Critics' Best 100 Albums of 2002

Well, well...three months of end-of-year-list shenanigans have finally come to an end. Rounded-out as usual by Village Voice's mammoth Pazz & Jop poll. Listed below are Jumping Fences' 100 most critically acclaimed albums of 2002. This list was based on 68 end-of-year magazine/webzine polls from all over the globe, and was calculated using extremely 'elaborate' mathematical formulas!

Where possible, each album is linked to either a Metacritic page or an All-Music Guide page.

1.  The Streets - Original Pirate Material

2.  The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

3.  Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

4.  Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf

5.  Beck - Sea Change

6.  Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head

7.  Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights

8.  Bright Eyes - Lifted or the Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground

9.  ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Source Tags & Codes

10.  Eminem - The Eminem Show

11.  Doves - The Last Broadcast

12.  Missy Elliott - Under Construction

13.  The Notwist - Neon Golden

14.  Solomon Burke - Don't Give Up on Me

15.  Sigur Ros - ()

16.  Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around

17.  Bruce Springsteen - The Rising

18.  Sonic Youth - Murray Street

19.  Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man - Out of Season

20.  Boards of Canada - Geogaddi

21.  Spoon - Kill the Moonlight

22.  DJ Shadow - The Private Press

23.  The Libertines - Up the Bracket

24.  Sleater-Kinney - One Beat

25.  Lambchop - Is a Woman

26.  The Roots - Phrenology

27.  2 Many DJ's - As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2

28.  Liars - They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top

29.  Mum - Finally We Are No One

30.  The Vines - Highly Evolved

31.  Tom Waits - Alice

32.  Low - Trust

33.  Steve Earle - Jerusalem

34.  Tom Waits - Blood Money

35.  Norah Jones - Come Away with Me

36.  Ms. Dynamite - A Little Deeper

37.  EL-P - Fantastic Damage

38.  The Coral - The Coral

39.  Elvis Costello - When I Was Cruel

40.  Badly Drawn Boy - Have You Fed the Fish?

41.  Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow

42.  Paul Westerberg - Stereo/Mono

43.  Red Hot Chili Peppers - By the Way

44.  RJD2 - Dead Ringer

45.  The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages of...

46.  Idlewild - The Remote Part

47.  The Delgados - Hate

48.  Cornershop - Handcream for a Generation

49.  Clinic - Walking with Thee

50.  Radio 4 - Gotham!

51.  McLusky - McLusky Do Dallas

52.  David Bowie - Heathen

53.  Tocotronic - Tocotronic

54.  Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Yanqui U.X.O.

