A familiar refrain for PJ Harvey

Ever since PJ Harvey’s superb debut album, “Dry,” arrived 12 years ago, critics have asked whether the current year will finally be the one when the diminutive British singer-songwriter moves beyond cult status.

Impressed by blues-driven music reminiscent at times of Led Zeppelin’s power and by her revealing lyrics about sexual politics, U.S. pop critics named “Dry” the fourth-best album of the year in the Village Voice’s annual poll. But the album was pretty much ignored by radio stations, whose exposure is normally the key to big-time sales.

Critics cheered Harvey albums again in 1993, 1995, 1998 and 2000. All finished in the Voice poll’s Top 10, yet the highest any reached on the national sales chart was No. 40.

So the question again this spring was, “Will this finally be the year of Harvey?”

“Uh Huh Her,” released in June, was a near-perfect album. Alas, radio remained cool and the public largely indifferent. The music is presumably too dark, earthy and challenging.

Speaking to Susan Carpenter in Calendar recently, Harvey, 35, worried about living up to her own high standards, fretting that her last few albums showed signs of creative decline.

The Voice poll won’t be out until February, but the results of Calendar’s poll of its pop critics and contributors should cheer her up. “Uh Huh Her” finished first.