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2007 Idolator Pop Critics Poll results...

For the second year in a row, I was fortunate enough to be invited to participate in the Idolator Pop Critics Poll - a descendant (of sorts) of the legendary Christgau/Village Voice Pazz & Jop annual poll. This year 451 different music critics from around the world submitted their votes for best albums, tracks, artists, and reissues of the year. Thanks to the boundless determination and energy of critic and author Michaelangelo Matos, all these lists have been tabulated and the results posted for all to see. Any music (or statistics) lover can spend hours poring over the overall lists and the individual ballots. If you've paid attention to my year-end lists, you already know who I submitted for my favorites albums and tracks of the year, but here are my votes for the artist of the year category (for some reason I had trouble getting the online ballot to register my reissues):

1. Kanye West
2. Battles
3. LCD Soundsystem
4. Animal Collective
5. Electrelane

A few thoughts on the overall poll results. LCD Soundsystem was the overall winner and I can't say I'm surprised since James Murphy seemed to be a critic's darling all through the year. It probably helped that he kept releasing killer material all through 2007, keeping him fresh on voters' minds. Nor was it surprising to see the other two big critics darlings finish right behind, M.I.A. in the second slot with Radiohead coming in third. Seeing Against Me barely miss out on the top twenty was a pleasant surprise, I'm glad to see a deserving band getting some critical love (especially since their fans seem to be ditching them left and right for "selling out" - damn haters). My only complaint, and one that I've noticed on quite a few other lists this year, is how predictable the results were. I probably could have guessed nine of the top ten without batting an eye. My personal favorite finished just outside the top ten, at 11, so I'm not terribly disappointed.

On the singles front, Rihanna took the top spot with "Umbrella" and I can't say I can argue with that one. - that track was ubiquitous this year. Nice to see UGK cracking the top ten for their hot single, but can we get off the "Young Folks" love? Its over a year old and played to damn death, let's let it go people. I did gain faith in my fellow critics though, when one of this year's inescapable annoyances (Soulja Boy's "Crank Dat") was shut out of the Top 50 and Fergie didn't make an appearance until 188 (where both "Glamorous" and "Big Girls Don't Cry" were tied).

Radiohead walked away with the best artist award, unsurprising after all the press and critical fawning over both their album and the way they chose to release it. But I'm not complaining, they were my number five choice before I bumped them for Electrelane at the last minute. Nice to see both Lil Wayne and Miranda Lambert crack the top ten, I think we'll be hearing much more about both of them in the next couple of years to come. By the way, I want to kiss whoever voted for "T-Pain's talk box" as artist of the year - awesome!