I don't know if this is valid, but woxy, an internet radio station, just released their end of the year list. They also have lists dating back to 2000.

1 Bloc Party Silent Alarm
2 Franz Ferdinand You Could Have It So Much Better
3 Sufjan Stevens Illinois
4 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
5 LCD Soundsystem LCD Soundsystem
6 Beck Guero
7 Wolf Parade Apologies To The Queen Mary
8 The National Alligator
9 Gorillaz Demon Days
10 Broken Social Scene Broken Social Scene
11 Spoon Gimme Fiction
12 Heartless Bastards Stairs And Elevators
13 Maximo Park A Certain Trigger
14 The Decemberists Picaresque
15 The White Stripes Get Behind Me Satan
16 M.I.A. Arular
17 The New Pornographers Twin Cinema
18 Sleater-Kinney The Woods
19 The Cloud Room The Cloud Room
20 The Magic Numbers The Magic Numbers
21 Death Cab For Cutie Plans
22 Elbow Leaders Of The Free World
23 The Go! Team Thunder, Lightning, Strike
24 Benzos Morning Stanzas
25 Doves Some Cities
26 Art Brut Bang Bang Rock & Roll
27 Rogue Wave Descended Like Vultures
28 Feist Let It Die
29 M83 Before The Dawn Heals Us
30 Tom Vek We Have Sound
31 Editors The Back Room
32 The Hold Steady Separation Sunday
33 Constantines Tournament Of Hearts
34 Sigur Ros Takk
35 Brendan Benson The Alternative To Love
36 The Kills No Wow
37 Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake It's Morning
38 Bright Eyes Digital Ash In A Digital Urn
39 Low The Great Destroyer
40 Brazilian Girls Brazilian Girls
41 The Greenhornes East Grand Blues EP
42 Dangerdoom The Mouse And The Mask
43 Of Montreal The Sunlandic Twins
44 Kate Bush Aerial
45 New Order Waiting For The Sirens' Call
46 The Fiery Furnaces EP
47 Calla Collisions
48 Giant Drag Hearts And Unicorns
49 The Bees Free The Bees
50 Sons And Daughters The Repulsion Box
51 Idlewild Warnings/Promises
52 The Spinto Band Nice And Nicely Done
53 The High Dials War Of The Wakening Phantoms
54 Kimone The Mill
55 dios (malos) dios (malos)
56 My Morning Jacket Z
57 Paul Weller As Is Now
58 Common Be
59 Mobius Band The Loving Sounds Of Static
60 Fiona Apple Extraordinary Machine
61 Lab Partners Wicked Branches
62 Lucero Nobody's Darlings
63 Ladytron The Witching Hour
64 The Golden Republic The Golden Republic
65 Shout Out Louds Howl Howl Gaff Gaff
66 The Purrs The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of
67 Stellastarr* Harmonies For The Haunted
68 Depeche Mode Playing The Angel
69 Youth Group Skeleton Jar
70 Crystal Skulls Blocked Numbers
71 Engineers Engineers
72 The Wedding Present Take Fountain
73 Crooked Fingers Dignity And Shame
74 Coldplay X & Y
75 The Raveonettes Pretty In Black
76 The American Analog Set Set Free
77 Kaiser Chiefs Employment
78 Architecture In Helsinki In Case We Die
79 The Mountain Goats The Sunset Tree
80 Stephen Malkmus Face The Truth
81 Wussy Funeral Dress
82 Lou Barlow Emoh
83 Nouvelle Vague Nouvelle Vague
84 Sam Champion Slow Rewind
85 Dungen Ta Det Lungt
86 Mike Doughty Haughty Melodic
87 The Cribs The New Fellas
88 World Leader Pretend Punches
89 The Cardigans Super Extra Gravity
90 Ben Lee Awake Is The New Sleep
91 The Morning After Girls Prelude: EP's 1 & 2
92 De Novo Dahl Cats & Kittens
93 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Howl
94 Brakes Give Blood
95 The Juan Maclean Less Than Human
96 Silversun Pickups Pikul EP
97 The Rosebuds Birds Make Good Neighbors

Here's the website:

http://new.woxy.com/music/best.php

Wow - that's one white list.

Same thoughts here, Jason.

