A Happy New Year to you all.
Before any results are posted I have to acknowledge the hard work of @salwarpe, who has done the vast, vast majority of the leg work on this enterprise this year. Any thanks that have been offered to me (and there have been plenty, thanks for your thanks) should really be directed towards him and his magic spreadsheet.
Before the excitement of this year’s results, here is a quick summary of the results from the last seven years.
2018 642 albums nominated – winner Ry Cooder: Prodigal Son
2019 563 albums nominated – winner Bruce Springsteen: Western Stars
2020 531 albums nominated – winner Bob Dylan: Rough & Rowdy Ways
2021 565 albums nominated – winner Robert Plant & Alison Krauss: Raise The Roof
2022 556 albums nominated – winner Half Man Half Biscuit: The Voltarol Years
2023 574 albums nominated – winner Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit: Weathervanes
2024 – 558 albums nominated – winner: ?????????????
First of all, as has become customary, here are the albums that receive one single point from being one Afterworder’s twentieth favourite album of the year.
Adam Ross – Littoral Zone
Alice Zawadzki, Fred Thomas, Misha Mullov-Abbado – Za Górami
Childish Gambino – Atavista
Faye Webster – Underdressed at the Symphony
Hejira – Live @ The Cockpit
Helen Gentile & Lewis Wood – Violet Sky
Jimmy Giuffre – The Train and the River
Moor Mother – The Great Bailout
Nature Strip – Domesticated Beast
Peter Alexander Jobson – Burn the Ration Books
Phil Odgers & John Kettle – Far Rockaway (The Songs of Phil Ochs)
Reiss Eccles Beckett – Worlds Apart
Richard Trethewey – Two Halves
Rob Jones & The Restless Dream – Stars
Sinkane – We Belong
Six Months Of Sun – Creatures
Swamp Dogg – Blackgrass: From Virginia To 125th Street
Troy Kingi – Leatherman & the Mojave Green
Next come the albums that were one voter’s favourite of the year, but got no other votes.
Aaron Fraser – Into The Blue
Boys Wonder – Question Everything
Cigarettes After Sex – X’s
Clarissa Connelly – World Of Work
Craig Fortnam – Bespoke String Trios
Howl And The Hum – Same Mistake Twice
Kimmi Bitter – Old School
Master Peace – How to Make a Masterpeace
Mendelssohn Piano Trios – Joshua Bell (violin), Steven Isserlis (cello), Jeremy Denk (piano).
Nathaniel Ratecliff & The Night Sweats – South Of Hare
Norma Winstone – Outpost of Dreams
Pony Collaboration – Don’t Pretend You Don’t Remember.
Now for the first part of the top 100.
In joint 96th place with 32 points:
Martyn Joseph – This Is What I Want To Say
Barry Adamson – Cut to Black
Bill Laurance & Michael League – Keeping Company
Dana Gavanski – Late Slap
Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, Anna Butterss, Jay Bellerose, Josh Johnson – Way Out of Easy
Pharrell/Virginia – Black Yacht Rock Vol 1
Rachael Newton – Sealladh
Tyshawn Sorey Trio – The Susceptible Now
‘Yacht Rock’? It’s all going to kick off round Rick’s place.
Two of my top three are joint 96th!
94= (33 points)
The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble – Heat Ray: The Archimedes Project
Withered Hand & Kathryn Williams – Wilson Williams
90= (34 points)
Kelly Lee Owens – Dreamstate
Aoife O’Donovan – All My Friends
Cat Burns – Early Twenties
Tindersticks – Soft Tissue
86= (35 points)
Nada Surf – Moon Mirror
Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling, Andreas Werliin – Ghosted II
The Pearlfishers – Making Tapes for Girls
Scott Lavene – Disneyland in Dagenham
84= (36 points)
Justin Adams & Mauro Durante – Sweet Release
Ex-Easter Island Head – Norther
81= (37 points)
Johnny Blue Skies/Sturgill Simpson – Passage Du Desir
Abdullah Ibrahim – 3
Kendrick Lamar – GNX
78= (38 points)
Ezra Collective – Dance, No One’s Watching
The Courettes – The Soul Of The Fabulous Courettes
Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere
Peter Bruntnell – Houdini and the Sucker Punch
76 (39 points)
Goat – Goat
75 (40 points)
Frost – Life In The Wires
72= (42 points)
Crowded House – Gravity Stairs
Fergus McCreadie – Stream
Martin Simpson – Skydancers
70= (43 points)
Lo Moon – I Wish You Way More Than Luck
The Rheingans Sisters – Start Close In
More shortly after the dogs have been walked….