55.  Foo Fighters - One by One

56.  Badly Drawn Boy - About a Boy

57.  Ryan Adams - Demolition

58.  Akufen - My Way

59.  Neko Case - Blacklisted

60.  Metro Area - Metro Area

61.  Orchestra Baobab - Specialist in All Styles

62.  Dixie Chicks - Home

63.  Supergrass - Life on Other Planets

64.  Cee-Lo - Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections

65.  Common - Electric Circus

66.  Anti-Pop Consortium - Arrhythmia

67.  Weezer - Maladroit

68.  Scarface - The Fix

69.  Kent - Vapen & Ammunition

70.  Peter Gabriel - Up

71.  Ladytron - Light & Magic

72.  Hakan Hellstrom - Det Ar Sa Jag Sager Det

73.  Nelly - Nellyville

74.  Desaparecidos - Read Music/Speak Spanish

75.  Ben Kweller - Sha Sha

76.  Primal Scream - Evil Heat

77.  The Walkmen - Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone

78.  The Breeders - Title TK

79.  Enon - High Society

80.  L'Altra - In the Afternoon

81.  Q and Not U - Different Damage

82.  Paul Weller - Illumination

83.  Brendan Benson - Lapalco

84.  Promise Ring - Wood/Water

85.  Hot Hot Heat - Make Up the Breakdown

86.  Programme - L'Enfer Tiede

87.  Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk

88.  Pink - M!ssundaztood

89.  Audioslave - Audioslave

90.  Jay-Z - The Blueprint 2

91.  Mr. Lif - I Phantom

92.  The Datsuns - The Datsuns

93.  Jaheim - Still Ghetto

94.  Pearl Jam - Riot Act

95.  Jurassic 5 - Power in Numbers

96.  Nada Surf - Let Go

97.  Linda Thompson - Fashionably Late

98.  Aimee Mann - Lost in Space

99.  Alain Bashung - L'imprudence

100.  Beth Orton - Daybreaker

The above list has been compiled from the 2002 critics' polls of the following 68 magazines/web-zines> NME, Uncut,Nojesguiden, Les Inrockuptibles, E Online, Rolling Stone, Q, Intro, Launch, Blender, Musik Express, Visions, CMJ,Billboard, Play Louder, Aftonbladet, Mojo, Liberation, Los Angeles Times, OOR, Pitchfork, Drowned in Sound, Big O, Spin, Lost at Sea, German Rolling Stone, All-Music Guide, Soundsxp, Washington City Paper, Spex, No Ripcord, Delusions of Adequacy, Zundfunk,Stylus, Music-Critic,The Face, Il Manifesto, Pop Matters, Perfect Sound Forever, Junkmedia, Indieville, CultureDose, Rock De Lux, Eins Live, Dagsavisen, Ink Blot, Left off the Dial, Swizzle-Stick, Go-Mag, Hybrid, Planet Sound, Magic!, Musica!,Tutto Musica, Iguana, Mondo Sonoros, Do Something Pretty, Eye Weekly, Bleed Music, Sonic, Pop News, Buscadero, Aftenposten, Dagbladet, Neumeu, Village Voice, Heaven & Humo.

Thanks once again to Henrik Franzon for bringing to our attention many of the lists used! Also thanks to Xavier Valiño for providing us with the Rock De Lux, Iguana& Mondo Sonoros lists, Javier Santos for emailing us through the Go-Mag list, Robbie Clack for the Planet Sound list & Jan Vinkenroye for the Humo & Heaven lists.

Please visit Julian's Rocklist Site to view many of the above magazines' full end-of-year lists. Additionally, go here for the full German lists and here for the French ones. Also, check out Henrik's amazing Acclaimed Music site for more lists.

Click here for some more Best of 2002 links.

Click here to view Jumping Fences favourites of 2002.

Listed below is a selection of the most critically acclaimed albums of 2002 categorised by All-Music Guide styles...

Best Indie Rock Album:  Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights

Best Singer-Songwriter Album:  Beck - Sea Change

Best Adult Alternative Pop-Rock Album:  Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Best Alternative Pop-Rock Album:  The Notwist - Neon Golden

Best Hip-Hop Album:  Eminem - The Eminem Show

Best Electronica Album:  Boards of Canada - Geogaddi

Best Alternative Rap Album:  Missy Elliott - Under Construction

Best Underground Rap Album:  EL-P - Fantastic Damage

Best Post-Grunge Album:  The Vines - Highly Evolved

Best Pop-Rock Album:  Bruce Springsteen - The Rising

Best Brit-Pop Album:  Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head

Best Trip-Hop Album:  DJ Shadow - The Private Press

Best Alternative Country-Rock Album:  Lambchop - Is a Woman

Best Chamber Pop Album:  Sigur Ros - ()

Best Club-Dance Album:  2 Many DJ's - As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2

Best Neo-Psychedelia Album:  The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots 

Best Album Rock Album:  David Bowie - Heathen

Best Experimental Rock Album:  Sonic Youth - Murray Street

Best Post-Rock Experimental Album:  Liars - They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top

Best Emo Album:  Weezer - Maladroit

Best Rock & Roll Album:  Paul Westerberg - Stereo/Mono

Best Indie Pop Album:  Bright Eyes - Lifted or the Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground

Best Urban Album:  Ms. Dynamite - A Little Deeper

Best Dream-Pop Album:  Doves - The Last Broadcast

Best Hardcore Rap Album:  Anti-Pop Consortium - Arrhythmia