The results are in. 97 Afterworders voted for a total of 612 albums, The scoring mechanism really focussed the mind. It was possible to get into the top fifty with just two votes, yet Mogwai’s Atomic languished in 61st place with ten votes. Where there is a tie for points, I’ve given the higher place to the album attracting more votes.
@salwarpe will be adding colour and flavour, comparing and contrasting different scoring systems. Still, there is a very clear winner no matter what system is used.
Here is the official top ten Afterword Albums of 2016:
1. David Bowie – Blackstar 703 points (48 votes)
2. Leonard Cohen – You Want It Darker 330 (29)
3. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool 274 (31)
4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree 252 (26)
5. Michael Kiwanuka – Love And Hate 252 (21)
6. Teenage Fanclub – Here 177 (20)
7. Paul Simon – Stranger To Stranger 169 (17)
8. Wilco – Schmilco 128 (14)
9. Case/Lang/Viers 115 (17)
10. The Avalanches – Wildflower 112 (10)
You can view everyone’s votes on the link.
Happy New Year!
https://theafterword.co.uk/the-afterword-best-albums-of-2016-poll/
The Official Top Fifty:
1. David Bowie – Blackstar 703 points (48 votes)
2. Leonard Cohen – You Want It Darker 330 (29)
3. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool 274 (31)
4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree 252 (26)
5. Michael Kiwanuka – Love And Hate 252 (21)
6. Teenage Fanclub – Here 177 (20)
7. Paul Simon – Stranger To Stranger 169 (17)
8. Wilco – Schmilco 128 (14)
9. Case/Lang/Viers 115 (17)
10. The Avalanches – Wildflower 112 (10)
11. Big Big Train – Folklore 105 (10)
12. King Creosote – Astronaut Meets Appleseed 105 (9)
13. Lucinda Williams – Ghosts Of Highway 20 101 (13)
14. Ben Watt – Fever Dream 101 (7)
15. Allen Toussaint – American Tunes 96 (7)
16. Drive-By Truckers – American Band 91 (10)
17. Goat – Requiem 89 (9)
18. Agnes Obel- Citizen Of Glass 88 (12)
19. Ryley Walker – Golden Sings That Have Been Sung 85 (11)
20. Lambchop – FLOTUS 84 (13)
21. Iggy Pop – Post-Pop Depression 80 (10)
22. The Monkees – Good Times 80 (9)
23. A Tribe Called Quest – We Got It From Here… Thank You For Your Service 79 (7)
24. The Rolling Stones – Blue & Lonesome 77 (13)
25. Field Music – Common Time 77 (6)
26. PJ Harvey – The Hope Six Demolition Project 76 (12)
27. Dawes – We’re All Gonna Die 76 (5)
28. Meilyr Jones -2013 75 (4)
29. Black Mountain – IV 73 (7)
30. Kate Bush – Before The Dawn 67 (5)
31. Melanie De Biasio – Blackened Cities 62 (6)
32. Johann Johannsson – Orpee 61 (9)
33. Cavern Of Anti-Matter – Void Beats/Invocation Trex 58 (9)
34. Teleman – Brilliant Sanity 55 (5)
35. Hayes Carll – Lovers And Leavers 55 (3)
36. Steve Mason – Meet The Humans 54 (8)
37. M83 – Junk 52 (5)
38. Bon Iver – 22, A Million 50 (7)
39. Frank Ocean – Blond 49 (7)
40. William Bell – This Is Where I Live 48 (3)
41. Beyonce – Lemonade 45 (5)
42. Van Der Graaf Generator – Do Not Disturb 44 (3)
43. The Divine Comedy – Foreverland 43 (5)
44. Jan Lundgren, Paolo Fresu & Richard Galliono – Mare Nostrum II 43 (2)
44. Lori McKenna – The Bird And The Rifle 43 (2)
44. Various Artists – The Songs Of Del Amitri Pasted Beyond Recognition 43 (2)
47. Sturgill Simpson – A Sailer’s Guide To Earth 42 (12)
48. Pet Shop Boys – Super 42 (5)
49. Brian Eno – The Ship 41 (9)
50. De La Soul – And The Anonymous Nobody 40 (4)
The following albums only attracted one vote but were that voter’s number one, earning 25 points and joint 95th place:
Band Of Skulls – By Default
Brad Mehldau Trio – Blues And Ballads
Chris Robinson Brotherhood – If You Lived Here, You Would Be Home By Now
Crater – Talk To Me So I Can Fall Asleep
Gabriel Bruce – Come All Sufferers
Iiris Viljanen – Mercedes
Kris Drever – If Wishes Were Horses
Laura Gibson – Empire Builder
The Low Anthom – Eyeland
Paperface – Out Of Time
Phish – Big Boat
So who else voted for The Lemon Twigs?
And many thanks for all your hard work.
