2014 Ants Albums of the Year Voting! Due: Dec. 12th

[grace2]

So since Brendan (thestand) isn't able to do the math to figure out the top albums of the year, I figured I'd try and do it because I think it's a fun thing we do here.

1) Voting opens right now, and will run for a little more than a month (December 12th). I don't know when exactly I'll be able to post the results, but I'll keep you updated.

2) Votes should be PMed to me here on Ants. I can't stress this enough, please number your votes. To say it's a time saver for me doesn't even begin to describe it. Even if your list is just 10 albums, do me the favor of numbering them in order. Thanks.

3) Lists are again capped at 100, with a minimum of 10. If I get a list shorter than 10, I will PM/email back asking for a few more albums, but if I don't get a response, I don't include the list. Not fair to include them in the multiplier, which I'll get to later.

4) Eligibility is the same as always, a simple two-part rule: it has to be released on a label, in the 2014 calendar year. Because voting on these take place in December, an album with a December 2013 release date may be eligible if it received no votes last year, and no one has any objections to its inclusion. The label thing is more or less my way of weeding out extraneous live releases. Live albums are eligible, as always, but only live albums that you can go pick up in a brick and mortar store. We've also seen the growth of popular mix tapes and online-only releases that don't fit into that label rule, so feel free to include them, as long as it's obvious that they were released in the Dec 2013-now range.

5) Scoring is the same as last year. Top 10 are scored at an inverse of their position in the list, x1.1. So #1 of a top 30 gets 33 points, #2 32, and so on. Then, everything after the top 10 is split into two groups. So on a list of 30, group A is 11-20, B is 21-30. Every album in group A gets 1/2 of the list size, or in this case, 15 points. Group B gets half of the points of Group A, or 8 points.

That makes up the original points. Then, as always, the original points are multiplied, carrying on the multiplier we've had since 2009, of [original points x (lists appearing/2)]. This is done so that albums loved by heavy music listeners (which would have much higher original points) and albums loved by more people, but with less massive lists can be on about equal footing. You can thank great Dear Science/Vampire Weekend debacle of 2008 for this.

6) This has been a secret ballot type thing, so no posting your lists in this thread, even though it says voting. A list posted in here and not PMed/emailed to me will not be counted. But feel free to talk about the contest/your vote in general, if you want. Talking about albums and throwing out that so and so was #2 on your list doesn't ruin this. Hopefully everyone can wait the two weeks to post your lists in the results thread, to build some excitement.

As always, feel free to ask any questions in here about eligibility or whatever.

[Balor3012]

I've been awful with keeping up with releases this year so I'm not sure I'll submit a list. But it'd be cool if the mods could sticky this. Good work keeping it going man

[grace2]

previous years


2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
The Aughts

[BotheLaneFan]

Prince wins because Prince.

[coldengrey12]

Good on ya for keeping this going, Mike.

I'm on pace to listen to more albums this year than I have before in a single year. Hoping to pass 200.

[coldengrey12]

Mike, is this still going down?

[laura22]

awesome!! i was wondering if this was happening again

can a mod sticky this??

[laura22]

Originally Posted by coldengrey12

Good on ya for keeping this going, Mike.

I'm on pace to listen to more albums this year than I have before in a single year. Hoping to pass 200.

damn. i don't have many

i will probably submit 25-30

[justinandimcool]

skewed Americana/alt-country this year, so I won't participate. looking forward to listening to everyone's lists though. I've been so out of the loop as far as rock/punk/pop goes

[justink]

here's a list to help you out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_2014_albums

[grace2]

yeah i'll try to do this. send me your shit

[chadizzy1]

Originally Posted by BotheBOFan

Prince wins because Prince.

This

[thebridge15]

hoping to submit 50. would be easily my most ever

[haybale97]

Going to try to throw a list together for voting this year. Need to sneak in a few more this week, though.

[grace2]

i will extend the due date to december 17th. i'm done with school that day and will start working on the math then.

also it might not be all fancy like brendan with the blog. idk yet.

[Kiko]

hadn't actually found this thread till just now, count me in. hopefully we can maintain the solid numbers from last year. Thanks for stepping up grace2

[thebridge15]

Originally Posted by grace2

i will extend the due date to december 17th. i'm done with school that day and will start working on the math then.

also it might not be all fancy like brendan with the blog. idk yet.

ok nice, I'm definitely gonna need a weekend to hash this all out

[Noremac]

Logged in for the first time in maybe a year to do this. Thanks again! Made a list of 60 albums - excited to see what everyone here has been listening to.

[ryguy469]

Only found 13 albums from this year worth ranking. Man 2013 had some great albums wish we could do those again.

[1yankeesfan]

Can't believe I missed this! I really wanted to submit :-(

[Kiko]

^

Originally Posted by grace2

i will extend the due date to december 17th. i'm done with school that day and will start working on the math then.

also it might not be all fancy like brendan with the blog. idk yet.

you're still on time

[coldengrey12]

If this D'Angelo album drops this week — and it sounds like it might — should we hold that off for next year?

[grace2]

yeah just hold off on it

[grace2]

okay nevermind don't hold off on it put it on, someone else did

[coldengrey12]

Will do.

I should probably get my list to you tomorrow? I'm trying to fit in a few more before the bell rings.

[1yankeesfan]

Originally Posted by grace2

i will extend the due date to december 17th. i'm done with school that day and will start working on the math then.

also it might not be all fancy like brendan with the blog. idk yet.

SWEET!! I'll get my list in before that!

[grace2]

Get me your lists today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[thebridge15]

literally just submitted. feels good

[coldengrey12]

Sent 50, my biggest list I've done for this before.

[Ascf33]

sent my list