The consensus top 10

Beck and Eminem, the winners of the consensus poll of The Times’ pop music contributors in 1999 and 2000, respectively, went head to head in 2002, and the kinder, gentler folk singer squeezed out a victory over the fiery rap star. The rest of the field chosen by the 16 voters ranges from grizzled critics’ favorites Tom Waits, Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen to new critical favorite Bright Eyes. Albums are awarded 10 points for a first-place vote, nine points for second place, etc.

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1. Artist: Beck

Album: “Sea Change”

Label: Geffen

Pts: 47

No: 5

1st: 3

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2. Artist: Eminem

Album: “The Eminem Show”

Label: Interscope

Pts: 44

No: 6

1st: 1

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3. Artist: Wilco

Album: “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”

Label: Nonesuch

Pts: 39

No: 7

1st: 1

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4. Artist: Queens of the Stone Age

Album: “Songs for theDeaf”

Label: Interscope

Pts: 33

No: 4

1st: 3

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5. Artist: Bright Eyes

Album: “Lifted or the Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground”

Label: Saddle Creek

Pts: 32

No: 5

1st: 1

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6. Artist: The Roots

Album: “Phrenology”

Label: MCA

Pts: 24

No: 4

1st: 0

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7. Artist: Bruce Springsteen

Album: “The Rising”

Label: Columbia

Pts: 18

No: 3

1st: 0

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8. Artist: Tom Waits

Album: “Alice”

Label: Anti

Pts: 16

No: 2

1st: 0

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9. Artist: Flaming Lips

Album: “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots”

Label: Warner Bros.

Pts: 15

No: 3

1st: 0

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10. Artist: Elvis Costello

Album: “When I Was Cruel”

Label: Island

Pts: 14

No: 2

1st: 1

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Key: Pts=Total points; No.=Number of ballots on which album was represented; 1st=Number of No. 1 votes.

The first-place votes

Beck: Robert Hilburn (tie), Geoff Boucher, Steve Hochman

Patricia Barber, “Verdes” (Blue Note): Don Heckman (tie)

Ruben Blades, “Mundo” (Columbia/Sony Discos): Agustin Gurza

Bright Eyes: Richard Cromelin

Cee-Lo, “Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections” (Arista): Soren Baker

Elvis Costello: Natalie Nichols

Eminem: Hilburn (tie)

Neil Finn, “One All” (Nettwerk America): Randy Lewis

Gomez, “In Our Gun” (Virgin): Ernesto Lechner

Queens of the Stone Age: Steve Appleford, Lina Lecaro, Marc Weingarten

Wayne Shorter, “Footprints Live!” (Verve): Heckman (tie)

Spoon, “Kill the Moonlight” (Merge): Kevin Bronson

Tom Waits: Steve Baltin

Wilco: Dean Kuipers

All the critics’ top 10s can be found at www.calendarlive.com/picks