The January 2006 issue is out, and it includes a sidebar with their top 10. They didn't put the top 10 in any order, and it's a fairly predictable list:

The Game - THE DOCUMENTARY
50 Cent - THE MASSACRE
Mariah Carey - THE EMANCIPATION OF MIMI
Common - BE
Keyshia Cole - THE WAY IT IS
Mike Jones - WHO IS MIKE JONES?
John Legend - GET LIFTED
Young Jeezy - LET'S GET IT
Kanye West - LATE REGISTRATION
Lil' Kim - THE NAKED TRUTH

Awful list !
Only crappy urban shit.

As VIBE is an "urban" magazine, what were you expecting to see on their list, exactly? Sufjan and Antony?

still waiting for the Fiddlin' John Carson anthology...

since mariah got the album of the year award from vibe a few weeks ago, does that mean she's really #1?

I didn't know this magazine VIBE. So there's no surprise I suppose to see this typical "urban" list.

LOL! I love that some people here don't know VIBE and look at this list with disdain. It says a lot about tastes around here (which, not surprisingly, run parallel to critics' tastes).