The Guardian's Best 50 Albums of the 21st Century - The Official I Love Music Poll

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It's so easy to sneer but let's see if youse lads can do better

Poll Results

OptionVotes
Gaz Coombes - Matador 20
The Beatles - 1 8
Taylor Swift - 1989 7
50 Cent - Get Rich Or Die Tryin' 5
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black 4
Green Day - American Idiot 3
Madonna - Confessions on a Dance Floor 3
Nickelback - All the Right Reasons 2
Backstreet Boys - Black & Blue 2
Justin Timberlake - Justified 2
Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane 1
Shakira - Laundry Service 1
Michael Jackson - Invincible 1
Madonna - Music 1
Jack Johnson - In Between Dreams 1
Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Heid 1
Justin Timberlake - Futuresex/Lovesounds 1
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP 1
Lady Gaga - The Fame 1
Enya - A Day Without Rain 1
U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind 1
Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends 0
James Blunt - Back to Bedlam 0
Jack Johnson - Sleep Through the Static 0
Beyoncé - Dangerously In Love 0
Mariah Carey - The Emancipation of Mimi 0
Eminem - Encore 0
Eminem - Recovery 0
Christina Aguilera - Stripped 0
Nickelback - Silver Side Up 0
Avril Lavigne - Under My Skin 0
Dido - Life For Rent 0
Celine Dion - A New Day Has Come 0
Eminem - The Eminem Show 0
Norah Jones - Come Away With Me 0
Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory 0
Adele - 25 0
Avril Lavigne - Let Go 0
Usher - Confessions 0
Britney Spears - Oops!...I Did It Again 0
Evanescence - Fallen 0
Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway 0
NSYNC - No Strings Attached 0
Blink-182 - Take Off Your Pants and Jacket 0
Pink - Missundaztood 0
Coldplay - X&Y 0
Eminem - Curtain Call: The Hits 0
Nelly Furtado - Loose 0
Alicia Keys - Songs In A Minor 0
Adele - 21 0


a wagon to the curious (Noodle Vague), Friday, 13 September 2019 16:22 (four years ago) link

i don't know what people are moaning about, it's a pretty eclectic list imo

a wagon to the curious (Noodle Vague), Friday, 13 September 2019 16:23 (four years ago) link

there's really only one option isn't there

ciderpress, Friday, 13 September 2019 16:23 (four years ago) link

Wait - The Archandroid was their album of the year one year and they didn’t even nominate it?

gyac, Friday, 13 September 2019 16:24 (four years ago) link

they're clearly trolling for clicks

a wagon to the curious (Noodle Vague), Friday, 13 September 2019 16:27 (four years ago) link

Why are we even doing this? Alexis Petridis has already explained why Back to Black is objectively the greatest album of the 21st century.

pomenitul, Friday, 13 September 2019 16:28 (four years ago) link

NV I applaud you

brigadier pudding (DJP), Friday, 13 September 2019 16:28 (four years ago) link

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/822132273562714112/dasTMEWB.jpg

"Hi, I'm Peter Walker and I approve of this message"

a wagon to the curious (Noodle Vague), Friday, 13 September 2019 16:34 (four years ago) link

1 is probably the best but none of it is from the 21st century so American Idiot because "Jesus of Suburbia"?

All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r), Friday, 13 September 2019 16:38 (four years ago) link

I'm surprised Julia Wolfe didn't make it.

All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r), Friday, 13 September 2019 16:39 (four years ago) link

she might be in the 51-100 stretch

a wagon to the curious (Noodle Vague), Friday, 13 September 2019 16:40 (four years ago) link

this is every journalist headshot pic.twitter.com/4SxZTgpn1k

— Ruchira Sharma (@RuchoSharma) March 19, 2019

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 13 September 2019 16:40 (four years ago) link

So, according to Guardian only chart-topping pop/rock/rap albums are good?

Tuomas, Friday, 13 September 2019 16:47 (four years ago) link

well it's a populist paper, they'll be pandering to their core readers

a wagon to the curious (Noodle Vague), Friday, 13 September 2019 16:49 (four years ago) link

This isn't the real guardian top 50, it is a funny joke, think it is probably the bestseller list.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 13 September 2019 16:50 (four years ago) link

Ah, okay. Hahaha.

Tuomas, Friday, 13 September 2019 16:51 (four years ago) link

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/822132273562714112/dasTMEWB.jpg

"Camaraderie at Arms Length is a troll. I'm Guardian journalist Peter Walker and I can assure you this is the real list."

a wagon to the curious (Noodle Vague), Friday, 13 September 2019 16:52 (four years ago) link

So many epochal albums on this list, but in the end the choice is obvious. A crime they left off Lukas Graham - Lukas Graham, though.