Cant think of any black artists who've impressed me this year to be honest. Gorillaz have black guys doing the rap parts.

Only black artists I can even think of from this year are Stevie Wonder (who's album doesnt seem to have gone down well on any lists), MIA (she's Sri Lankan), The Go! Team (released in 2004 in UK btw)

Do you guys look espesially for black artists in lists? Colour doesnt come into it for me.

It's not so much the color as it is the genre. That list is nearly all indie rock.

Tungsten - The fact that no black artist impressed you says more than anything. In any given year of course there is quality music made by black artists (and not just in the hip-hop genre). The fact that many critics rarely acknowledge this (and when they do, it's nearly always the same pariah) speaks volumes.

You may not look for color, and that's actually the point.

I really resent that comment Jason. Seriously, name some black artists who impressed you this year?

The Go! Team were a favourite of mine from last year in UK, but in UK they dont count this year. I really havent heard any that have impressed me, Gorillaz was ok but I prefered the first album, I dont really listen to much rap or hip-hope, but I do not just glance over artists because of their colour. Go screw yourself.

Amidst all this racial debate, am I the only one who's noticed that the band at #1 on the list is fronted by a black man?

As far as other black artists, the most glaring omission on this list - which is the kind of list I'd expect from a "college rock" kind of radio station (by the way, the list stops at 97 because that's the station's frequency) - is of course Kanye West.

I tend to doubt that this list is eligible for Acclaimed Music, but it's a fairly interesting one. Hey, if you take the top 90 off this one and sprinkle the VIBE top 10 into it at strategic intervals, you've got a pretty good top 100. ;-)

Word, Harold.
(racial matters in pop music suck. consider youself a honky if you want
to... I'm going to make my persian girlfriend pregnant right now... good night
)

I'm sorry if I've offended anyone here. It was foolish of me to criticize a list whose source I don't know much about. I should have recognized that it is a radio station, and one which probably restricts its playlist to indie rock.

That said, I am a bit tired of seeing list over list where (insert trendy hipster band) just barely edges out (insert another trendy hipster band).

It seems that music is becoming as polarized as ever in terms of genre, and I don't like that.

Thank you!

Tungsten - My favorite albums of the year were by black artists (Kanye West, John Legend, Mariah Carey, the new Anthony Hamilton seems good but I need to listen more; I also liked albums by Common, Keyshia Cole, Three Six Mafia, etc.). It seems to me there is a pattern among a lot of critics and a lot of people who are into critics; black artists and the music they make are often marginalized while white indie/alt bands are praised for being innovative. There is obviously crpa R&B/hip-hop, but there is also crap rock, indie, etc. music.

In my experience, people just love to say that no black/urban music resonated with them. When I ask them if they have listened to certain artists, though, they have not. Have you even listened to much urban music this past year? You don't have to, of course, but if you haven't you shouldn't really comment on urban music. If you have listened to a lot, I'd be interested to know what albums you listened to.

I could point out how metal albums seem to be completely overlooked in these lists. Seems to me it's not a colour thing at all, but just that there are certain types of music which are favoured and certain types are shunned. Metal, hiphop and rap for example.

I'm not really into hiphop or rap at all, I like a few things like the Beastie Boys, Tupac, The Go! Team but I find most hiphop kind of dull and it seems to be more style over substance.

Didnt realise Mariah Carey was black btw, she seems very light brown to me. ;)

btw, did you know the UK is 91.2% white and 2% black

USA is 81.7% white and 12.9% black.

So you really wouldnt expect to have much more than 10% black artists in the lists anyway (if we simplify things and say most artists in the lists are from UK and USA). I dont actually think you have much of a point.

In the U.S. the music scene is pretty much dominated by black artists at this point, so in that sense there is more notoriety for urban artists.

And you left country off the list, too; that genre is routinely ignored on critics lists as well.

So, the only music worth nothing is white alt or indie rock? Please. It's your right (and anyone else's) to like one genre, but when the collective seems to acknowledge the same style over and over, I think it's a bit of a problem.

I think you're wrong that music is dominated by black artists in US, you are saying that 12% of the population is dominating 81%? Unlikely, and you are likely to get lesser quality on average from a smaller pool of people producing the same amount of music as a larger pool.