Handsome.P.Wonderful ranked it at number 8 for the year.
Many thanks. I always knew he had taste.
Thank you ip. You’ve always been my favourite.
I have 8 of the top 10 and that quite simply will not do, I want to be different where`s my `Crazy Henry & His Dancing Poodles` LP.
Good work Tiggs, I have first hand experience of conducting such a poll and it can be a thankless task.
I haven`t looked at the lower listings yet but am about to do so once again thanks and also to @salwarpe.
Excellent work – well done. I really must get around to listening to more of Blackstar. And maybe the Lenny album – I didn’t bother as the last one got the full Emperor’s New Clothes and I found it a bit meh.
I like Leonard Cohen in theory but the voice? Just no. It’s not pleasant to listen to and no amount of plaudits is going to make me enjoy it.
His voice is the most astonishing thing about the album. When it comes in on the first line its like God’s line right to yer lugholes. I pity the fool
I’ll give it a shot now the dust has settled.
I’m with DFB on this. Len’s voice is astonishing.
I have just looked at the results of last year`s poll where 90 AW`s voted for 341 different albums but were only allowed 10 selections (1 point each), so it looks like more AW`s had similar choices this year than last. Here`s a link.
Looking at this year`s list I`m surprised that Steve Mason`s `Meet The Humans` was only at 36 but I didn`t vote for it, I thought it was a 2015 release. Had I realised it would have been in my top 10.
Looking back, I think the albums in this year are much better than 2015. OOAA.
I agree Tiggs, that was the first impression I got.
Beyoncé wuz robbed!
(Good work tigs, thank you for all your hard work.)
Only in the Afterword? Beyonce and Van der Graaf Generator running neck and neck!! Uncertain whether I am pleased or disappointed to have 30% of the top 50.
Well done, Tiggs, pour yourself a large folkrock.
26 out of 50 but disappointed I completely forgot about the Day of the Dead compilation which would certainly have appeared in my top 10 and would have moved it up the chart a little.
This must have been a monumental task so thanks to Tiggerlion and Salwarpe.
Brilliant work Tigger. It is an interestingly varied list Thanks a lot for all your hard work and for encouraging me to vote.
I’m glad you did. King Creosote would have dropped ten places to number 22 without you.
KC was the last artist I saw live this year and it was a really enjoyable show. Love that album and am very chuffed I was able to give it a push in the right direction.
He’s playing Brum in 3 weeks time. How does he do it? Full band, tapes, synths??
I was a little apprehensive myself, Retro. And continued to be so when I saw a rather bare stage on arrival. I need not have been.
With him on guitar, a djembe played in a restrained, very un African way and a keyboard player, he creates a highly suggestive soundscape. Maybe a purist who wants a gig to sound as much like the album as possible would have had grumbles? I thought it worked very well.
Thanks for that Tigger.
No debut albums in the list?
Is Case/Lang/Viers a debut?
That Cavern of Anti-Matter album is their debut. It’s also the only thing I voted for that made the Top 50!
Thanks Tigger for organising despite that 🙂 Plenty of stuff to check out.
Ahem…oi think yew’ll foind…technically it isn’t. They did an album called Blood Drums in 2013 but in a ludicrously limited edition of 500 which I didn’t get to hear about until long after it had sold out and it has been changing hands for 3 figure sums – it is getting a reissue in 2017. I think Tim imagined it as a bit of a one-off and wanted it to be an under-the-radar obscurity but unusually for a musician he underestimates demand for his work.
Thanks, didn’t know about that. I got the Blood Drums / You’re An Art Soul single off eMusic, but missed the album completely.
Top work fella.
It’s a blessed relief to see so few of the recordings I rate from this hideous year troubling the results.
Oh, I dunno. Sure, there’s a lot of death around but the music’s been good this year.
Music’s good every year. It’s life that’s rubbish.
….grrrr… life!!
Amen.
Great work collating all that, you must be a patient man. Some great stuff on the list there and others that I must check out but I’ll go to my own grave saying that Blackstar wouldn’t be anyone’s number 1 anything if he hadn’t died. And I really like David Bowie.
I’m not so sure, @Friar. Blackstar was reviewed here on the day of release, days before he died. During that time, a number of us expressed joy and amazement at how good it was. I reckon some of us, especially a Bowiephile like me, would have put it at number one. I guess we’ll never know.
Reviews posted immediately after release aren’t often very measured though, are they? Anyone who leaps to review a record the second it comes out is surely already a super fan?
That’s true. Especially in my case.
I’m not a Bowie fan at all, and for me it’s his first album I like all the way through since Station To Station. In fact, I’d say it’s my third favourite Bowie album, after Space Oddity and Ziggy. Album of the year even if he hadn’t died.