Ooh you tease 😁
We’re rocketing into the top 70.
68= (43 points)
Richard Thompson – Ship To Shore
Lady Blackbird – Slang Spirituals
64= (45 points)
Bright Eyes – Five Dice, All Threes
Held By Trees, Martin Smith – Held By Trees & Martin Smith
Jake Xerxes Fussell – When I’m Called
Dawes – Oh Brother
63 (47 points)
Eels – Eels Time!
62 (48 points)
Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan – Your Community Hub
61 (50 points)
Kate Young – Umbrelliferae
60 (51 points)
Charles Lloyd – The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow
58= (52 points)
John Grant – The Art of The Lie
Paul Weller – 66
57 (54 points)
Everything everything – Mountainhead
56 (55 points)
Jon Anderson & The Band Geeks – True
55 (57 points)
Paul Heaton – The Mighty Several
53= (58 points)
The Lovely Eggs – Eggsistentialism
English Teacher – This Could Be Texas
52 (59 points)
Vampire Weekend – Only God Was Above Us
50= (60 points)
Brown Horse – Reservoir
Pernice Brothers – Who Will You Believe?
Someone should tell Kate Young she made the top 50(=) place. I’m delighted that anyone other than me had actually heard it!!
Oh come on. You could have guessed. I’ve been support for Kate, I’ll have you know.
I think I mentioned the album to you at Sidmouth, IIRC. 😉
Anyhoo, I sent her a link to the poll and she “appreciate(s) the nod of recognition’
I was late hearing the Jake Xerxes Fussell album and it would have been in my list – too late for a recount I guess 😳
And into the prestigious top 50…
48= (61 points)
Blue Rose Code – Bright Circumstance
St Vincent – All Born Screaming
47 (64 points)
Yard Act – Where’s My Utopia
45= (65 points)
David Gilmour – Luck and Strange
Jane Weaver – Love in Constant Spectacle
44 (66 points)
Kathryn Priddy – The Pendulum Swing
43 (67 points)
Jessica Pratt – Here In The Pitch
41= (69 points)
Hurray For The Riff Raff – The Past Is Still Alive
Kacey Musgraves – Deeper Well
40 (70 points)
Cassandra Jenkins – My Light, My Destroyer
38= (72 points)
The Smile – Cutouts
Linda Thompson – Proxy Music
35= (73 points)
Underworld – Strawberry Hotel
Gruff Rhys – Sadness Sets Me Free
Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard And Soft
34 (75 points)
Jack White – no Name
33 (77 points)
Elbow – audio Vertigo
32 (79 points)
Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department
31 (82 points)
Jon Hopkins – Ritual
Next Bunch, from 30 to 11.
30 (84 points)
Adrienne Lenker – Bright Future
29 (85 points)
Father John Misty – Mahashmashana
27= (88 points)
Big Big Train – The Likes Of Us
Phosphorescent – Revelator
26 (91 points)
Hamish Hawk – A Firmer Hand
25 (92 points)
Danny & The Champions Of The World – You Are Not A Stranger Here
24 (100 points)
Chuck Prophet – Wake The Dead
23 (104 points)
Laura Marling – Patterns In Repeat
22 (107 points)
Michael Kiwanuka – Small Changes
21 (109 points)
Pet Shop Boys – Nonetheless
20 (110 points)
Fontaines DC – Romance
19 (127 points)
Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band – Loophole
18 (131 points)
Public Service Broadcasting – The Last Flight
17 (132 points)
T Bone Burnett – The Other Side
16 (135 points)
The Lemon Twigs – a Dream Is All We Know
15 (136 points)
The Last Dinner Party – A Prelude To Ecstasy
14 (138 points)
The Smile – Wall Of Eyes
13 (139 points)
The Decemberists – As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again
12 (144 points)
Bonny Light Horseman – Keep Me On Your Mind/See You Free
11 (148 points)
Richard Hawley – In This City They Call You Love
Surprised to see a few I thought would make the top 10, landing between 11-20!.
