The ME262 was not that dominant because they weren’t that many of them. The Yak-3 was really good, despite the bad quality of the build.
Disagree on the Mig-21. There were just lots of them. The Mig-15 was much better during its time.
Spitfire and P-38 in WW2 merely because of their longevity.
The ME262 had horribly unreliable engines. It was an awesome breakthrough in many ways, but I see it more as a beta version that was forced into service because of the war.
Meanwhile, the Spitfire was an amazing design, but expensive. And they had to do some fancy stuff with the carbs to allow them to compete with the german injected engine planes.
In fact, as I’m typing this, I realize this whole thing is an exercise in futility because “best” can’t be nailed down. Technology constantly changes and, especially in wartime, designs come out that beat previous designs.
Heck, the zero was great partly because there was no extra weight for pilot protection. The Corsair was great except it couldn’t outturn a Zero, and get into a flat spin and you’ll learn why they called it the widowmaker.
I don’t see any as “best”. That said, there were a few that were terrible and should not have entered service. But at wartime sometimes you don’t get that luxury.