But then I’ve only heard 5 out of the top 50, so what do I know? Dunno where you lot get the time or inclination! 🙂
Thanks for your hard work @tiggerlion and @salwarpe. I have a lot of those and will work my way through them in 2017. Interesting list.
Thanks for organising this. I suspect that there are a few on that list that I will have a listen to as a result of the results. A gift that keeps giving 🙂
Nary a mensh of Van’s best album in decades. Doesn’t even make the top 50. Fickle. That’s what you lot are. Fickle.
Came in at number 72 with 33 points from 7 votes.
7 votes. Not bad at all. No hurry, but if and when you have time, I would love to see numbers 100 to 50.
That was a great idea to list those that only got one vote but were at the top of the list. Mrs KFD got Mercedes as a stocking filler thanks to Locust mentioning it.
Hooray! I hope she likes it!
A good piece of work Tigger, thank you.
Bowie No.1? Oh well done Mr Tigger-Blatter
There’s yer bung, Sepp!
*bungs Bowie bonds in face*
(No, well done and love how much controversy, argument and grumbling it (and still is) caused(ing).)
I cannot recall such an overwhelming victory. Half of those who voted, voted for Blackstar and seventeen put it in first place. It was miles ahead on any scale.
Both you and I agreed it was the album of the year. 😘
This has got me thinking. If David’s 12th best album came in at No 1, is the quality of music dropping? IMHO I think the poll results reflect quality and originality ”tis a pity a middling album came first.
Arf!
Ha!
Excellent work Tigger and well done the rest of you for choosing so many varied records! Some of these are, to my old ears, complete tosh but honestly I haven’t seen a better year-end list anywhere. Consider my cap doffed.
I’ve always liked being out of step so the fact that that I voted for none of the top ten and only one of the top 30 is quite pleasing. However to be the only person to have voted for Band of Skulls just isn’t right. Not only is the album excellent their October gig in Bristol is the best concert I’ve been to in years – and I’ve been to a lot in the last 2 years. I can see I need to start the Skulls and Edward II bandwagons on my own.
Go for it. I’ve never heard of them.
O, Tigger, this could be your moment…… You like the reggae don’t you? And you are dying to admit your secret love for the morris? Edward II are where they come together.
(To be fair, I prefer the Jennifer Reid record to the band one she guests on, miffed I forgot it in my 10 – 25 slot. Along with Angel Olsen and probably many more.)
Not as miffed as Edward! After an absence of 15 years they’ve reunited with a cracking folk/reggae mix. Seeing them live is strongly recommended as they truly fill the stage with fun and strong original tunes. Currently they are professional but not full time, some of them spend their weekdays working for the council in Manchester. Their folk roots are from the Cheltenham folk scene and the later merge with Manchester based musicians brought about the reggae crossover. The 2016 album tells stories of the industrial revolution and has some nice historical lyrics as well as, oddly, a New Order cover. Their Wikipedia entry makes interesting reading and their own site http://edwardthesecond.co.uk/ includes some interesting dub mixes to keep you warm on a cold winter day.
I’ve never heard Edward II but I am intrigued. This could be my second purchase from the list.
When we did the top 100 albums poll some years back*, Two Step to Heaven was my number one album – love the Mixmaster Morris and Mad Professor mixes, in particular. It is a beautiful meeting of dub reggae and polka that gets my feet tingling to dance when I even think of the songs. I’ve tried their other albums this year, but none has really hit the spot in the same delightful way, sadly.
____________
* I’ve still got the results somewhere, if there’s interest in a look back thread.
They are really a shared name by several bands, albeit held together by the tenuous thread of Jon Moore on guitars, even tho’ he wasn’t himself a founder member. The first album, Let’s Polkasteady, is astonishing and, for it’s time, was groundbreaking in it’s fusion of reggae rhythms with english country dance music, albeit with just about all the musicians emerging from a pure folk dance background. File alongside Tiger Moth, the Ian A.Anderson (Folk Roots maestro) helmed “super”group experimenting similarly with world rhythms and english dance music, with the odd shared member. 2 Steps upped the experimentalism, with dub and re-mixes, but palls a little as the novelty wears off. Death and departures decimated the band, which then re-grouped with the addition of a rhythm section and vocals, culled from hard core mancs rastafarian band, 12 Tribes of Israel and the addition of a brass section. Several LPs came out over the 80s and 90s veering between lovers rock and morris dancing. I saw them whenever they came to Brum, a great night always guaranteed. After the rastas left, a version of the band hobbled on as E2K, with a more profound african slant to the mix, again great but different, but it is the 80s/90s version that has, essentially regrouped and make a very similar sound to that time.
Thanks for the detailed history, @retropath. We’ll have to agree to disagree on the first two albums, though I might revisit Let’s Polkasteady as the above clip, which I listened to almost the Tig-specified 6 times, although sounding quite innocuous at first, really grew on me the more times I heard it. I was impressed by the multi-instrumentalists, too.
