The consensus top 10
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Beck and Eminem, the winners of the consensus poll of The Times’ pop music contributors in 1999 and 2000, respectively, went head to head in 2002, and the kinder, gentler folk singer squeezed out a victory over the fiery rap star. The rest of the field chosen by the 16 voters ranges from grizzled critics’ favorites Tom Waits, Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen to new critical favorite Bright Eyes. Albums are awarded 10 points for a first-place vote, nine points for second place, etc.
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1. Artist: Beck
Album: “Sea Change”
Label: Geffen
Pts: 47
No: 5
1st: 3
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2. Artist: Eminem
Album: “The Eminem Show”
Label: Interscope
Pts: 44
No: 6
1st: 1
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3. Artist: Wilco
Album: “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”
Label: Nonesuch
Pts: 39
No: 7
1st: 1
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4. Artist: Queens of the Stone Age
Album: “Songs for theDeaf”
Label: Interscope
Pts: 33
No: 4
1st: 3
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5. Artist: Bright Eyes
Album: “Lifted or the Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground”
Label: Saddle Creek
Pts: 32
No: 5
1st: 1
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6. Artist: The Roots
Album: “Phrenology”
Label: MCA
Pts: 24
No: 4
1st: 0
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7. Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Album: “The Rising”
Label: Columbia
Pts: 18
No: 3
1st: 0
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8. Artist: Tom Waits
Album: “Alice”
Label: Anti
Pts: 16
No: 2
1st: 0
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9. Artist: Flaming Lips
Album: “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots”
Label: Warner Bros.
Pts: 15
No: 3
1st: 0
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10. Artist: Elvis Costello
Album: “When I Was Cruel”
Label: Island
Pts: 14
No: 2
1st: 1
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Key: Pts=Total points; No.=Number of ballots on which album was represented; 1st=Number of No. 1 votes.
The first-place votes
Beck: Robert Hilburn (tie), Geoff Boucher, Steve Hochman
Patricia Barber, “Verdes” (Blue Note): Don Heckman (tie)
Ruben Blades, “Mundo” (Columbia/Sony Discos): Agustin Gurza
Bright Eyes: Richard Cromelin
Cee-Lo, “Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections” (Arista): Soren Baker
Elvis Costello: Natalie Nichols
Eminem: Hilburn (tie)
Neil Finn, “One All” (Nettwerk America): Randy Lewis
Gomez, “In Our Gun” (Virgin): Ernesto Lechner
Queens of the Stone Age: Steve Appleford, Lina Lecaro, Marc Weingarten
Wayne Shorter, “Footprints Live!” (Verve): Heckman (tie)
Spoon, “Kill the Moonlight” (Merge): Kevin Bronson
Tom Waits: Steve Baltin
Wilco: Dean Kuipers
All the critics’ top 10s can be found at www.calendarlive.com/picks
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