The latest edition of the Village Voice just hit the streets, with the results of the 2008 Pazz & Jop critics' poll. I've got 9 of the top 10 albums this year--ahead of the curve for once!

Top 20 albums and singles (see link for complete lists):

ALBUMS
1 TV on the Radio, Dear Science
Interscope Points: 1744
Mentions: 154

2 Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
XL Points: 1075
Mentions: 105

3 Portishead, Third
Mercury Points: 1058
Mentions: 102

4 Erykah Badu, New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War
Motown Points: 910
Mentions: 80

5 Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
Sub Pop Points: 907
Mentions: 87

6 Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
Cash Money Points: 817
Mentions: 78

7 Santogold, Santogold
Downtown Points: 808
Mentions: 79

8 Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago *
Jagjaguwar Points: 770
Mentions: 75

9 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
Anti- Points: 687
Mentions: 61

10 Kanye West, 808s & Heartbreak
Roc-A-Fella Points: 603
Mentions: 57

11 Deerhunter, Microcastle/Weird Era Continued
Kranky Points: 585
Mentions: 55

12 Randy Newman, Harps and Angels
Nonesuch Points: 546
Mentions: 48

13 The Hold Steady, Stay Positive
Vagrant Points: 540
Mentions: 54

14 No Age, Nouns
Sub Pop Points: 452
Mentions: 45

15 Girl Talk, Feed the Animals
Illegal Art Points: 440
Mentions: 43

16 My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges
ATO Points: 429
Mentions: 43

17 MGMT, Oracular Spectacular *
Sony Points: 425
Mentions: 43

18 Hercules and Love Affair, Hercules and Love Affair
DFA/EMI Points: 416
Mentions: 42
19 Raphael Saadiq, The Way I See It
Columbia Points: 415
Mentions: 45

20 Bob Dylan, The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs - Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006
Columbia Points: 402

SINGLES

1 M.I.A., "Paper Planes" * **
Interscope Mentions: 107
2 Estelle featuring Kanye West, "American Boy"
Homeschool/Atlantic Mentions: 71
3 Beyoncé, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" **
Columbia Mentions: 59
4 MGMT, "Time to Pretend"
Columbia Mentions: 53
5 Lil Wayne, "A Milli"
Cash Money/Universal Mentions: 50
6 Santogold, "L.E.S. Artistes"
Warner Bros. Mentions: 49
7 Hercules & Love Affair, "Blind"
DFA Mentions: 46
8 Coldplay, "Viva La Vida"
Mentions: 39
9 Kanye West, "Love Lockdown" **
Mentions: 38
10 Fleet Foxes, "White Winter Hymnal"
Sub Pop Mentions: 32
11 Portishead, "Machine Gun"
Mercury Mentions: 25
12 Hot Chip, "Ready for the Floor"
DFA/Astralwerks Mentions: 25
13 T.I. (featuring Rihanna), "Live Your Life"
Atlantic Mentions: 23
14 T.I., "Whatever You Like"
Grand Hustle/Atlantic Mentions: 22
15 Rihanna, "Disturbia"
Def Jam Mentions: 21
16 Death Cab for Cutie, "I Will Possess Your Heart"
Atlantic Mentions: 21
17 Adele, "Chasing Pavements"
Sony Mentions: 20
18 MGMT, "Electric Feel"
Sony Mentions: 20
19 Pink, "So What"
Mentions: 20
20 Vampire Weekend, "Oxford Comma"
XL Mentions: 19

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/01/this_week_in_th_3.php

Somewhat surprising to see the Portishead album (and to a lesser extent, the Erykah Badu and Nick Cave albums) ranked so high, but all in all this is a solid list of critical favorites.

I used to always grab the Pazz and Jop issue when the Voice was a little easier to find in these parts (the record store where I used to buy it is now a Kinkos ... sigh.) I didn't always agree on their choices but it was always interesting reading.

I'm proud to say I own exactly one release from that list.