Also, why do you keep saying "white indie rock"? Black people can do rock too you know. Bloc Party's singer is black for example. I really connot stand these colour divisions you are imposing on music, I find it repulsive.

Tungsten, I don't have any statistical figures at hand, but the fact is that, at least from a commercial standpoint, the music scene in the U.S. is pretty indisputably dominated at the moment by black artists. Has been for a while, actually.

I remember something Dave Marsh wrote in his singles-list book THE HEART OF ROCK AND SOUL, which first came out in 1989. He recounted a conversation he had with someone in the industry about the pop singles charts and why they gave equal weight to sales and radio airplay rather than being determined by sales alone. The cynical reply: "Because if it was just based on sales there'd be nothing but black records in the top 40." And ever since 1991, when the SoundScan system was introduced to more accurately track point-of-purchase sales, there have been many weeks when that has been pretty much the case.

Well I dont know the facts about the USA, but up until this year the charts in the UK were by sales alone and they were never dominated by black artists. Certainly the album charts anyway, I dont pay much attention to singles.

It's important to remember though that high record sales does not always equate with good music. There is a lot of commercial rubbish these days, more albums get released each year than ever before, some have huge record company backing (James Blunt for example, "You're Beautiful" was first released in UK at the end of last year and it flopped. His record company re-released it in the spring and paid masses amounts of money to promote it on all the radio stations in the country, and people bought it).

There's certainly no colour bias in the UK that I can detect. We are going through a guitar band phase, and think a lot of people like the sound of real instruments and organic percussion which you dont get on most hip-hop, rap etc. The Go! Team stand out because they have a real drummer, they're doing something a bit different. A lot of hip-hop is processed beats, I find that gets old quicker.

Wow...my first post, and it starts a conversation on racism. I'm pretty shocked. So, any list that doesn't include Kanye is racist? Cause that's the only widely acclaimed "black" album that didn't make the list. On the flip side, Antony and the Johnsons (one of the most acclaimed of the year) also didn't make it on there; and since the station's tagline is "the future of rock", which do you think is a larger oversight? Maybe they aren't just racist; maybe they hate gay brits more. But as someone else said, the number one band features a black lead singer; and, with albums by gorillaz and common in there (not to mention TV on the Radio being highly ranked last year), it doesn't seem very likely that there are many KKK rally's at WOXY. Also with Franz Ferdinand making another strong showing (they were number 1 last year), I don't think the sexuality of artists has anything to do with it. Maybe people just need to get their heads out of their asses and think before they make ridiculous comments.

Agreed that music is music is music and that the race and sexuality of the artists who make it doesn't and shouldn't matter. But just for the sake of factual accuracy, Doug, I feel compelled to point out re: your Franz Ferdinand comment that, as far as anyone knows, all four members of FF are straight. "Michael" is a great song, but it's just a song.

Tungsten - You keep referring to the population, but who makes music and who is successful isn't necessarily the same as the population. Also, the Uk music scene (and population) is different from that of the U.S. It's no surprise that U.S. critics lists include more R&B and hip-hop music; it's more accepted here (though U.S. critics still praise rock/alt music more than anything).

Doug - The discussion came out of this list, but it isn't really about this list. This is an issue I have raise before and about many other sources. Music critics (and lists) in general seem to favor white acts, specificially those who make rock and alt music. The top albums are nearly always by white alt/rock acts (White Stripes, Franz Ferdinand, Radiohead, The Strokes, etc.).

People here - and critics - may prefer that style of music, and that's their right. That doesn't mean alt/rock music is continually the best, though. Just because urban music doesn't interest a lot of you doesn't mean it's bad; and, really, the issue for me is why a lot of people don't even think it can be good.

It can be good, but people have musical preferences. I myself have bought some rap and hip-hop albums in the past, I just dont enjoy that type of music as much as music with more tradition instrumentation.

For example, I used to quite like Eminem, now I cant stand him and his music sounds old and dated. I think Tupac's stuff has aged better, I espesially like Hit 'em Up, that's a great track because it's raw, angry and has great rhythm. But I find most of that type of music doesnt stand up to repeat listening, I just get bored of it. I think it's the electronic beats and repetitive loops that do this.

I'd like to see a list with 50% (or 49/51 spilt at least.)on genders. Also 15% of list from under 16's and a further 15% over 65's.