Frederik B, Friday, 13 September 2019 16:55 (four years ago) link

i honestly thought Lukas Graham was a bloke

a wagon to the curious (Noodle Vague), Friday, 13 September 2019 16:56 (four years ago) link

Awaiting the inevitable Alice Cooper scenario of the lead singer going solo and taking the name for himself.

Siegbran, Friday, 13 September 2019 17:23 (four years ago) link

damn what a century, up there with the best

nashwan, Friday, 13 September 2019 19:13 (four years ago) link

Can’t believe I got Peter Walkered. This is why I normally stay out of ILM. I’ll leave the final word on this to the big man himself

As long as we’re agreed you’re a liar and a fake. Hope the weather in St Petersburg is nice this summer.

— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) August 16, 2019

gyac, Friday, 13 September 2019 19:21 (four years ago) link

I voted for American Idiot. I can understand why it didn't come top, but it shouldn't have been five places below Back to Black as the gap in quality isn't that big. Similarly the Shakira album should have been closer to Breakaway by at least a couple of places, and shouldn't have been below the Blink 182 album at all, that album being in turn better than the Adele album but worse than Stripped by Xtina, a worthy contender sold short by the Guardian's notoriously byzantine list-generation processes

Great list though

Dadjokke (Sgt. Biscuits), Friday, 13 September 2019 19:32 (four years ago) link

My son loves that Shakira 2010 world cup tune, tbf it's pretty good!

calzino, Friday, 13 September 2019 19:36 (four years ago) link

Of course, a lot of dark arts go on with these things, and this being 2019 the list will doubtlessly have been cynically rejigged to drive clicks and keep PR men happy, cf three (!) Coldplay entries, a bit excessive even for me, and tokenistic nonsense like Usher (remember him?)

A well-connected media contact actually slipped me a bit of paper that was purportedly the original, objectively correct list earlier today, but there was some kind of mix up and it just had "fuck terfs" printed on it in 72pt comic sans

Dadjokke (Sgt. Biscuits), Friday, 13 September 2019 19:44 (four years ago) link

not a single album I like, well done

Οὖτις, Friday, 13 September 2019 19:46 (four years ago) link

xp, I’m still on the G2 writers’ Slack and Dave Simpson is going spare about Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ placing. He says he voted for Jack Johnson twice (?). I won’t c&p as this isn’t on 77 but wow.

ShariVari, Friday, 13 September 2019 20:09 (four years ago) link

american idiot

flappy bird, Friday, 13 September 2019 20:13 (four years ago) link

this is such a shit list. the guardian has really become a shadow of it's former self

imago, Friday, 13 September 2019 20:15 (four years ago) link

xp nah he's from leeds, isn't he?

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 13 September 2019 20:15 (four years ago) link

Sincere apologies as I thought this thread actually was on 77 when I made my last post (a bit of common sense next time please noodle!!), and my first post was in fact intended to be posted directly as a comment under the Guardian article in question, where the corrections would have been of more benefit

Regrettably I had once again become disorientated by my many hernias

Dadjokke (Sgt. Biscuits), Friday, 13 September 2019 20:19 (four years ago) link

Voting for the Backstreet Boys, such a bold move for them to cover the Stones' greatest album in full.

Gavin, Leeds, Friday, 13 September 2019 20:21 (four years ago) link

ILM is a different country

president of deluded fruitcakes anonymous (silby), Friday, 13 September 2019 20:22 (four years ago) link

only one of these records is literally all Number One Hits

mookieproof, Friday, 13 September 2019 20:32 (four years ago) link

Dave S is a pro and will of course bounce back from this,and despite all else will have allowed himself a wry chuckle at Gaz Coombes sneaking on there from waaaaay outta leftfield. A couple of People in the Know, formerly of this parish, just advised me there were a few wags involved who were *this close* to sneaking Fischerspooner in there, before those upstairs of course caught wind of the fledgling operation and smashed it like one would smash a crab with a hammer

Dadjokke (Sgt. Biscuits), Friday, 13 September 2019 20:45 (four years ago) link

i was kinda shocked by the number of voters for Invincible in the end, especially the (much-loved political commentator) guy who finished his blurb by claiming that the recent Jackson documentary was a QAnon false flag

a wagon to the curious (Noodle Vague), Friday, 13 September 2019 20:50 (four years ago) link

who funds you NV

nashwan, Friday, 13 September 2019 21:18 (four years ago) link

This list is fucking horrible. I'm voting the Beatles - 1 in protest, as a collection of the Beatles' #1 hits is better than everything else on this list by not just a mile but a fucking planet's distance, and despite the fact that it's clearly out of place as none of the music was recorded or altered outside of maybe mastering from their 60's origins.

