HMV's Poll of Polls was an annual list of albums compiled by British music retailer HMV from 1998 to 2012. The listing was created each December by collating year-end polls from approximately 30 music magazines, newspapers and guides to determine the most critically acclaimed albums of the year. An album's placing in the list was determined by the number of different polls in which it was included. In the event of two records featuring in the same number of polls, the album with the highest combined placings was given the higher position on the Poll of Polls. In 2011, Let England Shake by PJ Harvey was named the best album of the year after receiving 21 nominations – the following year, Channel Orange by Frank Ocean topped the poll with 22 nominations.

The Poll of Polls was introduced by HMV in 1998, with Hello Nasty by American hip hop group Beastie Boys topping the first chart. Thereafter, the poll was aggregated using listings from more than 60 sources, including magazines such as NME and Q, newspapers such as The Guardian and the Daily Mirror, and music blogs, including Gorilla vs. Bear and Stereogum. Subsequent polls were topped by acts such as Daft Punk, Queens of the Stone Age and Kanye West. The only act to top the listing more than once was Canadian band Arcade Fire, who were number one in both 2005 and 2010 with Funeral and The Suburbs respectively.

Commentators observed a disparity between the albums that placed highly in the Poll of Polls and those that were the year's biggest-selling. Speaking about the 2008 chart, singer-songwriter Christopher Rees noted that "when records are so popular in mainstream charts, they lose favour with the critics. The quirkier the sound, the cooler it becomes in their opinion." Similarly, Jonathan Owen of The Independent contrasted the albums that had been featured in 2011's Poll of Polls against those that had sold the most that year in the UK. Although Let England Shake had topped HMV's listing, Owen remarked that "hardly anyone would agree", as Harvey's album had, at the time, sold only 130,000 copies, compared with 3.5 million copies of the year's best-seller, 21 by Adele.

Albums released through independent (indie) record labels often performed well in the poll. In discussion of the 2008 chart, John Rostron of Cardiff's The Point remarked that he had "seen a rise in the quality of independent music and of bands signed to small record labels". The following year, eight of Top 10 albums had been released by indie labels, which HMV claimed underlined "the current strength of Indie music and the vitality of the music scene in general". Three years later, 34 of the 50 albums in the chart were released on independent labels, with six featuring in the Top 10. Speaking in 2009, HMV's Rock & Pop Manager John Hirst stated that it was "encouraging to see indie labels doing so well", and that it reflected on "the vibrant state of [music] right now".

Number-one albums

YearArtistAlbumTop five albums1998Beastie BoysHello Nasty 2nd: Air – Moon Safari 3rd: Massive Attack – Mezzanine 4th: Gomez – Bring It On 5th: Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill1999Basement JaxxRemedy 2nd: The Chemical Brothers – Surrender 3rd: Death in Vegas – The Contino Sessions 4th: The Beta Band – The Beta Band 5th: Missy Elliott – Da Real World2000Eminem 2nd: Radiohead – Kid A 3rd: Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour of Bewilderbeast 4th: Kelis – Kaleidoscope 5th: Queens of the Stone Age – Rated R2001Daft PunkDiscovery 2nd: The Avalanches – Since I Left You 3rd: Basement Jaxx – Rooty 4th: Radiohead – Amnesiac 5th: Röyksopp – Melody A.M.2002Queens of the Stone AgeSongs for the Deaf 2nd: The Streets – Original Pirate Material 3rd: The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots 4th: Ms. Dynamite – A Little Deeper 5th: 2 Many DJs/Soulwax – 2 Many DJs2003OutkastSpeakerboxxx/The Love Below 2nd: Dizzee Rascal – Boy in da Corner 3rd: The Mars Volta – De-Loused in the Comatorium 4th: The White Stripes – Elephant 5th: The Darkness – Permission to Land2004 2nd: Scissor Sisters – Scissor Sisters 3rd: Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand 4th: The Streets – A Grand Don't Come for Free 5th: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus2005Arcade FireFuneral 2nd: Gorillaz – Demon Days 3rd: Kanye West – Late Registration 4th: Sufjan Stevens – Illinois 5th: Elbow – Leaders of the Free World2006Ys 2nd: Hot Chip – The Warning 3rd: Mastodon – Blood Mountain 4th: Lily Allen – Alright, Still 5th: Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not2007LCD SoundsystemSound of Silver 2nd: M.I.A. – Kala 3rd: Radiohead – In Rainbows 4th: Klaxons – Myths of the Near Future 5th: Battles – Mirrored2008Elbow 2nd: Portishead – Third 3rd: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! 4th: Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes 5th: Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend2009Animal CollectiveMerriweather Post Pavilion 2nd: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It's Blitz! 3rd: The xx – xx 4th: Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca 5th: Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest2010Arcade Fire 2nd: The National – High Violet 3rd: LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening 4th: Beach House – Teen Dream 5th: Janelle Monáe – The ArchAndroid2011Let England Shake 2nd: Bon Iver – Bon Iver 3rd: Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues 4th: Radiohead – The King of Limbs 5th: Tune-Yards – Whokill2012Channel Orange 2nd: Jack White – Blunderbuss 3rd: Tame Impala – Lonerism 4th: Grimes – Visions 5th: Grizzly Bear – Shields

Year-end polls used HMV's Poll of Polls used year-end, best-of charts from 30 major UK music magazines, national newspapers, websites and guides. Since its inception in 1998, the chart was collated using data from: Magazines

Artrocker The Big Issue Clash Classic Rock Decibel DJ Mag Echoes Fact Filter The Fly Gay Times GQ Hot Press iDJ Kerrang! Magnet Melody Maker Metal Hammer Mixmag Mojo Music Week Muzik NME Paste Q The Quietus Record Collector Rock Sound Rolling Stone Select Spin Time Time Out Uncut The Wire (Rewind) The Word

Newspapers

Daily Mail Daily Mirror Daily Star Evening Standard The Guardian Metro Observer Music Monthly The Sun The Sunday Times The Times

Websites and other organisations

Amazon BBC Radio 6 Music Digital Spy Drowned in Sound Get Closer Gorilla vs. Bear HMV Piccadilly Records Pitchfork Playlouder Popbitch PopMatters Pure Groove Rough Trade Stereogum XFM

See also Metacritic – a reviews website that, between 2010 and 2022, also aggregated an annual list of albums from year-end polls

Notes