Image Credit: Chris Hatcher/PR Photos; Landmark/PR PhotosRemember 2010? It seems so long ago now, but the year in music is never completely over until the Village Voice releases its annual Pazz & Jop critics’ poll. The venerable alt-weekly revealed the 2010 results last night, and you will be absolutely shocked to learn that after polling 708 music writers, the runaway winner in the albums category was Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Top honors in the singles category went to Cee Lo Green’s “F— You.”
Of course, West’s album already topped quite a few publications’ year-end lists last month (including EW‘s), so this result was practically a foregone conclusion. Still, the magnitude of West’s win is notable. MBDTF scored almost exactly twice as many points as this year’s Pazz & Jop runner-up, LCD Soundsystem’s This Is Happening, which in turn barely nosed ahead of this year’s No. 3, Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs.
West also dominated the singles category. While No. 1 went to “F– You,” No. 2 to Janelle Monae’s “Tightrope,” and No. 3 to Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own” — all most deserving choices — the next three spots in the top 10 singles went to West (“Runaway,” “Power,” and “Monster”). Combine the votes for those three tracks and you’d have more than enough points to beat Cee Lo for the No. 1 spot.
A music nerd like myself could spend all day examining Pazz & Jop data. Luckily, the far more statistics-savvy Glenn McDonald has done all the hard work for me. Check out his site for some insanely thorough analysis of the past three years’ P&J results.
Then let us know what you think of this year’s poll. Surprised that a bunch of critics love Kanye West and Cee Lo? Disappointed that any of your favorite music didn’t place higher? Sound off in the comments.
(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)
More from EW.com:
Animal Collective, Jay-Z win Pazz & Jop ’09 poll
Pazz & Jop ’08: TV on the Radio, M.I.A. take top honors
I’d prefer to listen to music created by Hitler, than music created by Kanye
I’m trying to resist feeding the troll, but whatever. Hitler was responsible for the killing of millions of people, Kanye is just arrogant. Your comparison is quite offensive and tasteless.
In other news, glad to see Robyn getting the recognition she deserves! Body Talk was my favorite album of 2010.
Yay F*** You!
I wasn’t talking to you Jay.
why, jay? in your opinion, has kanye made the world a worst place than hitler?!?!? the dude is arrogant and self-important, but not evil. you’re ridiculous.
Kanye made a solid album. That’s why the magazine critics have put his album on top in year end polls. It’s good that he’s regained the momentum that he lost a year before and focused back on the music instead. Looking forward to his album with Jay-Z in March!
Kanye made a great album. shut the hell up jay, you sound like a fool.
Cee Lo has a great voice and his album is also wonderful. I hope that it sells a lot more in connection with the Grammy awards. Every song is good and some are great.
Kanye’s album was good, but not as great as many of the critics have made it out to be. LCD Soundsystem’s was a more substantial album, maybe not quite as much sonically but definitely lyrically.
Kanye is never going to win a Mr. Congeniality contest, but people who dismiss his music bc of his arrogant antics are truly missing out. He is a musical genius. Some people don’t have respect for rappers, but saying Kanye is a rapper is like saying Jesus was a carpenter. He’s so much more than that. He’s a top notch producer and songwriter and lyricist as well. A lot of geniuses are eccentric and unsettling, but his sometimes warped perception and often hilarious descriptions of the world around him make his music that much richer and more entertaining than any of his peers. He’s the very best at what he’s doing and deserves much of the respect and attention that he’s been demanding all these years.
Kanye really deserves every award and even more in the future for this album.
Inside the brilliant frame of music there was also the beautiful painting of lyrics in all of his songs .