was each year -- the user with the highest reputation for that year, who was not previously ranked.
Last year's winner is Sergey Zolotarev, with both the highest rank, and the highest single-year score of any new user since the site was started:
Congrats!
Below is complete data from the site's inception:
| Year | User | Year rank | Year reputation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Sergey Zolotarev | 2 | 1,178 |
| 2020 | gabt | 15 | 282 |
| 2019 | juhist | 4 | 588 |
| 2018 | Salt | 4 | 878 |
| 2017 | Jennifer Rae Pierce | 5 | 487 |
| 2016 | LShaver | 5 | 1,111 |
| 2015 | Fred | 5 | 901 |
| 2014 | Kate Gregory | 8 | 807 |
| 2013 | 410 gone | 1 | 4,724 |
