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• The Strokes take top spot in NME list with Is This It
• Libertines debut Up the Bracket is highest British entry
• Datablog: get the list as a spreadsheet
New York rockers the Strokes have topped a list of the best albums of the decade, beating British indie stars – and tabloid darlings – the Libertines into second place.
Pete Doherty and Carl Barat’s former band are hailed for their debut album Up the Bracket but it is the Strokes’ first release Is This It that takes top spot in best 50 list compiled by NME.
Primal Scream’s xtrmntr takes third place in a top 10 dominated by guitar-led rock acts.
Bands such as Radiohead and Arctic Monkeys, plus record producers and label bosses, were among those who voted.
The Strokes’ lead singer Julian Casablancas said of his band’s success: “Does it mean it’s a good musical decade or a bad musical decade? I don’t know, I’m such a bad judge of my own stuff. But I thought it was great when I heard.
“Recording the album was fun. It was stressing, it was exciting. I don’t want to get carried away, but I’m pretty damn psyched with myself.”
Both the Strokes and the Libertines have been heavily championed by the magazine over the years.
Is This It, which featured a suggestive image of a naked model wearing a black vinyl glove, was one of the most acclaimed albums of the year when it was released in 2001. Many saw it as a return to the sound of late 1970s New York, evoking bands such as Television.
The Libertines’ first release came out in 2002, with their raw, punky tracks – produced by the Clash’s Mick Jones – winning an army of young fans. But drug-related fall-outs meant the band had all but fallen apart by the time their follow-up appeared in 2004.
Since then Doherty – who now styles himself Peter – went on to form Babyshambles and established a solo career, while fellow Libertines songwriter Carl Barat led Dirty Pretty Things, although both have talked about reviving the band.
The Libertines’ second, self-titled release also makes NME’s top 50.
The year 2002 is the most well-represented in the list with eight albums, including releases by Interpol, the Streets and Queens of the Stone Age.
NME editor Krissi Murison said: “This is the definitive word on the greatest albums of the noughties – as voted for by everyone who helped make music brilliant this decade.”
NME’s top 50 albums of the decade
1. The Strokes – Is This It
2. The Libertines – Up the Bracket
3. Primal Scream – xtrmntr
4. Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever to Tell
6. PJ Harvey – Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
7. Arcade Fire – Funeral
8. Interpol – Turn On the Bright Lights
9. The Streets – Original Pirate Material
10. Radiohead – In Rainbows
11. At The Drive In – Relationship of Command
12. LCD Soundsystem – The Sound of Silver
13. The Shins – Wincing the Night Away
14. Radiohead – Kid A
15. Queens Of The Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf
16. The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come for Free
17. Sufjan Stevens – Illinoise
18. The White Stripes – Elephant
19. The White Stripes – White Blood Cells
20. Blur – Think Tank
21. The Coral – The Coral
22. Jay-Z – The Blueprint
23. Klaxons – Myths of the Near Future
24. The Libertines – The Libertines
25. Rapture – Echoes
26. Dizzee Rascal – Boy in Da Corner
27. Amy Winehouse – Back to Black
28. Johnny Cash – Man Comes Around
29. Super Furry Animals – Rings Around the World
30. Elbow – Asleep In the Back
31. Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
32. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones
33. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
34. Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump
35. Babyshambles – Down in Albion
36. Spirtualized – Let It Come Down
37. The Knife – Silent Shout
38. Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
39. Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles
40. Ryan Adams – Gold
41. Wild Beasts – Two Dancers
42. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
43. Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
44. Outkast – Loveboxxx/The Love Below
45. Avalanches – Since I Left You
46. Delgados – The Great Eastern
47. Brendan Benson – Lapalco
48. Walkmen – Bows and Arrows
49. Muse – Absolution
50. MIA – Arular