EXCITING.
I recently saw Hamish Hawk described as “Scotland’s answer to Rufus Wainwright”. I thought that was rather apt.
O, he’s much more edgy and predatory than ol’ Roof….
They both churn out records quicker than I can enjoy them.
And so to the top 10.
10 (150 points)
Waxahatchee – Tiger’s Blood
9 (159 points)
Kim Deal – Nobody Loves You More
6= (170 points)
Mark Knopfler – One Deep River
Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets – Indoor Safari
Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown
5 (172 points)
Arooj Aftab – Night Reign
4 (185 points)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Wild God
3 (224 points)
Bill Ryder-Jones – Iechyd Da
2 (232 points)
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings – Woodland
And the Afterword album of 2024 is……
…romping home with a massive 308 points:
The Cure – Songs Of A Lost World.
My favourite track is here – I got to the album too late for it to make my list, but it’s really good.
The loose concept of folk has raised a fine old crop this year, methinks.
I have a side hustle* for a website, for which I am nominally a “folk correspondent” and 10 of the 100 came my way for review purposes this year. (Some even made my 20!)
*Side hustle as in my other job is retired.
I thought this too – lots of gentle strumming in the chart this year.
And my last comment – many thanks to all the voters/contributors. Even though, as mentioned above, Salwarpe did the donkey work this year I have really enjoyed sifting through the musical likes and loves of our little community. Have a great 2025 y’all.
Many thanks Paul and Salwarpe for all your hard work 👍 Much appreciated.
The Cure album was indeed a belter…nearly as good as Aaron Fraser’s 😉 (my No.1)
..with which sentiments, I would wish to associate myself…
Can I also take the opportunity to add the traditional “Wot? No (insert obscure band)??”
This year, it’s
Wot? No plantoid??
A fantastic effort but I feel duty bound to say: where were Charli XCX and WH Lung?
Although voted for by 3 people (yourself, Kid Dynamite and moselymoles), Brat scored 30 points, just missing the top 100.
WH Lung was one of 21 albums to receive 17 points from one person only.
The coveted lowest score for an album mentioned by two people is shared by
Tatyana – It’s Over and Travis – L.A Times,
which each amassed 4 points total from 2 contributors
If anyone is nerdy enough to want to study the spreadsheets themselves, PM me and I’m happy to share the Google Sheets link with you.
Cheers @paul-hewston and @salwarpe for the scores on the doors.
What have we learned? That I own none of the Top 10 and will be visiting Spotify very quickly to see what I missed
I really must break the seal on my Kim Deal album. She might have made top 5 if I’d actually played it, instead of spending half my festive holiday redecorating a bedroom.
I listened on Sp****y. Very good indeed.
It’s an absolute belter.
Would have been my number 1 if I’d voted.
Thank you for the kind words, Paul and others. It was fun gathering in the votes as they arrived – for a while it looked like The Decemberists and Mark Knopfler were duking it out for the top spot, before Smithy and the Cureband sold their thunder, quite considerably.
I must say that Paul put a sheen and a level of anticipation on the awards ceremony that I couldn’t match – so well done for him, and for stepping up in the first place.
Now I’m just waiting for AWers to dive into the results and bring up new pearls – I would say at least two thirds of the 558 albums named were not one of the 1400+ listed as best of year by yer music sites and mags.
Just to reiterate what a fantastic job you did with the archival poll, too, sal.
