These Are The Best Albums And Songs Of 2014, According To Music Critics

    The Village Voice's Pazz + Jop is the longest running year-end music critics' poll in the world. Here's what critics loved in 2014.

    Brian McManus
    by Brian McManus

    BuzzFeed Music Editor

    The New York City-based weekly newspaper The Village Voice has been polling music critics on their favorite albums, and later, songs, since 1971, making it the oldest year-end pop music poll in the world. The latest issue is out tomorrow:

    Village Voice

    Late last year, 612 music critics cast their votes for their favorite albums and songs in the paper's Pazz + Jop poll. The poll's name was conceived as a nod to the long-defunct Jazz + Pop magazine, the publication that devised the rating system still used by the Voice.

    That system works like this: With albums, "critics have 100 points to divide among their top 10 picks, with each entry receiving no more than 30 points or less than five. There's no point-ranking system for the singles category, which remains amorphous, comprising individual songs, remixes, downloads, viral sensations, etc."

    These are the results of The Village Voice's 2014 Pazz + Jop critics' poll...

    D'Angelo's late 2014 surprise Black Messiah took the top album prize.

    RCA Records

    1. D'Angelo · Black Messiah

    2. Run the Jewels · Run the Jewels 2

    3. War on Drugs · Lost in the Dream

    4. St. Vincent · St. Vincent

    5. FKA Twigs · Lp1

    6. Sturgill Simpson · Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

    7. Taylor Swift · 1989

    8. Angel Olsen · Burn Your Fire for No Witness

    9. Spoon · They Want My Soul

    10. Against Me! · Transgender Dysphoria Blues

    Future Islands's "Seasons (Waiting on You)" -- which caught on soon after lead singer Sam Herring danced his way into our collective hearts performing it on Letterman (below) -- was song of the year, according to the critics polled.

    CBS

    1. Future Islands · "Seasons (Waiting on You)"

    2. FKA Twigs · "Two Weeks"

    3. Taylor Swift · "Blank Space"

    4. Taylor Swift · "Shake It Off"

    5. Kendrick Lamar · "I"

    6. ILoveMakonnen (ft. Drake) · "Tuesday"

    7. Sia · "Chandelier"

    8. Charli XCX · "Boom Clap"

    9. (Tie) Beyoncé (ft. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) · "***Flawless"

    9. (Tie) DJ Snake (ft. Lil Jon) · "Turn Down for What"

    The complete votes are over at the Voice's Pazz + Jop site