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The Year's Top Releases According To The Billboard Staff & A Host Of Artists
The Billboard staff, along with the freelance writers who contribute to the magazine and the Web site, represent a vast range of musical tastes. The proof is in is our annual Critics' Choice roundup, where all parties are invited to submit a list of their top 10 favorite albums, singles or musical events of the past year.
While Billboard's various charts reflect the retail sales of albums and the sales and airplay of singles, these lists are based only the personal favorites of staff and contributors.
In tallying the top-10 lists, only albums were counted for our overall critics' choice list (singles and live shows appear in some lists, but weren't used to tabulate the final results). An inverse point system -- where 10 points were given to a title listed at No. 1, and one point given to a No. 10 entry -- was used to determine the rankings.
A total of 48 lists were submitted, with hundreds artists mentioned among the lot. Bob Dylan's "Modern Times" (Columbia) was the overall points winner, followed by his labelmate Bruce Springsteen's "We Shall Overcome -- The Seeger Sessions" and Gnarls Barkley's debut album, "St. Elsewhere" (Downtown/Atlantic).
Dylan was mentioned on a leading eight lists, including one No. 1 and three No. 2 finishes. Springsteen's tally blends votes for two different editions of "We Shall Overcome": the original CD-only version and a second, separately released package featuring a DVD. The album garnered three No. 1 votes in the poll.
Upstart U.K. rock group Arctic Monkeys came in fourth this year with its Domino debut, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not." The set garnered six mentions, four of which ranked it as album of the year. And although it was only mentioned on three lists, Tool's "10,000 Days" scored the highest per-vote point average thanks to a pair of No. 1 mentions as well as a No. 3 showing.
Dylan joins recent Critics' Choice winners My Morning Jacket ("Z," 2005) and Franz Ferdinand ("Franz Ferdinand," 2004).
Here are the top 10 albums of 2006 as chosen by our panel of critics:
1. Bob Dylan, "Modern Times" (Columbia) -- 65 points
2. Bruce Springsteen, "We Shall Overcome -- The Seeger Sessions" (Columbia) -- 58 points
3. Gnarls Barkley, "St. Elsewhere" (Downtown/Atlantic) -- 53 points
4. Arctic Monkeys, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" (Domino) -- 50 points
5. TV On The Radio, "Return to Cookie Mountain" (Interscope) -- 47 points
6. Tom Waits, "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards" (Anti-) -- 39 points
7. The Hold Steady, "Boys and Girls in America" (Vagrant) -- 38 points
8. Tie: Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Stadium Arcadium" (Warner Bros.) and Dixie Chicks, "Taking the Long Way" (Open Wide/Columbia) -- 33 points
9. Tie: Tool, "10,000 Days" (Tool Dissectional/Volcano) and The Beatles, "Love" (Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol) -- 27 points
10. Corinne Bailey Rae, "Corinne Bailey Rae" (Capitol) -- 23 points
Take some time to browse the following pages, which include all of the top-10 lists submitted by the staff, as well as a substantial set of lists contributed by recording artists. Some chose to offer comments about the entries, detailing the reasons for their choices.
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Jay-Z, Beck, Carrie Underwood, and members of Def Leppard & more share their faves of 2006.
The personal picks of the year's best from the Billboard Information Group staff and our freelance writers.
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