The Village Voice today unveiled the results of the 44th (or 45th) annual Pazz + Jop Music Critics Poll. Inaugurated in 1971 by the longtime and legendary Voice music critic Robert Christgau and conducted yearly beginning in 1974, the Pazz + Jop Music Critics Poll is an annual survey of critics throughout the country. This year, more than 400 critics participated in the poll, voting Kendrick Lamar’s “DAMN.” as the year’s Top Album and Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow” the Top Single. Complete lists of the Top 100 albums and Top 50 singles are available at villagevoice.com.
“Pazz + Jop started back in 1971 as a way to capture not just what was happening in music, but how people listened to music, both as critics and as fans,” said Village Voice editor in chief Stephen Mooallem. “The message behind Pazz + Jop was always that music, like people, could contain multitudes: it could be exhilarating, funny, maddening, inspiring, infuriating, and revolutionary – sometimes, like ‘Bodak Yellow,’ all within a span of three minutes and 36 seconds.
“It’s been a strange year – to say the least – and an eclectic one for music,” Mooallem said. “This year’s results reflect a wide range of forms, perspectives, and responses to what is an undeniably complicated historical and cultural moment.”
The results of this year’s Pazz + Jop Music Critics Poll are expansive, including work by artists that represent a great mix of genres and styles, with SZA’s revelatory debut “CTRL” (#2), ambitious efforts from St. Vincent (#3) and Lorde (#4) and country artist Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s brazenly political “The Nashville Sound” rounding out the Top 5 on the Albums list. The Singles list is equally diverse, with women such as Carly Rae Jepsen, Selena Gomez, Lorde, Charli XCX occupying six of the Top 10 spots.
Full Top 10 lists are below.
Top 10 Albums
1. Kendrick Lamar – “DAMN.”
2. SZA – “CTRL”
3. St. Vincent – “Masseduction”
4. Lorde – “Melodrama”
5. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – “The Nashville Sound”
6. War On Drugs – “A Deeper Understanding”
7. Slowdive – “Slowdive”
8. Jay-Z – “4:44”
9. LCD Soundsystem – “American Dream”
10. Waxahatchee – “Out in the Storm”
Top 10 Singles
1. Cardi B – “Bodak Yellow”
2. Kendrick Lamar – “HUMBLE.”
3. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Cut to the Feeling”
4. Lorde – “Green Light”
5. Kendrick Lamar – “DNA.”
6. Lil Uzi Vert – “XO TOUR Llif3”
7. St Vincent – “New York”
8. Charli XCX – “Boys”
9. Selena Gomez – “Bad Liar” (tie)
Future – “Mask Off” (tie)
The results of this year’s Pazz + Jop Music Critics Poll will be accompanied by a series of essays to be rolled out through the week, as a well as a video of a discussion on the year in music moderated by Village Voice contributing editor Joe Levy and featuring Christgau and music journalists Brittany Spanos and Alex Frank.
