NOW 50 CHARTS ARE INCLUDED

SINCE THE LAST UPDATE HAVE BEEN ADDED :

BM RANT - BOWS&ARROWS - CHICAGO TRIBUNE ARTS
SECTION - CHICAGO TRIBUNE:GREG KOT - CITYPA-
GES - DAGSAVISEN (NORWAY) - DAGBLADET (NOR-
WAY) - HIP HOOSIER - KEXP'S DJ'S - MILKFACTO-
RY -SLANT MAGAZINE - SOUND OPINIONS:JIM DE
ROGATIS - SOUND OPINION:ROBIN LINN - SOUND
OPINION:JASONSALANHA - SOUND OPINION:TODD
BACHMANN - THINGS I'D RATHER DO - TUFT'S DAI-
LY STUFF

THE TOP 5O AS OF DECEMEBR 14TH :

1 855 SURFJAN STEVENS : 'ILLINOISE'
2 811 ANTHONY & THE JOHNSONS 'I AM A BIRD NOW'
3 664 BLOC PARTY : 'SILENT ALARM'
4 600 M.I.A. : 'ARULAR'
5 578 LCD SOUNDSYSTEM : 'LCD SOUNDSYSTEM'

6 527 KANYE WEST 'LATE REGISTRATION'
7 429 FRANZ FERDINAND : 'YOU COULD HAVE IT...'
8 418 GORILLAZ : 'DEMON DAYS'
9 380 MY MORNING JACKET : 'Z'
10 375 THE WHITE STRIPES : 'GET BEHIND ME SATAN'

11 363 BRIGHT EYES : 'I'M WIDE AWAKE IT'S MORNING'
12 356 DEVENDRA BANHART : 'CRIPPLE CROW'
13 334 WOLF PARADE : 'APOLOGIES TO THE QUEEN MARY'
14 317 CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH : 'CLAP YOUR HANDS...'
15 311 THE MAGIC NUMBERS : 'THE MAGIC NUMBERS'

16 305 SPOON : 'GIMME FICTION'
17 303 ANIMAL COLLECTIVE : 'FEELS'
18 292 KATE BUSH : 'AERIAL'
19 265 SIGUR ROS : 'TAKK...'
20 263 SLEATER-KINNEY : 'THE WOODS'

21 251 DEATH CAB FOR CUTIES : 'PLANS'
22 241 RUFUS WAINWRIGHT : 'WANT TWO'
23 237 NEW PORNOGRAPHERS : 'TWIN CINEMA'
24 230 THE MARS VOLTA : 'FRANCIS THE MULE'
25 222 ANDREW BIRD : 'MYSTERIOUS PRODUCTION OF EGGS'

26 213 RICHARD HAWLEY : 'COLES CORNER'
27 208 KAISER CHIEFS : 'EMPLOYMENT'
28 201 THE RAKES : 'CAPTURE/RELEASE'
29 200 SYSTEM OF A DOWN : 'MESMERIZE'
29 200 BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE : 'BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE'

31 197 THE DECEMBERISTS : 'PICARESQUE'
32 196 COMMON : 'BE'
33 194 RY COODER : 'CHAVEZ RIVINE'
34 193 AMADOU & MARIAM : 'DIMANCHE A BAMAKO'
34 193 BOARDS OF CANADA : 'THE CAMPFIRE HEADPHASE'

36 184 THE NATIONAL : 'ALLIGATOR'
37 182 OPETH : 'GHOST REVERIES'
38 178 OKKERVIL RIVER : 'BLACK SHEEP BOY'
39 171 BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN : 'DEVILS & DUST'
40 168 DANGER DOOM : 'THE MOUSE AND THE MASK'
40 168 VASHTI BUNYAN : 'LOOKAFTERING'
40 168 MAXIMO PARK : 'A CERTAIN TRIGGER'

43 164 COLDPLAY : 'X&Y'
44 162 BLACK MOUNTAIN : 'BLACK MOUNTAIN'
45 157 NEIL YOUNG : 'PRAIRIE WIND'

46 155 ART BRUT : 'BANG BANG ROCK & ROLL'
47 148 THE HOLD STEADY : 'SEPARATION SUNDAY'
48 145 PAUL MC CARTNEY : 'CHAOS AND CREATION...'
49 144 FIONA APPLE : 'EXTRAORDINARY MACHINE'
50 142 JOHN LEGEND : 'GET LIFTED'

