´MEGA-CRITIC´ IS CALCULATED ON A BASIS OF 26 SOURCES (11 EUROPE, 7 GB, 8 US) AND PUBLISHED AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH MONTH EXCLUSIVELY HERE IN THE ´ACCLAIMED MUSIC FORUM´.

THE RANKING ON JANUARY 31ST :

01. 68,2 79,3 (17) VAMPIRE WEEKEND ´VAMPIRE WEEKEND´

EU : 05. 64,9
UK : 02. 69,2
US : 01. 70,4
MC : 83

02. 65,9 75,1 (18) BLACK MOUNTAIN ´IN THE FUTURE´

EU : 04. 66,5
UK : 05. 67,1
US : 06. 63,9
MC : 79

03. 65,4 72,1 (24) CAT POWER ´JUKEBOX´

EU : 03. 66,8
UK : 08. 63,3
US : 04. 65,4
MC : 71

04. 65,0 71,8 (23) MAGNETIC FIELDS ´DISTORTION´

EU : 02. 66,9
UK : 19. 59,2
US : 02. 68,1
MC : 80

05. 64,3 73,5 (16) BRITISH SEA POWER ´DO YOU LIKE ROCK MUSIC ?´

EU : 12. 60,2
UK : 01. 72,5
US : 000
MC : 00

06. 64,0 77,2 (11) DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS ´BRIGHTER THAN CREATION´S DARK´

EU : 01. 68,9
UK : 000
US : 11. 62,8
MC : 85

07. 62,6 73,6 (12) GHOSTFACE KILLAH ´THE BIG DOE REHAB´

EU : 10. 60,6
UK : 000
US : 03. 67,9
MC : 79

08. 61,5 67,8 (19) WU-TANG CLAN ´8 DIAGRAMS´

EU : 11. 60,3
UK : 16. 60,3
US : 08. 63,4
MC : 72

09. 61,0 75,3 ( 8) HOT CHIP ´MADE IN THE DARK´

EU : 09. 61,1
UK : 09. 63,2
US : 000
MC : 00

10. 60,9 67,9 (16) LIGHTSPEED CHAMPION ´FALLING OFF THE LAVENDER BRIDGE´

EU : 15. 58,6
UK : 03. 68,2
US : 000
MC : 00

11. 60,6 69,7 (12) JOE JACKSON ´RAIN´

EU : 08. 61,8
UK : 000
US : 000
MC : 00

12. 60,5 69,5 (12) LUPE FIASCO ´THE COOL´

EU : 17. 54,5
UK : 11. 62,8
US : 05. 64,0
MC : 79

13. 59,1 74,8 (06) XIU XIU ´WOMEN AS LOVERS´

EU : 000
UK : 000
US : 13. 61,1
MC : 74

14. 59,0 69,3 (09) BABY DEE ´SAFE INSIDE THE DAY´

EU : 07. 62,1
UK : 000
US : 000
MC : 00

15. 58,3 72,7 (06) JONNY GREENWOOD ´THERE WILL BE BLOOD´

EU : 000
UK : 16. 60,3
US : 000
MC : 00

16. 57,4 67,1 (08) SONS & DAUGHTERS ´THIS GIFT´

EU : 20. 53,6
UK : 09. 63,2
US : 000
MC : 80

17. 56,2 60,0 (17) THE MARS VOLTA ´THE BEDLAM IN GOLIATH´

EU : 06. 62,8
UK : 000
US : 000
MC : 64

18. 56,0 66,5 (06) THESE NEW PURITANS ´BEAT PYRAMID´

EU : 19. 53,9
UK : 12. 62,1
US : 000
MC : 00

19. 55,9 66,1 (06) SCHOOL OF LANGUAGE ´SEA FROM SHORE´

EU : 000
UK : 20. 58,6
US : 000
MC : 00

20. 55,4 63,3 (07) RAZ OHARA AND THE ODD ORCHESTRA ´RAZ OHARA AND THE ODD ORCHESTRA´

EU : 13. 59,9
UK : 000
US : 000
MC : 00

- THE SCORE NEXT TO THE POSITION IS THE ADJUSTED SCORE, FOLLOWED BY THE AVERAGE RATING AND THE NUMBER OF RATINGS IN BRACKETS.

- THE SCORES AFTER THE TITLE ARE THE INDIVIDUAL POSITIONS/SCORES FOR EUROPE, THE UK AND THE US, FOLLOWED BY THE ACTUAL META-CRITIC-SCORE.

FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE INDIVIDUAL CHARTS :

EU :

14. 58,7 MARAH ´ANGELS OF DESTRUCTION´
16. 58,1 THE-DREAM ´LOVE HATE´
18. 54,5 ALASKA IN WINTER ´DANCE PARTY IN THE BALKANS´

UK :

04. 67,7 LE LOUP ´THE THRONE OF THE THIRD HEAVEN...´
06. 65,4 HELIOCENTRICS ´OUT THERE´
07. 63,8 H.J. ROEDELIUS/TIM STORY ´INLANDISH´
12. 62,1 SILJE NES ´AMES ROOM´
14. 60,3 CHARLOTTEFIELD ´WHAT ARE FRIENDS FOR´
14. 60,3 THISTLETOWN ´´ROSEMARIE´
16. 60,3 AIDAN JOHN MOFFAT ´I CAN HEAR YOUR HEART´
20. 58,6 LOVE IS ALL ´MIXED UP´
20. 58,6 VINICIUS CANTUARIA ´CYMBALS´
20. 58,6 ANTHONY REYNOLDS ´BRITISH BALLADS´
20. 58,6 SARABETH TUCEK ´SARABETH TUCEK´

US :

07. 63,6 TIMES NEW VIKING ´RIP IT OFF´
09. 62,9 ZS ´ARMS´
10. 62,9 SHELBY LYNNE ´JUST A LITTLE LOVIN´´
12. 61,3 BEANIE SIEGEL ´THE SOLUTION´
14. 61,1 WHIGS ´MISSION CONTROL´
15. 61,1 MARY J. BLIGE ´GROWING PAINS´
16. 59,4 MGMT ´ORACULAR SPECTACULAR´
17. 58,2 FREEWAY ´FREE AT LAST´
18. 57,7 EVANGELICALS ´THE EVENING DESCENDS´
19. 56,8 RIVERS CUOMO ´ALONE - THE HOME RECORDINGS´
20. 56,5 WYCLEF JEAN ´CARNIVAL II : MEMOIRS OF AN IMMIGRANT´

NEXT UPDATE : FEBRUARY 29TH

Great work Stefan, I appreciate these updates every month. Keep it up!

Yes, great work Stefan!!!

With a little baby to take care of, there's no time for me to work on a spreadsheet like I did last year. And really, with Stefan's monthly updates, why should I do almost the same work?

Therefore, I hereby announce Stefan's monthly updates as THE OFFICIAL ACCLAIMED MUSIC MONTHLY UPDATES, now better than ever with a truly global perspective!

This is very useful, thanks.

Are those numbers the percentages of other albums rated lower than all the other albums by each particular source? Are you doing it the same ordinal way Henrik does?

I'm surprised to see Drive By Truckers so low. It's my easy #1 so far.

DEAR BILL

TAKEN THE AVERAGE RATING, ´DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS´ WOULD BE # 2, RIGHT BEHIND ´VAMPIRE WEEKEND´. IN DIRECT COMPARSION, WHERE BOTH ALBUMS HAVE BEEN SCORED, FOUR OF SIX SOURCES GIVE MORE POINTS TO ´VP´ THAN TO ´D-BT´ (GUARDIAN, PITCHFORK, POPMATTERS, SLANT).

FOR THE MEGA-CRITIC CHART I USE AN ADJUSTED SCORE (AS DID HENRIK), WHICH BENEFITS ALBUMS WITH A HIGHER NUMBER OF REVIEWS. WITH ONLY 11 REVIEWS SO FAR (IT HAS ONLY BEEN SCORED BY 1 OF 7 SOURCES IN THE UK YET), THE ACTUAL POSITION FOR ´DB-T´ IS ONLY # 6.

Ahh, so it's an adjustment of the straight average of reviews, and there's no control for outliers and skew?

It'd be cool to plug your numbers into Henrik's statistical method that only compares each album individually against every other album, so skew doesn't impact the results.

When I'm looking for new album suggestions on metacritic, say an album has a 70. If the album has 70 70 70 70 70, I probably won't look at it. If it has 85 85 85 85 10, I probably will.

i'm sure you already know this, but if not, it's quite easy to copy a list off the internet and put it into excel. copy it into a notepad file first, and when in excel, go into "data" then "import external data" and then "import data". a window pops up, then check the "delimited" check box. click next and you should be able to choose what the delimiter (separator) is. i'm sure you know that already but just in case anyone here didn't. especially the people working on the forum polls...

I've listened to Vampire Weekend today and it sounds interesting, especially the first songs. I need a couple more listens but it might be a good 2008 album

Black Mountain is great too (although I might be the only one to think so)
I had heard them before but thought it was a '70s band
They're incredible