octobeard, Friday, 13 September 2019 21:29 (four years ago) link

I mean Coldplay is on this list THREE TIMES. wtf people

octobeard, Friday, 13 September 2019 21:30 (four years ago) link

I gave them all three of my votes

L'assie (Euler), Friday, 13 September 2019 21:35 (four years ago) link

I feel like the Coldplay albums offer a genteel English counterbalance to the sheer weight of Eminem albums on the list. FFS Guardian journos stop obsessing over him!

a wagon to the curious (Noodle Vague), Friday, 13 September 2019 21:38 (four years ago) link

WHERE ARE TOOL!??!

kraudive, Friday, 13 September 2019 21:39 (four years ago) link

Look, Taylor Swift made the list, say no more.

a wagon to the curious (Noodle Vague), Friday, 13 September 2019 21:40 (four years ago) link

Easy vote for Jack Johnson. It's the kind of album that gives you faith in the future of music. It is not rock and roll, but it’s nothing stereotyped as jazz either. All at once, it owes almost as much to the techniques developed by rock improvisors in the last four years as to John'son's jazz background. It is part of a transcendental new music which flushes categories away and, while using musical devices from all styles and cultures, is defined mainly by its deep emotion and unaffected originality.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 13 September 2019 21:42 (four years ago) link

BLACK MUSIC SUCKS!!>!?**

kraudive, Friday, 13 September 2019 21:42 (four years ago) link

Dave S is a pro and will of course bounce back

I hope so but I haven’t seen him so steamed since Caspar made him cover Alexandra Stan for New Band Of The Day (“if this is how far we have fallen they can shove their £20 a column”, etc).

ShariVari, Friday, 13 September 2019 21:44 (four years ago) link

Maybe if it was Folklore or Whoa, Nelly!...

... (Eazy), Friday, 13 September 2019 21:50 (four years ago) link

gotta vote for 50

g-g-g-g-g-G-u-NIT!!

for real that's the best album

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 14 September 2019 02:15 (four years ago) link

genuinely did not know that gaz coombes album was called matador until now

ufo, Saturday, 14 September 2019 02:35 (four years ago) link

this has such chaotic energy, I love it -- I voted for Back to Black

winters (josh), Saturday, 14 September 2019 04:57 (four years ago) link

I understand Nickelback on the list more than I understand U2 on the list.

Una Palooka Dronka (hardcore dilettante), Saturday, 14 September 2019 05:23 (four years ago) link

Gaz Coombes

hot dog go to bathroom (cajunsunday), Saturday, 14 September 2019 11:04 (four years ago) link

There is only 1 album on this list that can't be beat.

☮ (peace, man), Saturday, 14 September 2019 11:27 (four years ago) link

Yeah but what will finish 2nd to Gaz I wonder

a wagon to the curious (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 14 September 2019 12:17 (four years ago) link

Naming no names but it all got very personal and unnecessary on the G2 Slack last night (“if Sheffield Hallam let me start selling my plasma again I’ll never have to speak to any of you fuckers for the rest of my days”, etc).

Say what you like about ILX but if we don’t agree which order the best albums should go in, we generally keep it civil.

ShariVari, Saturday, 14 September 2019 12:33 (four years ago) link

hahaha whaaaat? you hate to see it!

ogmor, Saturday, 14 September 2019 12:39 (four years ago) link

confessions, either one

american bradass (BradNelson), Saturday, 14 September 2019 12:59 (four years ago) link

Might ask a mod to move this to 77, last thing we need is more beef with the G2 massive

a wagon to the curious (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 14 September 2019 13:38 (four years ago) link

gotta vote for 50

g-g-g-g-g-G-u-NIT!!

for real that's the best album

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, September 13, 2019 10:15 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

lowercase (eric), Saturday, 14 September 2019 13:46 (four years ago) link

If those were the best 50 albums of the 21st century I wouldn't like music. At all.

stranded, Monday, 16 September 2019 08:16 (four years ago) link

i feel for you babe

a wagon to the curious (Noodle Vague), Monday, 16 September 2019 11:03 (four years ago) link

G-g-g-g-gaz INNIT

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 16 September 2019 12:46 (four years ago) link

that ^^^

a wagon to the curious (Noodle Vague), Monday, 16 September 2019 12:48 (four years ago) link

I listened to all of In It For The Money today and it's genuinely good

imago, Monday, 16 September 2019 12:51 (four years ago) link

i feel for you babe

a wagon to the curious (Noodle Vague), Monday, 16 September 2019 12:52 (four years ago) link

Did you intentionally leave out Gay Dad? Not cool.

