West tops poll of polls

28 Dec '04 - Kanye West's album, The College Dropout, is the critics favourite album of 2004. It topped HMV's annual Poll of Polls, rounding up the end of year lists from all Britain's major newspapers and magazines.

It was a great year for eponymous debuts, with Scissor Sisters at two and Franz Ferdinand at three. Brian Wilson's lost classic Smile, which has polarised opinion in its re-recorded version, was the eighth most critically lauded LP of the year.

The top 20 in full:

1 Kanye West - The College Dropout
2 Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
3 Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
4 The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
5 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues/Lyre Of Orpheus
6 Dizzee Rascal - Showtime
7 Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
8 Brian Wilson - Smile
9 Killers - Hot Fuss
10 Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
11 The Libertines - The Libertines
12 Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
13 Tom Waits - Real Gone
14 U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
15 Mark Lanegan Band - Bubblegum
16 Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing In The Hands
17 The Futureheads - The Futureheads
18 Elliott Smith - From A Basement On The Hill
19 Morrissey - You Are The Quarry
20 Wilco - A Ghost Is Born

Andrew Purcell