Best Album of 2003 Poll

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Moving onto the fourth year of the decade, we continue to rely on your votes to find the best albums of each year. We’re taking an objective and fresh look at finding our favorite albums of the last 10 years.

As always, I’ve listed the 10 best albums, in accordance to top critics like the undeniable Village Voice Pazz & Jop Poll, The Onion (A.V. Club), Pitchfork, PopMatters, and Q Magazine.

Please vote for the album you think was the best in 2003. If your choice isn’t on here, we’d love to see it in the comments section (though, we’d appreciate if you’d vote for your favorite on the list anyway). Here are 2003′s finalists:

A. : Fever To Tell, “Y Control
B. : Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, “The Way You Move
C. : Elephant, “Seven Nation Army
D. : Hail To The Thief ,”2+2=5
E. : Chutes Too Narrow, “So Says I
F. : Boy In Da Corner, “I Luv U
G. : Transatlanticism, “The Sound of Settling
H. : Michigan, “Holland
I. : Think Tank, “Out Of Time
J. : Rounds “She Moves She

Trust me, 2003 was one of the hardest lists to make.

[polldaddy poll="1983247"]

{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }

Teacup September 12, 2009 at 4:21 am

I hear your sentiments. My favorites of the decade actually came from this year.

I voted for Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Fever to Tell” in your poll, probably mostly for being taken aback by the presence of the stunning “Maps” (which btw, is THE song of the decade for me, followed by The Knife’s “Heatbeats” also from 2003) amidst all the (good kind of) straightforward and brazen raucousness that surrounds their debut. I mean, did anyone expect that? You get my point.

However, the real best album of 2003, not to mention THE album of the decade, for me would be The Mars Volta’s “De-loused in the Comatorium”. I’ll never forget the feeling I had listening to this record. Really mindblowing stuff, at least for this listener.

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Willis September 12, 2009 at 11:07 am

Yeah Yeah Yeahs!!!!!

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timber September 12, 2009 at 11:29 am

Based on the criteria of being able to listen to the album today without being sick of it, Four Tet wins for me, followed closely by Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Shins.

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Mike September 12, 2009 at 2:06 pm

How did that Blur even make the list, only one track with Graham Coxon = BLASHPEMY.

I say YYYs out of the list presented.

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sean September 12, 2009 at 3:08 pm

I can’t believe more people aren’t voting for Blur. That album is a masterpiece. I don’t think the album would have been any different with Graham on it, honestly.

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tepid epics September 12, 2009 at 3:42 pm

what a great list. almost impossible to choose just one.

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Optimus September 12, 2009 at 5:10 pm

What happened to The Postal Service – Give up?

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pythi September 12, 2009 at 6:17 pm

THIS. seriously, it would be on my top 10 for the past decade, nevermind just ’03

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Francisco September 12, 2009 at 9:48 pm

I agree. Give Up was, to me, a truly mind-blowing album. Fantastic.

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RaRadiation September 12, 2009 at 5:46 pm

I’ll go with Fever To Tell for the poll.

But Shiina Ringo’s Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana seriously deserves some more Western recognition. I’ll throw it out there as the best album of all time just so three people will listen to it.

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andrade September 12, 2009 at 6:32 pm

damn that was hard. apparently 2003 was THE year for good music. had to go with the YYYs. transatlanticism was a CLOSE 2nd though.

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ChrisThrowsPots September 12, 2009 at 7:25 pm

Picking one from this list is pretty tough – I went with Hail to the Thief.

With all the great music from 03, choosing was still pretty easy for me. De-Loused in the Comatorium by the Mars Volta. No doubt about it.

I’m with you Teacup.

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Thomas September 12, 2009 at 9:42 pm

No 100th Window? Sigh.

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john m September 13, 2009 at 5:45 am

Dizzee Rascal for sure.

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Aliah September 13, 2009 at 7:36 pm

YYYs blew my mind. Enough said.

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PURPLE HULK September 14, 2009 at 9:11 am

How is Kast winning?
Any real Kast fan knows that speakerboxxx/love below was kast’s weakest album. That shit was horrible. It was garbage compared to the classics they had released previously.

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Sometimes We Mean It September 16, 2009 at 5:03 pm

Here here.

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Pandy September 14, 2009 at 4:06 pm

Boy In Da Corner is probably going to be undervalued in this poll due to the taste of the readership of much of this blog. I’m not sure it was the best in 2003 but it was an excellent album.

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Pandy September 14, 2009 at 4:08 pm

Let me elaborate on that by saying, many will respect it as a good album, but will not enjoy it enough to vote for it as best of the year.

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Kanye September 16, 2009 at 10:36 pm

PMA doesn’t care about black music.

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Izkid September 15, 2009 at 3:20 pm

I’m alone on this, but give the White Stripes some love! The White Stripes are one of the few bands that give me hope for the current rock genre. Speakerboxxx was good, but definitely not as good as Stankonia. I’m not too big of a fan of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (yet) so I guess I can’t judge their album

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kyle September 15, 2009 at 10:24 pm

i voted for YYY’s, i was gonna vote for Rascal, but figured it would be a waste of a vote

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chase September 17, 2009 at 12:27 am

boy in da corner is the best here i think. for my money, it’s probably the second best album of the decade as well.

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