BUT DIDN’T WE JUST FINISH THE DECADE LIST!?!? 😩😩
As the year comes to an end, it’s time to let the world know which albums and songs stood out the most this year.
Learn more below, and check out the 2018 end-of-year lists for reference:
The Genius Community’s 50 Best Albums of 2018
The Genius Community’s 50 Best Songs of 2018
➦ TIMELINE ⏳
Current phase in bold
PHASE 1: VOTING, November 14th – November 21
—Vote for your 5 favorite albums and 5 favorite songs released this year.
PHASE 2: RANKING, November 22nd – November 29th
—Discuss & change 50 Best Albums & Songs So Far lists until finalized.
PHASE 3: WRITING, November 30th – December 11th
—Sign up to write blurbs, submit blurbs, and address edits.
PHASE 4: FINAL EDITS & PUBLISHING, December 12th – December 18th
—Final staff review/edits & lists go live
This is a very quick timeline, so get ready!
➦ VOTING 🗳️
November 14 – November 21
Vote for the best albums and songs released this year! You must choose at least one album and one song—you can choose up to five total in each category. The results of this initial vote will not reflect the final list—the purpose of this initial voting round is to get a general sense of what the broader Genius community thinks are the best albums, and then the ranking stage (see below) is where we discuss and refine the lists to make them better!
Note: If an album does not appear on the list, post it below!
⇥ VOTE HERE
Rules:
- Anyone can vote
- You must vote for at least 1 album and 1 song, but you can vote for up to 5 of each.
- December 7, 2018 was our cutoff for the end of year 2018 lists, meaning anything that came out from Dec. 8, 2018 onwards is fair game! But anything that came out before then is disqualified.
- Enter your real Genius username (not display name!) on the form. If the username you put on the form doesn’t match up with your Genius username, your vote will be disqualified.
- Try to resist the urge to vote for your FAVORITE albums, and instead try to decide what the objectively BEST albums are!
➦ RANKING 📊
November 22 – November 29
Discuss, deliberate, and ultimately decide what our final lists will look like! Ranking will take place on a song page, so changes will be determined by opinion in the form of annotating, upvoting, and discussion—that means you need to get in there and share your thoughts if you want the list to change! We will regularly update the lists on the song page according to popular opinion until we come to a consensus. Updates will be posted in this thread as major list revisions are made.
⇥ RANKING PAGE HERE
Rules:
- Anyone can participate in ranking.
- The ranking page will include both albums and songs, with the primary lists of 50 each.
- The ranking page will include a buffer of an additional 10-15 of the top-voted albums and songs from the voting round.
- Albums and songs that didn’t make it into the top 50 or weren’t voted for at all may be included in the top 50 lists if enough people request it or express interest.
- The cut-off for shoo-ins is Friday, November 29. Anything releasing after that date will not qualify for the lists (unless it’s over the top amazing).
- The ranking page will include sections for notable albums and songs released after voting closed up until November 29.
➦ WRITING & REVISIONS 🖊️
November 30 – December 11
Sign up to express your interest in writing about two albums and two songs. We’ll review the sign-ups, assign writers, and announce them here. This means you might not get to write about the albums you want to write about! But we’ll do our best to make sure everyone who wants to write gets to write something. As soon as we let you know what blurbs you’re writing, you can get started and submit them on the doc below when they’re done.
⇥ SIGN UP TO WRITE BLURBS HERE
⇥ WRITE-UP ROSTER HERE
⇥ SUBMIT BLURBS HERE
Rules:
- Must hold Editor or Moderator role to write blurbs.
- Blurbs are due December 11.
- Initial limit of two albums and two songs per person, but this may change depending on interest.
- 150 word limit for albums, 100 word limit for songs.
- Only sign up to write blurbs if you can commit to getting them in by December 11. If you get assigned a blurb and you don’t submit it by December 11, someone else will write it.
- Edits will be rolling, so check the doc often!
- It’s your responsibility to address edits in a timely fashion. If you don’t address the edits before the final edits phrase, you’ll lose the chance to have discussion and input.
➦ FINAL EDITS & PUBLISHING 🎉
December 12 – December 18
Once we enter this stage, you won’t see your blurbs again! The Editorial team will make any final revisions to your blurbs, and load them up into the article—but presumably by this point, blurbs will already be in good shape!
We’ll do our best to take everyone’s opinions and feels into consideration, but Genius’ editorial staff may make changes to ranking and blurbs prior to publishing.
NOTE: Due to time constraints, Genius editorial staff will not be in contact with community during final edits. The information in your blurbs may be changed to fit Genius’ editorial voice, and in an effort to be transparent, we’d like you all to know this upfront. Nevertheless, we believe less edits will be necessary if you ask yourself the following questions while writing your blurb:
Why is this album good?
How is this unique in today’s music?
How does it compare to the artist’s previous work?
If you would like a name other than your Genius username (username, not display name) to appear in the published article, please add it to the submission doc in addition to your username.
The Genius Community’s 50 Best Albums of 2019 will publish on December 19!
The Genius Community’s 50 Best Songs of 2019 will publish on December 20!
Questions/concerns/ideas? Let us know!
@genius-editorial-board @music
