Billy G said 2006 was the best year in music since 1991. So rather than post my list (I've done it regularily in the Rank Your Albums thread) I decided to go through my old Konstanti-Lists to see where 2006 sat in relation to the other years this decade.

I've not included 2000 and 2001 as my computer got zapped in 2001 and I lost my lists. I've only slowly been building them back up and they are not complete enough yet to use in a statistical survey.

KONSTANTIRANKS 2002 - 2006 COMPARED!

Albums scoring 7.00 or over (as percentage of total list)
"good" albums

2002 - 31%
2003 - 31%
2004 - 32%
2005 - 32%
2006 - 35% WINNER!

This year produced more 'good' albums (scores of 7.00) or over than any in the last five. However a significant portion of them were 'just' over the mark. 5 scored 7.06 or less.

Albums scoring 7.25 or over (as percentage of total list)
"very good" albums

2002 - 19%
2003 - 24% WINNER!
2004 - 12%
2005 - 12%
2006 - 19%

Although not top in this catagory 2006 showed a mark recovery over the two previous years.

Albums scoring 7.50 or over (as percentage of total list)
"great" albums

2002 - 5% WINNER!
2003 - 4%
2004 - 4%
2005 - 4%
2006 - 2%

However when we compare figures for 'great' albums 2006 does not fair so well. Previous years have shown a fairly consistant 4-5% rate yet 2006 can only muster 2%, half of what we might have expected.

Top scoring Album (by Konstantirank)

2002 - RJD2 'Deadringer' 7.61
2003 - Lightning Bolt 'Wonderful Rainbow' 7.75
2004 - Franz Ferdinand 'Franz Ferdinand' 7.77
2005 - Two Gallants 'The Throes' 7.67
2006 - M. Ward 'Post War' 7.50

2006 also flags when actual winning Konstantirank scores are compared. In fact 2006 winner M. Ward scores lower than any other winner this decade (2000 and 2001 both have higher scored leaders).

Aggregate Top Ten Scores (by Konstantirank)

2002 - 73.92
2003 - 74.38 WINNER!
2004 - 73.60
2005 - 74.14
2006 - 73.45

Perhaps the best way of deciding which year was 'best' would be to add up all the individual scores of all the albums for a year total. I'm not going to do that but I did tot up the Top Tens from each year. Surprisingly the scores are very close but 2003 edges it with 2006 last.

CONCLUSIONS

In many regards 2006 represents an increase in the quantity of good music over previous years. However, it was not able to produce genuinely great music to the extent of previous years where 2003 emerges as the best of the past five. IN MY OPINION BASED ON THE SAMPLE OF MUSIC PURCHASED BY MYSELF IN THAT YEAR.

Rough Trade delivers.

I actually bought more Rough Trade recomendations last year but since Peelie died I've pretty much relied on them for discovering 'new' artists.

The great Rough Trade discovery this year was Stephen Yerkey. Last year it was Edgar 'Jones' Jones.

dude, you REALLY need another cat or two