Will have to be voting Gaz.

Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 16 September 2019 12:53 (four years ago) link

I started at the bottom with 1989 and clicked it and then slowly scrolled up waiting to find something better and never did.

Evans on Hammond (evol j), Monday, 16 September 2019 13:27 (four years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Sunday, 29 September 2019 00:01 (four years ago) link

last chance to vote for the real best albums of the noughties, folks

Dominc Coombesings (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 29 September 2019 10:22 (four years ago) link

That Dido went from Queen of Carthage to Queen of the Charts was a real landmark of feminsim and an inspiration to us all. Well, the birds and that. Well done Dido - she gets my vote.

Life is a meaningless nightmare of suffering...save string (Chinaski), Sunday, 29 September 2019 10:27 (four years ago) link

a real g goes a to z (gaz)

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Sunday, 29 September 2019 15:43 (four years ago) link

It's such an odd list. You'd think The Guardian would have stuffed it full of people who are fashionable right now, or were fashionable until recently, or who get good press - Robyn, Billie Eilish, Sam Smith, Tegan And Sara, etc.

Or is this an arch Ilxor joke? It's an arch Ilxor joke, isn't it. The Guardian's list has a hundred entries. It's still pretty crap but it's not as bad as this. The Guardian's list describes Lily Allen as "the voice of a generation", those exact words. Or is this from the print edition of the paper? There's no Grouper, no Benoît Pioulard. Is it satire? It's satire.

Of all the albums in that list the only one I own is A Day Without Rain, which I have so far never listened to. I've copied the contents of the compact disc into iTunes, but I've never listened to it. I like to imagine that Enya exists outside of lists like this because she's inoffensive and barely ever promotes herself. She is without sin. Not like the others.

After skimming through The Guardian's actual list of a hundred albums there are two dozen good ones. The best is Untrue by Burial. It exists on a higher level than the other records.

Ashley Pomeroy, Sunday, 29 September 2019 22:41 (four years ago) link

this has to be a troll poll

Dan S, Sunday, 29 September 2019 22:56 (four years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Monday, 30 September 2019 00:01 (four years ago) link

ILM understands

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 30 September 2019 01:18 (four years ago) link

Ok I guess I need to listen to Gaz Coombes.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 30 September 2019 02:52 (four years ago) link

Why did this album win and why I haven’t heard anyone on ILM mention it before. Is this a joke I’m not aware of?

✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 30 September 2019 02:54 (four years ago) link

it's a joke

Non stop chantar (crüt), Monday, 30 September 2019 02:58 (four years ago) link

get familiar!!!

j., Monday, 30 September 2019 03:10 (four years ago) link

GAZ familiGAZ

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 30 September 2019 03:24 (four years ago) link

(nb: i may not have heard any music by this guy but his name is gaz coombes)

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 30 September 2019 03:25 (four years ago) link

Good turn-out and of course a pleasure to see Gaz vindicated as 150 percent better than the Beatles.

Dominc Coombesings (Noodle Vague), Monday, 30 September 2019 06:07 (four years ago) link

Xpost: Oh thank god, I felt like I was going crazy, listened to the first trio of songs and they were very unremarkable

✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 30 September 2019 06:21 (four years ago) link

Why did this album win and why I haven’t heard anyone on ILM mention it before.

this is a challenging question though

now let's play big lunch take little lunch (sic), Monday, 30 September 2019 06:52 (four years ago) link

Guess there are still people on ILM who don't really *love* music

Dominc Coombesings (Noodle Vague), Monday, 30 September 2019 07:24 (four years ago) link

These results are chefliss.jpg, ty NV for your invaluable service <3

Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 30 September 2019 07:26 (four years ago) link

chefkiss even

Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 30 September 2019 07:26 (four years ago) link

I voted Jack Johnson this is bullshit

nashwan, Monday, 30 September 2019 07:55 (four years ago) link

i forgot to vote for dido why didnt she win

Life is a meaningless nightmare of suffering...save string (Chinaski), Monday, 30 September 2019 12:59 (four years ago) link

I hope somebody writes an article about ILM and uses this as an example of the current consensus and Gaz suddenly gets all kinds of critical plaudits and gets p4k album of the century

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 30 September 2019 13:40 (four years ago) link

American Idiot too low

president of deluded fruitcakes anonymous (silby), Monday, 30 September 2019 16:55 (four years ago) link


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