That, too, attracted more votes than last year. Seems like the website is thriving.
Thanks@paul-hewston and @salwarpe for putting this together. 10 of my 20 actually appear in this thread, what dizzy heights indeed!
Thanks due to those who put in the hard miles.
This a great read. Many thanks to you @paul-hewston & @salwarpe for all of the hard work on this. I am excited to investigate some of the albums I have not heard of as I know that this parish has impeccable taste.
Also very pleased that Bill Ryder Jones (my number 1) scored so highly & that my 51 week old thread (link below) was not too far off the mark. Might put a lottery ticket on now
Six of mine in the chart.
Only one of them a top ten selection.
Got one in the single-point hall of fame.
My record too.
I got six in the top 50, four of which were in the top ten.
However, my claim to fame is that my favourite of the year got no other votes. Weird, eh?
Five for me (I feel like that’s an unusually high number for me), but only double digits.
Plus one in the “one person gave this one point” list…
Will I get thrown out of the AW if I reveal that I’ve yet to listen to a single track from The Cure’s new album all the way through? I keep waiting to get in the mood for it, but I fear that I got out of that mood for good in my early 20s. Still happy to see it win, if only for the love I still have for their perkier, more whimsical albums and songs. 😀
No, I’ve not heard The Cure one yet.
Although apparently Placebo is just as good.
Brilliant job Paul and Sal – really enjoyed reading that and it’s great to see such a mix of records on the list. 13 of mine in the top 50; 5 in the top 10, but have never heard the Cure album, or, to be honest, any Cure album. The Afterword demographic is somewhat betrayed by the high placings for Messers Hawley and Knopfler (they both got votes from me). Great to see the Arooj Aftab so high on the list – it’s a record that gets better with every listen.
Completely agree @Blue_Boy. I’m delighted that Arooj Aftab did so well.
But also very pleased to see Richard Hawley and Bonny Light Horseman in the top 20. I’ve seen all three of them live this year and they all deserve their moment of fame in the AW Hot 100.
And the Pet Shop Boys are in the Top 20! I am delighted!
Thumbs up for the heavy lifters in compiling the results of the only poll that matters.
Seconded. Many thanks both. The most exciting poll of the year.
Agreed 👍
Many thanks @paul-hewston & @salwarpe for the great work.
During the initially polling, I suspected that The Smile would suffer from a split vote across their two releases and from these results, it would suggest they would have come in 4th with 210 points (138 and 72) if it had been a double album.
A very big thankyou to Salwarpe and Paul Hewston for all your hard work on compiling this list.
I sincerely hope that all the artists mentioned get a little more attention and a few more ticket and merch sales, thanks to this poll.
And that the denizens of the Afterword enjoy broadening their musical horizons. This playlist may help. It will include every artist that got a vote.
In my book,…….
Thanks so much to everyone who puts the work and the votes in to this every year. I was looking forward to this playlist as I’m much more inclined to listen to playlists or radio than an album. I’ve carefully avoided the Spotify debate as it’s so embedded in my life and my family’s. I’ll dive into this list for the next few months and, no doubt, find new artists that float my musical boat.
Maybe in 2025 I’ll actually manage to listen to enough albums to form an opinion worth entering into the poll at the end of this year.
5 of the top 10 for me, or with a slightly larger spread 8 of the top 13. As ever this thread always manages to point me in the direction of something unheard or something I wasn’t aware had been released – this year’s lovely surprise was a new offering by The Pony Collaboration. Happy New Year to all.
13 out of 20, including 4 in the top ten.
@paul-hewston a concerned reader writes, did the Four Tet album really not trouble the charts at all? My album of the year, and he’s always struck me as an AW-friendly electronic artist (like the Warrington New Town Plan lot who did chart).
