Last year, Pitchfork asked people to rank their top albums released since Pitchfork began in 1996. The numbers have finally all been crunched (and boy, is there a lot of them) and the image above shows two lists based off of the votes of Philadelphians. The top list is simply the top 20 albums based off of votes coming out of Philly. The top ten stays pretty tight with the national top ten, with onlyModest Mouse‘s The Moon and Antarctica ranking out of the top 11 nationally (#17). From 11-20 however, it’s a total crapshoot. The Magnetic Field‘s 69 Love Songs, Philadelphia’s #20, came in at #52 nationally, while Sufjan Stevens‘ Illinois fell to #19 from it’s national rank of #10. In addition, top 20 albu***ike Bon Iver‘s For Emma, Forever Ago, The xx‘s self-titled debut, and Arcade Fire‘sThe Suburbs did not make the local list.
The second list is a bit more complex. The “Distinction Index” percentage shows what percentage of an album’s total votes came from one place. The DI list shows the top 20 albums ranked by what percentage of the national tally came from local votes. Unsurprisingly some local acts get play here, like Man Man, Ween, and The Roots. But who new Philly loved that Wild Flag album so much? And Rage Against The Machine? We should have seen that one coming. Also, three Dr. Dogalbums made the top 20 in percentage of votes coming from the United States, which just shows that people don’t dig ‘em overseas.
And finally, on the grand top 200 list, some local love was shown for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah‘s self-titled album (#126), and Kurt Vile‘s Smoke Ring For My Halo (#178).
