The Village Voice’s Pazz + Jop is the longest running year-end music critics’ poll in the world. Here’s what critics loved in 2014.
The New York City-based weekly newspaper The Village Voice has been polling music critics on their favorite albums, and later, songs, since 1971, making it the oldest year-end pop music poll in the world. The latest issue is out tomorrow:
Late last year, 612 music critics cast their votes for their favorite albums and songs in the paper's Pazz + Jop poll. The poll's name was conceived as a nod to the long-defunct Jazz + Pop magazine, the publication that devised the rating system still used by the Voice.
That system works like this: With albums, "critics have 100 points to divide among their top 10 picks, with each entry receiving no more than 30 points or less than five. There's no point-ranking system for the singles category, which remains amorphous, comprising individual songs, remixes, downloads, viral sensations, etc."
These are the results of The Village Voice's 2014 Pazz + Jop critics' poll...
Village Voice
D'Angelo's late 2014 surprise Black Messiah took the top album prize.
1. D'Angelo · Black Messiah
2. Run the Jewels · Run the Jewels 2
3. War on Drugs · Lost in the Dream
4. St. Vincent · St. Vincent
5. FKA Twigs · Lp1
6. Sturgill Simpson · Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
7. Taylor Swift · 1989
8. Angel Olsen · Burn Your Fire for No Witness
9. Spoon · They Want My Soul
10. Against Me! · Transgender Dysphoria Blues
RCA Records
Future Islands's "Seasons (Waiting on You)" -- which caught on soon after lead singer Sam Herring danced his way into our collective hearts performing it on Letterman (below) -- was song of the year, according to the critics polled.
1. Future Islands · "Seasons (Waiting on You)"
2. FKA Twigs · "Two Weeks"
3. Taylor Swift · "Blank Space"
4. Taylor Swift · "Shake It Off"
5. Kendrick Lamar · "I"
6. ILoveMakonnen (ft. Drake) · "Tuesday"
7. Sia · "Chandelier"
8. Charli XCX · "Boom Clap"
9. (Tie) Beyoncé (ft. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) · "***Flawless"
9. (Tie) DJ Snake (ft. Lil Jon) · "Turn Down for What"
CBS