HAVE BEEN INCLUDED FROM THEIR 2004 SCORES :

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT : 37 POINTS
AMADOU & MARIAM : 17 POINTS
JOHN LEGEND : 16 POINTS

HAVE BEEN ADDED TO THEIR 2004 SCORES :

ARCADE FIRE : 458 POINTS NOW : 3RD
THE GO!TEAM : 83 POINTS NOW : 37TH
KINGS OF LEON : 19 POINTS NOW : 44TH
DUNGEN : 70 POINTS NOW : 49TH
FEIST : 38 POINTS NOW : 50TH
ANNIE : 65 POINTS NOW : 59TH
THE EARLIES : 10 POINTS NOW : 81ST

NEXT UPDATE ON DECEMBER 21TH

What lists has John Legend been on?

DEAR JASON

JOHN LEGEND 'GET LIFTED' COLLECTED HIS POINTS :

2004 : NÖJESGUIDEN/SWEDEN : PLACE 35 OF 50 = 16 PTS
2005 : DAGSAVISEN/NORWAY : PLACE 6 OF 40 = 35 PTS
2005 : MOJO : PLACE 43 OF 50 = 8 PTS
2005 : GAFFA/DANMARK : PLACE 24 OF 40 = 17 PTS
2005 : EXPRESSEN/SWEDEN : PLACE 13 OF 50 = 38 PTS
2005 : DAGBLADET/NORWAY : PLACE 8 OF 30 = 23 PTS
2005 : CHICAGO TRIBUNE : PLACE 16 OF 20 = 5 PTS

HE SEEMS TO BE RATHER POPULAR IN SCANDINAVIA

John Legend is one of the most overrated artists of the decade in my opinion. He's ordinary, people!

It will be interesting to see how closely Stefan's compilation matches up with Henrik's 2005 list on the next update. Four of Stefan's top 20 -- Devendra Banhart, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the Magic Numbers and Kate Bush -- have not yet appeared on Acclaimed Music at all; I expect that DB, the Numbers, and Kate will all make their debut with the next update (CYHSY I'm not so sure about).

What happened to Low's THE GREAT DESTROYER? Earlier this year it was through the roof on Metacritic, but it seems to have disappeared off the radar so far in terms of EOY lists; it isn't in Stefan's top 50 at the moment. Maybe it'll score high on the U.S. lists once those start rolling in.

By the way, when I made that comment last week about Sleater-Kinney not having much critical support in the UK I completely overlooked that THE WOODS had landed the #12 ranking in MOJO. My mistake. But watch for THE WOODS to skyrocket with those U.S. lists. With the field being so wide open, it might even be #1 on Pazz & Jop. (I think Sufjan and Antony will definitely both make the P&J top ten, maybe even top five, but I don't see either of them getting the top spot. Maybe Kanye will again.)

I still have work to do with the update so I don't know this yet, but I think there will be some significant differences between Stefan's and my list.

1. I will only include a few of Stefan's list
2. I weight the lists depending on the number of lists from each country/region
3. The metascore will still contribute a lot to my list

For example, all this will be in favor of The Woods.

I am still puzzled by the high appearance of Bloc Party in the listings. To me, they are basically Franz Ferdinand without the good tunes.

FOR HAROLD :

SO FAR LOW'S 'THE GREAT DESTROYER' ONLY COLLECTED
67 POINTS...REALLY A BAD SCORE, THINKING OF HOW
WELL THE ALBUM WAS RATED BY THE CRITICS DURING THE
YEAR.

Stefan - Is there a reason you never included that German list someone posted?

HEY JASON
IF YOU MEAN THE 'WELT AM SONNTAG'-RANKING, IT IS NOT
INCLUDED, BECAUSE THE ALBUMS ARE NOT RANKED, ONLY LIS-
TED. THE ONLY GERMAN CHART INCLUDED YET IS THAT OF
'INTRO'-MAGAZINE. THERE WILL BE MORE GERMAN LISTS IN-
CLUDED FOR THE NEXT UPDATE, AS THE DIFFERENT MAGAZI-
NES ONLY NOW ARE PRINTING THEIR YEAR-CHARTS FOR THEIR
JANUARY-ISSUES. I AM GOING TO POST THE TOP 50 OF 'MU-
SIK EXPRESS' (JUST ARRIVED) HERE IN THE FORUM TONIGHT.