Of course, there’s only actually one albums of the year list you need to read – if you really want to know what the best records of the past 12 months have been, then feast your eyes upon NME’s 100% correct, authoritative and fool-proof guide to the finest releases of 2014. It’s here, and it’s a belter.
But there are other lists out there, too. And so it’s time, once again, for us to round-up the results from other publication’s and compile it into one giant mega-list. This year, we aggregated 12 lists: as well as NME’s own list, we also took the results from Rolling Stone, Spin, Paste, Uncut, The Quietus, Drowned In Sound, Stereogum, Q, Mojo, Popmatters, The AV Club and The Guardian. The maths is simple enough: there’s 20 points for first place, one point for 20th place. And we’re sure you can work out how it goes for all the numbers in between.
In 2013, Vampire Weekend’s ‘Vampires Of The Modern City’ was the overall list supremo: an album that perhaps didn’t garner as strong reactions as other biggies by Kanye West and David Bowie, but was well-liked by all and sundry. This year, though, there was one album which stood ahead of all others: one which was adored by the vast majority of critics and fans alike, and which got more support than the likes of Aphex Twin, Caribou, Damon Albarn, Taylor Swift and even NME’s own number one choice, St Vincent. See the full table below to find out who had a dream result in our one list to rule them all…
20. Against Me! – ‘Transgender Dysphoria Blues’ (35)
19. Future Islands – ‘Singles’ (36)
=18. Jenny Lewis – ‘The Voyager’ (37)
=18. Spoon – ‘They Want My Soul’ (37)
16. Taylor Swift – ‘1989’ (41)
15. Sleaford Mods – ‘Divide And Exit’ (42)
14. Mac DeMarco – ‘Salad Days’ (43)
=13. Flying Lotus – ‘You’re Dead’ (52)
=13. Damon Albarn – ‘Everyday Robots’ (52)
11. Angel Olsen – ‘Burn Your Fire For No Witness’ (59)
10. Swans – ‘To Be kind’ (63)
9. Caribou – ‘Our Love’ (69)
8. Beck – ‘Morning Phase’ (70)
7. Sun Kil Moon – ‘Benji’ (71)
=6. Aphex Twin – ‘Syro’ (75)
=6. Sharon Van Etten – ‘Are We There’ (75)
4. FKA Twigs – ‘LP1’ (121)
3. Run The Jewels – ‘Run The Jewels 2’ (129)
2. St Vincent – ‘St Vincent’ (157)
1. The War On Drugs – ‘Lost In The Dream’ (188)