Top 50 Pop Albums, 2004

As collated by pitchforkmedia.com. If pop makes good ideas stick, then this pop will make them stick good.

Nevermind the absurdity and apparent subjectivity of a list that purports to accurately rank Loretta Lynn on a continuum that includes Madvillain, Scissor Sisters and Brian Wilson, such meta questions miss the point. This is all good music, and a lot of it you've probably never heard before, so read the blurbs and buy something.

Then burn it and send it to me, I'm poor.

If a mere fifty albums isn't enough for you, or perhaps you want to make a database and do some cross-referencing, The 25 reviewers who contributed to the big list have top 50 lists of their own. My calculator says that's 1250 separate musical opinions in one place.