Four Tet scored 29 points, and was mentioned by 3 AWers. Just outside the top 100. Here are the 29ers:
4 votes
Lone Justice – Viva Lone Justice
3 votes
Four Tet – Three +
Hanging Stars – On A Golden Shore
Roots Architects – From Then ‘Til Now
Zach Bryan – The Great American Bar Scene
2 votes
Cara Dillon – Coming Home
Mermaid Chunky – Slif Slaf Slof
Ray Lamontagne – Long Way Home
@ moseleymoles – my apologies, after our communication yesterday I forgot to add your extra 20 points to Four Tet. I was already sone way into finishing the chart by then and it just slipped my addled mind. This would have pushed it up to 49 points and therefore to 61st place. And everything from 61st and below down one spot.
Yay! That means two of top three are placed joint 97th!
Sorry, that one slipped me by.
Thanks a lot @Salwarpe. I’ve now added these to my Mega 2025 playlist. That’s a pretty impressive list of Also Rans. Cara Dillon, Ray Montagne, Hanging Star and Four Tet are all top notch artists.
And how can I not like a band called Mermaid Chunky?
They are totally bonkers!
Art with a Capital F! Just the way In like it.
And talking of bands with memorable names who you know will be interesting, I also loved Ex-Easter Island Head.
I would be very keen to get a list of all the other artists who didn’t quite make it onto the Hot 100 so I can add them to my playlist.
I can pm you the Google Sheet link, KFD.
Thanks a lot, Sal!
The more I hear of Ex-Easter Island Head, the more interested I become.
@Pencilsqueezer is a big fan and tells me they are from Liverpool.
This Guardian article provides an excellent introduction.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/oct/31/fishing-lines-mobile-phones-and-wirral-wind-the-oddly-harmonious-music-of-ex-easter-island-head
Ans here’s an interview from The Skinny from 2013.
https://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/interviews/new-blood-ex-easter-island-head
And finally, an excellent intro from Liverpool Museums. Are you all getting curious?
https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/stories/meet-ex-easter-island-head
They do things weird they do, up in that Stroud. Very cellular so it is, indeed.
Sterling work, you two! Most appreciated even though first year I haven’t voted – I listened to less music in 2024 than since when I tuned into Uncle Mac on a Saturday morning.
Of no interest to anyone but my Top 3 would have been
MJ Lenderman
Gillian & Dave
Taylor and her Tortured Poets.
Again, hats off to Paul & Sal ( currently topping the bill at the end of Cromer Pier)!!
Good work both.
Was hoping the beautiful Billie Eilish album might do better but probably hardly anybody here has heard it. By the same token I probably only heard 30 or so new albums last year, this is more than usual for me, but hardly enough to have a representative view of 2024.
This year I will listen to 500 new albums.
I have, and like, the BE album, but to be honest I didn’t feel that it matched up to the pre-release ‘new direction’ hype. To me it sounded like a hybrid of the previous two albums, which of course is no bad thing.
I’m just happy at least one other person voted for Blood Incantation
Working my way through all the also-rans on Salwarpe’s mega spreadsheet (370 songs on the playlist so far) , I’m delighted to discover that the Afterword poll is sufficiently Catholic to include votes for hitmakers like Charli XCX and Beyonce.
Here from Sweden’s finest quiz show, På Spåret, are Enskede’s Finest, performing a song from Cowboy Carter.
Did I know who had recorded this song? Hell, no!
Neither did I.
I did, however, recognise the bit of “Islands in the Stream” by Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton which they played as a coda to the Beyoncé song, though!
Love Cowboy Carter, love FAK. A marriage made in himmel!
Only now do I find out that Juana Molina released material last year. Only a four track EP, but still wonderful.
Yep and it’s predictably marvellous. Hopefully a new album release is forthcoming.
Very exciting news. @thecheshirecat @pencilsqueezer
I’m treating that as a vote that got lost in the post and am going to put a track on the Mega Playlist.
I googled. She played San Francisco last year and there are a couple of life clips on YT.
If the release had been album length I would in all likelihood have included it in my end of year list but I thought an EP wasn’t really acceptable. There’s always the end of 2025 though if Ms Molina graces us with a new album.