Good work, Tigger. Of course, the best part of these exercises is always the individual votes and people enthusing about their favourites, but still interesting to see how that adds up to a result, and the different statistics.
You can see the points getting tighter and a multiplicity of equal places in 51-105:
51. Suede – Night Thoughts 39 points (6 votes)
52. Whitney – Light Upon The Lake 39 (5)
53. Margo Price – Mid West Farmer’s Daughter 37 (4)
53. Steve Gunn – Eyes On The Lines 37 (4)
53. Trashcan Sinatras – Wild Pendulum 37 (4)
56. Chaim Tannenbaum 37 (2)
56. Kaia Kater – Nine Pin 37 (2)
58. Bat For Lashes 36 (3)
58. Haley Bonar – Impossible Dream 36 (2)
60. Mogwai – Atomic 35 (10)
61. Chance The Rapper – Coloring Book 35 (5)
61. Steven Wilson – 4 ½ 35 (5)
63. Various Artists – Songs Of Separation 35 (4)
64. Ward Thomas – Cartwheels 35 (2)
65. Anderson .Paak – Malibu 34 (6)
66. Minor Victories 34 (5)
67. Band Of Horses – Why Are You OK? 34 (3)
67. The Magnetic North – Prospect Of Skelmersdale 34 (3)
69. Van Morrison – Keep Me Singing 33 (7)
70. Quantic- 1000 Watts 33 (6)
71. Fantastic Negrito – The Last Days Of Oakland 33 (2)
72. Explosions In The Sky – Wilderness 32 (6)
73. Kandace Springs – Soul Eyes 32 (3)
73. Lydia Loveless – Real 32 (3)
75. Amanda Shires – My Piece Of Land 31 (2)
76. Wire – Nocturnal Koreans 30 (5)
77. Dori Freeman 30 (2)
77. The Lemon Twigs – Do Hollywood 30 (2)
79. Anderson Stolt – Invention Of Knowledge 29 (3)
80. Dexys – Let The Record Show 29 (2)
81. GoGo Penguin – Man Made Object 28 (6)
82. Anna Meredith – Varmints 28 (4)
83. Parquet Courts – Human Performance 28 (2)
84. Daughter – Not To Disappear 27 (3)
84. Skepta – Konichiwa 27 (3)
86. Frida Hyvonen – Kvinnor Och Barn 27 (2)
87. Anna Tivel – Heroes Waking Up 27 (2)
87. Harp And A Monkey – War Stories 27 (2)
87. Sam Beam & Jessica Hoop – Love Letter For Fire 27 (2)
87. Shearwater – Jetplane And Oxbow 27 (2)
87. Teddy Thompson & Kelly Jones – Little Windows 27 (2)
87. Various Artists – Day Of The Dead 27 (2)
93. Angel Olsen – My Woman 25 (9)
94. Madness – Can’t Touch Us Now 25 (4)
95. Band Of Skulls – By Default 25 (1)
95. Brad Mehldau Trio – Blues And Ballads 25 (1)
95. Chris Robinson Brotherhood – If You Lived Here, You Would Be Home By Now 25 (1)
95. Crater – Talk To Me So I Can Fall Asleep 25 (1)
95. Gabriel Bruce – Come All Sufferers 25 (1)
95. Iiris Viljanen – Mercedes 25 (1)
95. Kris Drever – If Wishes Were Horses 25 (1)
95. Laura Gibson – Empire Builder 25 (1)
95. The Low Anthom – Eyeland 25 (1)
95. Paperface – Out Of Time 25 (1)
95. Phish – Big Boat 25 (1)
I think Lucinda Williams, Sturgill Simpson, Mogwai and Angel Olsen have suffered the most with the scoring system. They drew a lot of votes but relatively few points.
So who got one point from one person and (given the generally accepted ruling of alphabetical order) romped home in ‘last’ place?
There are 171 that achieved a score of one. They range from Alison Miller – Boom Tic Boom to The Wytches – All Your Happy Life.
I’m feeling v smug. Two of my AOTY made it into HiphopDX’s ‘Slept-On Albums Of The Year’ list.
http://hiphopdx.com/editorials/id.3590/title.the-most-slept-on-rap-albums-of-2016
I’ve only heard one: Skyzoo & Apollo Brown. Are they any good?
That’s a great album. The Apathy one is superb too.
I hadn’t seen that list, but there’s a few on there I’ve not heard of, so I will be giving those a listen. I didn’t know eLZhi had a new one out. Domo Genesis came in at number 35 on my list, Open Mike Eagle 52nd and Snoop 104th. Apollo Brown was my number 7 though. I have several of his albums and they’re all great.
I’m feeling v smug. Two of my AOTY made it into HiphopDX’s ‘Slept-On Albums Of The Year’ list.
http://hiphopdx.com/editorials/id.3590/title.the-most-slept-on-rap-albums-of-2016
LB in stereo – loving it!
