Radio 2 Listeners' Album Poll

I'll avoid setting my head on fire over the content and ordering of this list, because it was never going to be anything else, and just say that I'm torn between Bridge Over Troubled Water and What's Going On.

went with Coldplay

Went Blonde on Blonde but Bridge over Troubled Water would've been a close second.

MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT

keane

it feels like a small victory that oasis isn't top 10

Those Duran Duran fans really are dedicated.

My top ten from this list would be

1. Dare
2. Songs In The Key of Life
3. Pet Sounds
4. What's Going On
5. Purple Rain
6. Actually
7. Rio
8. Automatic For The People
9. The Kick Inside
10. Thriller

Pet Sounds

The link says that people were asked to vote from a list of "Radio 2's Top 100 most played albums" - what that really means in a lot of cases seems to be "Albums with one big single that we've played to death", the chances of hearing a song from City to City that isn't 'Baker Street' on Radio 2 are pretty much zero.

Looking at the list, it's clear that listeners were voting for songs rather than albums. How many people who voted for A Night At The Opera know anything on it beyond "Bo Rhap"?

I would say Lord Hall needs to sort out R2 pretty sharpish.

that is explained in the post above yours

and we only allowed one album per artist

man some people just have no faith in democracy

Lol Radio 2

Pet Sounds

Radiohead still too edgy for Radio 2.

surely R2 rinsed the star spangled shit out of that first Scissor Sisters LP

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

The canonization of "what's going on" kind of confounds me. I mean, those 3 songs are of course amazing but the rest of the album kinda stinks. Later albums much better overall.

I should say the "ongoing canonization"

There isn't really a bad second on What's Going On. It just flows so beautifully. I agree that he has great later albums but What's Going On is his peak.

I'll bring it to work tomorrow. Haven't listened to it years, honestly, but I tried repeatedly when I first bought it.

I mean, don't take this the wrong way but the lack of flow was part of what bothered me about it. Maybe it should've been a double album. It seems like a Readers Digest version of a grand statement.

Best list obv

that is explained in the post above yours

Which I was reinforcing. My apologies for assuming that you were intelligent enough to realise that.

What's Going On wasn't a hit album at all on its original release.

Of the list, 46 albums didn't get to number one. Only 16 of the albums were by black artists and of those seven were in the bottom ten.

Marcello, to be fair, your post after Gavin's didn't acknowledge Gavin's at all, so didn't read as if you were reinforcing it at all, to my mind.

thank you

I would say Lord Hall needs to sort out R2 pretty sharpish.

Only 16 of the albums were by black artists and of those seven were in the bottom ten.

Surely it's we that need sorting out more than the station. Get Reithian on our asses, R2!

I believe the original list to be a pile of bollocks. No way is "Blonde on blonde" one of the hundred most played albums on Radio 2. Over what time period was this 'most played' taken - a month, year, lifespan of radio station?

Our shortlist was made up of albums whose tracks are played by Radio 2 most regularly

as mentioned upthread

They probably play more tracks off Highway 61. By "more tracks" I mean "Like A Rolling Stone."

Surprised that Top Gear Driving Hits Volume 31 or Hits Of The Seventies Volume 98 on DISKY Records weren't on the list.

Agree with Rob on Blonde on Blonde, would dispute tracks off Sgt Peppers being the most played Beatles songs too. I'm sure that some of these are on there just cos of their status as canonical albums. Pet Sounds and Born To Run too.

Radio 2's most played tracks in the scrobbling era to date according to R2 account on last.fm

1. Elbow – One Day Like This (328 plays)
2. The Killers – Human
3. Scissor Sisters – I Don't Feel Like Dancin'
4. Duffy – Mercy
5. Sara Bareilles – Love Song
6. Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know
7. Kaiser Chiefs – Ruby
8. Amy Winehouse – Tears Dry on Their Own
9. Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera – Moves Like Jagger
10. Take That – Shine
11. Alicia Keys – Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down
12. Girls Aloud – The Promise
13. Gabriella Cilmi – Sweet About Me
13. Lily Allen – The Fear
15. The Human League – Don't You Want Me
16. Empire of the Sun – We Are the People
16. Michael Bublé – Haven't Met You Yet
18. Candi Staton – Young Hearts Run Free
18. Alesha Dixon – The Boy Does Nothing
20. Lily Allen – Smile
21. Coldplay – Viva la Vida
21. Eliza Doolittle – Pack Up
23. Paolo Nutini – Pencil Full of Lead
24. Duffy – Warwick Avenue
24. Cee Lo Green – Cry Baby

weird that the League and Candi are that high up given everything else's relative newness

R2 did this before in 2006, when the one-album-per-artist rule wasn't in force; go here and scroll down for the list.

Voted for Queen.

Only 3 records by black artists in the 2006 list - all of them by Michael Jackson*!

Have there been any scientific studies done on how guiding and/or restricting choice affects voting behaviour?

*Thriller's stock having fallen so far is perhaps the biggest point of interest in the 2013 poll.

i grew up during the 80s in a radio 2/oldies listening household and if asked back then to identify a dylan song i would have only known "everybody must get stoned".

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.