Question about Tabulating Top xx Lists

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I know some people here work at the "big" music magazines (NME, Wire, Rolling Stone, etc.) -- Do you know how these publications tabulate their year-end best-of lists? Do they just poll the critics and compile the results? I ask because it seems to me this kind of process will ALWAYS lead to lists being somewhat predictable, because the records that score high are the ones the most people have heard and enjoyed. It seems like the path to an unpredictable list would be for the editor to seize the reins and engineer something eclectic on his own.

― Mark, Friday, 21 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Let's get some new answers before the Brits go home for the weekend...

― Mark, Friday, 21 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Village Voice explains who votes and how the results are tabulated, and I think most other mags do as well. I think the nature of the many voting for "best" method is that only well-known music will dominate (or appear at all). If you want discoveries you have to look at small mags/websites that specialize in the genre you're interested in and look at the individual voters' choices. Or better yet, just follow the mag during the year. How does Pitchfork do it?

― nickn, Friday, 21 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Pitchfork does it the usual way, I just wondered if a magazine like Rolling Stone had David Fricke picking the top 10, to make sure nothing too weird slipped in. Or, to pick another list, it seemed so strange to me that Muzik had Air's 10,000 Hz Legend at No. 2. I don't know how many people write for that magazine (I've never read it, actually) but it's hard to believe that many writers found it to be one of the best releases of the year. I figured maybe their editor just stuck it in.

― Mark, Friday, 21 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I always thought getting the writers into a room to fight it out would be an interesting method, at least in terms of the wheeling and dealing. Especially if there were hung parliaments on certain records.

― Tim, Friday, 21 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

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