Pleased to see Wilco recognised, for me the best American band of the last 20 years and the finest live act on the planet (not seen all bands live though). Schmilco is nowhere near their best album but still an excellent album Tweedy is on a role last 3 years
Very pleased about the Avalanches. The first couple of tracks aside it’s a real grower.
Ok it’s on my “give it more goes” list. I’ve tried twice and meh…
I’m delighted as well! In the early stages of the voting I felt like the only fan. It got into the top ten with significantly less votes than other albums in the top ten, so I suppose that means those who liked it loved it and voted accordingly high for it? That’s a great result and a great testament to this scoring system!
Hopefully will gather more fans now!
A busy day, filled with fun with a 2 year old daughter means I’m very late to this party, but I will post the alternative scorings, (as suggested by @Tiggerlion, @dai, @blueboy and @bingo-little) before the evening is out*. Mere tinkerings compared to the great efforts of in by Mr. Tig, but it was interesting to see what you all voted for – I might even listen to some of them one day.
_____
*After I’ve washed up and listened to the Archers, of course
The Archers can wait – here goes with 4 more listings for your pleasure (?). Just the top 25 (where there were that many). No matter how you tilt it, the top spot doesn’t change.
(Apologies for any unspotted errors)
Let’s start with @tiggerlion‘s original scoring:
(1st Place = 10 points, 2nd Place = 8 points, 3rd place = 6 points, Top 10 = 5 points, Top 25 = 3 points, Other = 1 points)
1. David Bowie – Blackstar (318)
2. Leonard Cohen – You Want it Darker (161)
3. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool (160)
4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree (139)
5. Michael Kiwanuka – Love and Hate (129)
6. Teenage Fanclub – Here (106)
7. Paul Simon – Stranger to Stranger (97)
8. case/lang/veirs – case/lang/veirs (81)
9. Wilco – Schmilco (73)
10. Ryley Walker – Golden Sings That Have Been Sung (70)
11. Lucinda Williams – The Ghosts Of Highway 20 (65)
12. Big Big Train – Folklore (64)
13. Lambchop – Flotus (57)
14. King Creosote – Astronaut Meets Appleman (55)
15. Agnes Obel – Citizen of Glass ; The Rolling Stones – Blue & Lonesome (53)
17. Drive By Truckers – American Band (52)
18. PJ Harvey – The Hope Six Demolition Project (50)
19. Cavern of Anti-Matter – Void Beats/Invocation Trex (48)
20. Ben Watt – Fever Dream (46)
21. Allen Toussaint – American Tunes; Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression ; The Monkees – Good Times; Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth (44)
25. A Tribe Called Quest – We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service (42)
Following that, it’s @dai‘s system (“Why not everyone just nominate one album? Then all votes are equal.”) – Just the number ones:
1. (15)
David Bowie – Blackstar
2. (4)
Michael Kiwanuka – Love and Hate
3. (3)
Leonard Cohen – You Want it Darker
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree
Paul Simon – Stranger to Stranger
Teenage Fanclub – Here
7. (2)
A Tribe Called Quest – We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service
Ben Watt – Fever Dream
case/lang/veirs – case/lang/veirs
Drive By Truckers – American Band
King Creosote – Astronaut Meets Appleman
Meilyr Jones – 2013
Ryley Walker – Golden Sings That Have Been Sung
14. (1)
Allen Toussaint – American Tunes
Amanda Shires – My Piece of Land
Anderson/Stolt – Invention of Knowledge
Anna Meredith – Varmints
Anna Tivel – Heroes Waking Up
The Avalanches – Wildflower
Band of Skulls – By Default
Big Big Train – Folklore
Brad Mehldau Trio – Blues and ballads
Cavern of Anti-Matter – Void Beats/Invocation Trex
Chaim Tannenbaum – Chaim Tannenbaum
Chris Robinson Brotherhood – If You Lived Here, You Would Be Home By Now
Crater – Talk to Me So I Can Fall Asleep
Daughter – Not To Disappear
Dawes – We’re All Gonna Die
Dexys – Let The Record Show
Fantastic Negrito – The Last Days Of Oakland
Field Music – Commontime
Frank Ocean – Blonde
Gabriel Bruce – Come All Sufferers
Harp and a Monkey – War Stories
Hayes Carll – Lovers and Leavers
Iiris Viljanen – Mercedes
Kaia Kater – Nine Pin
Kandace Springs – Soul Eyes
Kate Bush – Before The Dawn
Kris Drever – If Wishes Were Horses
Laura Gibson – Empire Builder
The Lemon Twigs – Do Hollywood
Lori MckennA The Bird and Rifle –
The Low Anthem – Eyeland
Lucinda Williams – The Ghosts Of Highway 20
Lydia Loveless – Real
M83 – Junk
The Magnetic North – Prospect of Skelmersdale
