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Readers' albums of the year

The votes are in, the counting's done. Here's YOUR views on the best music released in 2014

1. 505 The War On Drugs Lost In The Dream
2. 427 St Vincent St Vincent
3. 349 Run The Jewels Run The Jewels 2
4. 325 Swans To Be Kind
5. 279 Alvvays Alvvays
6. 258 Sun Kil Moon Benji
7. 251 Real Estate Atlas
8. 248 Sharon Van Etten Are We There
9. 242 FKA Twigs LP1
10. 231 Caribou Our Love
    
    
11. 212 Wild Beasts Present Tense
12. 204 The Antlers Familiars
13. 196 Perfume Genius Too Bright
14. 188 Young Fathers Dead
15. 185 Future Islands Singles
16. 182 The Twilight Sad Nobody Wants To Be Here...
17. 170 Damon Albarn Everyday Robots
18. 162 East India Youth Total Strife Forever
19. 158 Flying Lotus You're Dead!
20. 152 Todd Terje It's Album Time
    
    
21. 148 Cloud Nothings Here And Nowhere Else
22. 137 Temples Sun Structures
23. 131 The New Pornographers Brill Bruisers
24. 127 Beck Morning Phase
25. 122 How To Dress Well What Is This Heart?
26. 120 Manic Street Preachers Futurology
27. 112 Wye Oak Shriek
28. 110 Julian Casablancas + The Voidz Tyranny
29. 104 Damien Rice My Favourite Faded Fantasy
30. 101 Ex Hex Ripe
    
    
31. 97 La Roux Trouble In Paradise
32. 95 Mark Lanegan Band Phantom Radio
33. 84 Interpol El Pintor
34. 82 Ben Frost A U R O R A
35. 80 EMA Future's Void
36. 72 Drive-By Truckers English Oceans
37. 69 Iceage Plowing Into The Field Of Love
38. 65 Jack White Lazaretto
39. 62 Jamie T Carry On The Grudge
40. 56 Kiasmos Kiasmo
    
    
41. 52 Lana Del Rey Ultraviolence
42. 50 Lykke Li I Never Learn
43. 48 Mac DeMarco Salad Days
44. 46 Plastikman EX
45. 44 Steve Gunn Way Out Weather
46. 42 The Hotelier Home, Like No Place Is There
47. 40 Tune-Yards Nikki Nack
48. 38 Prince Art Official Age
49. 35 Angel Olsen Burn Your Fire For No Witness
50. 32 Hurray For The Riff Raff Small Town Heroes

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You don't have to search too hard to see the major variance between critics and the rest of the music-loving world in their take on the best albums released in 2014: it's right there at the top.

While the critics regarded the debut from FKA Twigs as a major game-changer and worthy of a significant margin of victory over its nearest challenger, as far as our readers were concerned it merited no more than just sneaking into the top 10.

We can only speculate on the reasons for such a striking discrepancy; maybe critics place more value on an album which they regard as heralding in something new in pop whereas mere listeners just go with what has given them the most pleasure irrespective of its perceived importance.

You could potentially make a similar argument around another notable differential between the two lists: Flying Lotus' You're Dead made the critics' top 10 but floundered at No.19  in the readers' poll. Is this because FlyLo earns greater kudos in the eyes of reviewers given his genre-defying, boundary-pushing experiments?

Otherwise there is a fair degree of similarity between the two lists, particularly at the top end - with a few exceptions. The debut from Toronto jangle merchants Alvvays reached a relatively modest No. 29 in the critics' rankings but sits proudly at a lofty No.6 in the readers' poll

And what of The Antlers? Their 5th album was made No.12 by our users, but didn't even feature among the critics' top 50 while The Twilight Sad's 4th release also failed to make an impact on our Poll of Polls but is No.16 on this list.