I have seen at least 15 different "Top Albums/Songs of the Year" lists this past week. Rolling Stone has several, Spin has their version, and there are even all the charts for top sales (digital and physical). While these types of lists used to carry more weight for readers, I don't believe they matter as much anymore.In an increasingly user-generated content world, we can all become writers or content producers. We all have opinions and we love to share them. Instead of relying on the old sources for what is "hip" or "best" in music, we make our own picks and then interact with others to further develop the lists. We will still read the old lists for ideas, but if our favorite album isn't on it, we'll either go looking for one that agrees with us or we'll just create our own. We no longer have time for set-in-stone top albums lists; we need something we can interact with, something that has life to it.
Imagine an interactive community based around the "Top Albums of the Year." The main function of this community would be for users to create a "Top Albums of The Year" that complied all into one place. Everyone's opinion would matter and be calculated into one single list. The living list could be viewed as a whole but also could be sorted based on country of user, sex of user, genre of music, etc. The community would work on a single-entry voting system that would help to avoid rabid fan-boys from sitting on their computer for hours just voting for Fall Out Boy or Miley Cyrus. An interactive community like this could easily be turned into a way to find new music, rally fans around a band that was deserving, or showcase your opinions (not to mention, make money for the music industry). Giving users an incentive to share their lists and interact would help to keep people coming back and checking how it had been developing. When the clocks flipped over to Jan 1 12:01AM the list would lock in and be announced within the next week.
What do you think? Good idea?