The Monkees – Good Times
Paolo Fresu, Richard Galliano & Jan Lundgren – Mare Nostrum II
Paperface – Out Of Time
Phish – Big Boat
Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
Sam Beam and Jessica Hoop – Love Letter for Fire
Shearwater – Jet Plane And Oxbow
Skepta – Konnichiwa
Steve Gunn – Eyes On The Lines
Steve Mason – Meet the Humans
Van der Graaf Generator – Do not Disturb
Various Artists – Songs Of Separation
Ward Thomas – Cartwheels
Next up, it’s @bingo-little with just the top 10 (“What’s up with all the gerrymandering? 10 points for 1st, 9 points for 2nd, etc – what’s wrong with that?”) – only the top 10 listed are counted:
1. David Bowie – Blackstar (298)
2. Leonard Cohen – You Want it Darker (156)
3. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool (133)
4. Michael Kiwanuka – Love and Hate; Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree (116)
6. Teenage Fanclub – Here (84)
7. Paul Simon – Stranger to Stranger (79)
8. Wilco – Schmilco (69)
9. Big Big Train – Folklore (61)
10. case/lang/veirs – case/lang/veirs (53)
11. Agnes Obel – Citizen of Glass (51)
12. Allen Toussaint – American Tunes (50)
13. King Creosote – Astronaut Meets Appleman (49)
14. Ben Watt – Fever Dream (48)
15. Goat – Requiem ; Lambchop – Flotus (44)
17. PJ Harvey – The Hope Six Demolition Project (42)
18. Drive By Truckers – American Band (40)
19. Field Music – Commontime (38)
20. The Avalanches – Wildflower (37)
21. Dawes – We’re All Gonna Di; Johánn Johánnsson – Orphée; The Rolling Stones – Blue & Lonesome (36)
24. A Tribe Called Quest – We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service; Hayes Carll – Lovers and Leavers (35)
And, finally, it’s @Blue-Boy (“I think it would also be interesting to tot up how many people select each record – ie as well as the Formula 1 approach, a one vote=one point list.”) –
1. David Bowie – Blackstar (47)
2. Leonard Cohen – You Want it Darker; Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool (28)
4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree (25)
5. Michael Kiwanuka – Love and Hate (21)
6. Teenage Fanclub – Here (19)
7. case/lang/veirs – case/lang/veirs; Paul Simon – Stranger to Stranger (17)
9. Lucinda Williams – The Ghosts of Highway 20; Wilco – Schmilco (14)
11. Lambchop – Flotus (13)
12. The Rolling Stones – Blue & Lonesome; Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth (12)
14. Agnes Obel – Citizen of Glass; Big Big Train – Folklore (11)
16. Drive By Truckers – American Band; PJ Harvey – The Hope Six Demolition Project (10)
18. Cavern of Anti-Matter – Void Beats/Invocation Trex; Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression; Johánn Johánnsson – Orphée; King Creosote – Astronaut Meets Appleman; Ryley Walker – Golden Sings That Have Been Sung (9)
23. Angel Olsen – My Woman; The Avalanches – Wildflower; Brian Eno – The Ship; Goat – Requiem; Mogwai – Atomic; The Monkees – Good Times; Steve Mason – Meet the Humans (8)
I’m possibly going off-piste here but which ever way we do it Blackstar is Album of the Year? (Not mine and I honestly think it’s not that great but who am I to argue with the popular vote?)
That’s a mountain of work and really appreciated chaps. If you’ll forgive a bit of levity, another way of approaching the list is in terms of head-to-heads, thus:
Top Knowles Sister: Beyoncé trounces Solange
Top hip hop act returning after more than a decade’s absence: A Tribe Called Quest comfortably beat De La Soul
Top surprisingly great record by sixties legends: The Mokess beat The Rolling Stones by a nose.
Top completely unexpected follow up record: The Avalanches destroy ABC
Top U.K. Grimy dude: Skepta beats Kano, while owing a lot to Paul Wad.
Top Geezer Kraftwerk met in Düsseldorf city: Bowie easily defeats Iggy
Top “How bad a record can we make and still have enough residual love to make the AW top 100?” album: Pet Shop Boys are way ahead of Dexys
I’m sure there are more…..
Amazing playing about with different approaches there, Sal.
Hats off to you.
Amazing work. I notice the Avalanches drops seriously down the chart in all the alternative scoring systems…
Lies, damn lies and…
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Um – here’s where the bad workman admits he didn’t dot all his eyes and cross all his teas. I managed to omit a few charts and a few amendments in doing my sums. The charts aren’t substantially different (I’ll post them below in another comment), but high placements for the Nick Cave and a number one slot for the Avalanches does reset the lists a little.
Mea Culpa…
Tig original
1. David Bowie – Blackstar (328)
2. Leonard Cohen – You Want it Darker (172)
3. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool (167)
4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree (144)
5. Michael Kiwanuka – Love and Hate (129)
6. Teenage Fanclub – Here (111)
7. Paul Simon – Stranger to Stranger (97)
8. case/lang/veirs – case/lang/veirs (81)
9. Ryley Walker – Golden Sings That Have Been Sung (75)
10. Wilco – Schmilco (73)
11. Lucinda Williams – The Ghosts Of Highway 20 (70)
12. Big Big Train – Folklore (64)
13. PJ Harvey – The Hope Six Demolition Project (58)
14. Lambchop – Flotus (57)
15. Agnes Obel – Citizen of Glass (56)
16. King Creosote – Astronaut Meets Appleman (55)
17. The Rolling Stones – Blue & Lonesome (53)
18. Drive By Truckers – American Band (52)
19. The Avalanches – Wildflower; Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression (50)
21. Cavern of Anti-Matter – Void Beats/Invocation Trex (48)
22. Ben Watt – Fever Dream; Goat – Requiem (46)
24. Allen Toussaint – American Tunes; The Monkees – Good Times; Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth (44)
Dai (number 1s)
1. (16)
David Bowie – Blackstar
2. (4)
Michael Kiwanuka – Love and Hate
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree
3. (3)
Leonard Cohen – You Want it Darker
Paul Simon – Stranger to Stranger
Teenage Fanclub – Here
7. (2)
The Avalanches – Wildflower
Ben Watt – Fever Dream
case/lang/veirs – case/lang/veirs
Drive By Truckers – American Band
King Creosote – Astronaut Meets Appleman
Meilyr Jones – 2013
Ryley Walker – Golden Sings That Have Been Sung
A Tribe Called Quest – We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service
Bingo (1-10 only)
1. David Bowie – Blackstar (308)
2. Leonard Cohen – You Want it Darker (165)
3. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool (142)
4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree (121)
5. Michael Kiwanuka – Love and Hate (116)
6. Teenage Fanclub – Here (85)
7. Paul Simon – Stranger to Stranger (79)
8. Wilco – Schmilco (69)
9. Big Big Train – Folklore (61)
10. Lucinda Williams – The Ghosts Of Highway 20 (55)
11. case/lang/veirs – case/lang/veirs (53)
12. Allen Toussaint – American Tunes; Goat – Requiem (50)
14. Agnes Obel – Citizen of Glass; King Creosote – Astronaut Meets Appleman (49)
16. Ben Watt – Fever Dream (48)
17. The Avalanches – Wildflower (47)
18. PJ Harvey – The Hope Six Demolition Project (45)
19. Lambchop – Flotus (44)
20. Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression (42)
21. Drive By Truckers – American Band (40)
22. Black Mountain – IV; Field Music – Commontime, Ryley Walker – Golden Sings That Have Been Sung (38)
25. Dawes – We’re All Gonna Di; Johánn Johánnsson – Orphée; The Rolling Stones – Blue & Lonesome (36)
Blueboy (every mention)
1. David Bowie – Blackstar (48)
2. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool (30)
3. Leonard Cohen – You Want it Darker (29)
4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree (26)
5. Michael Kiwanuka – Love and Hate (21)
6. Teenage Fanclub – Here (20)
7. case/lang/veirs – case/lang/veirs; Paul Simon – Stranger to Stranger (17)
9. Lucinda Williams – The Ghosts of Highway 20; Wilco – Schmilco (14)
11. Lambchop – Flotus (13)
12. Agnes Obel – Citizen of Glass; PJ Harvey – The Hope Six Demolition Project; The Rolling Stones – Blue & Lonesome; Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth (12)
16. Big Big Train – Folklore (11)
17. Drive By Truckers – American Band; Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression; Mogwai – Atomic; Ryley Walker – Golden Sings That Have Been Sung (10)
21. Angel Olsen – My Woman; The Avalanches – Wildflower; Brian Eno – The Ship; Cavern of Anti-Matter – Void Beats/Invocation Trex; Goat – Requiem; Johánn Johánnsson – Orphée; King Creosote – Astronaut Meets Appleman (9)
Goodness! Did you go through the whole lot again?
No, I just copied the original thread, partitioned it, deleted the charts I already had, (and other sundry chat), formatted the previously-omitted charts, corrected the voter charts which had submitted amendments, then fed all the numbers into the main spreadsheet, adding to existing combined scores where appropriate. Then I racked off each of the corrected results charts and posted – simples!
Marvellous!
Good work and very interesting @salwarpe. When I conducted the poll last year, after a lot of stupidity over the scoring system from certain people I adopted 1 point for each nominated album restricted to 10 choices. There is no perfect scoring system and no more than 50% of AWs will agree to one.
I do like a list, and this is one that I need to peruse.
I thought I’d got some top notch music in 2016 – appears that I missed out on a lot too.
Time for some investigation via the wonders of Spotify and Youtube
excellent work, thanks and well done @tiggerlion and @salwarpe
Brilliant work chaps. Only four of mine in the top 50 and I suspect given the massive range of albums voted for that’s a common experience.
Surprised at a few low positions – especially Angel Olsen – and a few highly placed ones whose popularity (and in one or two cases very existence) had somehow passed me by – the Teenage Fanclub and Big Big Train for example. I agree with tigger – from those I’ve heard this does look a stronger list that last year.
In case you haven’t seen it the Album of the Year website is quite an entertaining compilation of all the year’s lists (I may be wrong but I have a feeling the afterword list has been included in the past):
http://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/summary/2016/
A few notable and surprising exclusions from our list – Ahnoni, PJ Harvey, Margo Price and Bon Iver – and less surprisingly despite the sterling advocacy of one or two people here, almost anything that might come under the heading of rap, hip-hop, grime etc.
PJ Harvey is 26 and Bon Iver 38.
That album of the year list is incredibly close around the ten mark. Hardly a point in it. Perhaps, @Bargepole could get us included?
Ah, so they are. Both seemed surprisingly high on some of the album of the year round ups but I hadn’t noticed many advocates here
Have forwarded the list to them.
Oh wow!
It’s interesting at the bottom of the Album of the year list there is a section 2016 End Year Links with links to all the individual end of year polls. I picked the American Songwriter one, very pleased to see Dori Freeman at no 10 and number 1 was Angel Olsen. I chose the Guardian one at random too and Beyoncé was their number 1 which will be great news for Minibreakfast!
Yeeeaas!
Thanks for all the top work lads.
Amazingly, I have 3 of the Top Ten (Bowie, Radiohead and Paul Simon) and have heard a couple of Avalanches tracks which I really liked. And I think my wife has played me Michael K.
I must be getting younger. Oh no, hang on, it’s the AW. I’m just the right age!
You guys win my nomination as Statisticians Of The Year.
Great work, so take a bow as we raise a glass to your hard work.
Interesting to see two other put votes in for Lydia Loveless and that someone nominated Amanda Shires for their album of the year.
That makes me feel less isolated as it seems at times only SteveT and Twang share my tastes.
Carl – that would be me! Actually I have you to thank for turning me on to the Lydia Loveless album. I had passed it by after a quick listen during the year but a couple of more plays after I was curious through seeing your vote on here allows me to see its virtues. Become a firm fave over the Christmas travel period.
The Amanda Shires album just gets better and better to my ears. I initially picked it up as Mrs Jason Isbell but some of the songs are really wonderful – and I have grown to like her album more than his latest. Like her husband she can put together a wonderful couplet – that just cuts to the heart. Try “Slippin'”
After I made my list I was kind of surprised at how much Americana was on it. The fact that I am typing this from a farm in Kentucky might have something to do with it.
Hats off to all concerned. The statistic that really jumps out is that between us we picked 612 albums – which isn’t surprising given the sheer amount of new music out there and the fact that you can stream it or hear it for nowt.
There’s bound to be a great record or two in the 612 that I’ve missed -hopefully it’ll find me one day…
A phenomenal effort. I’m embarrassed that I could only contribute 2 albums, I don’t know where you all find the time to listen to all that music and come up with an opinion that splits them into a top 20. I have an Amazon voucher burning a hole in my pocket and I’ll try and find something that suits my taste among the mini reviews to buy alongside the new Rick Astley album 😉
Don’t be embarrassed. Logging your scores took no time at all. For that, I am grateful.
Superb labours by all involved *raises coffee mug in salute*. I suspect my bank balance will be lighter come the end of January.
Brilliant work @Tiggerlion and all involved. I’ve been so uninterested in new music this year that it was no surprise to find I’d heard anything from just 3 of the Top 50 and 4 of the next 50. However, I am chuffed to nuts to see Big Big Train at No. 11 with the wonderful Folklore. I have felt, in the past, like a lone voice in the wilderness when I have championed this band, so it’s lovely to see a growing army (however small) of fans on here. With a new album being finished as I write, and London gigs next September, it should be a good 2017 for my favourite band.
Thank you, niallb. I wish you an uneventful and happy 2017. I suspect Big Big Train are going to go from strength to strength.
Thank you, my friend. The new year starts with my beloved wife’s Big Birthday, at the end of January, so my whole being is focused on making that everything she wants. The present is bought, the restaurants are booked, the Les Mis tickets are snaffled and her sister is ‘booked’ for a surprise appearance. If it all comes off, the rest of the year can take care of itself.
Thank you for being such a support this year, Tiggs.
Sounds like a spectacular start to the New Year. Best wishes to you and your family.
Excellent work @Tiggerlion.