2001 – my year in music
What could be more ridiculous than trying to rank the thousands of singles and albums you’ve bought and heard over a lifetime? Here we go …
I ranked my singles of the year at end of 1991 and 1997, and then 2000 and every year since. I only started ranking albums in 2008. So I’ve also included the original 2001 singles list, but the first two charts are a December 2024 re-ranking of my favourite singles and albums of the year.
| | Top albums of 2001 |
| |
| 1 | Divine Comedy | Regeneration |
| 2 | Catatonia | Paper Scissors Stone |
| 3 | Gorillaz | Gorillaz |
| 4 | Chris T-T | The 253 |
| 5 | King Adora | Vibrate You |
| 6 | Echobelly | People Are Expensive |
| 7 | Mull Historical Society | Loss |
| 8 | Hives | Your New Favourite Band |
| 9 | Life Without Buildings | Any Other City |
| 10 | Sing-Sing | The Joy Of Sing-Sing |
| 11 | Vyacheslav Mescherin Orchestra | Easy USSR vol 1 |
| 12 | Elbow | Asleep In The Back |
| 13 | Muse | Origin of Symmetry |
| 14 | Radiohead | Amnesiac |
| 15 | Garbage | Beautiful Garbage |
| 16 | Desert Hearts | Let's Get Worse |
| 17 | Marc Almond | Stranger Things |
| 18 | Turin Brakes | The Optimist LP |
| 19 | Shed Seven | Truth Be Told |
| 20 | Electrelane | Rock It To The Moon |
| 21 | Royksopp | Melody AM |
| 22 | System Of A Down | Toxicity |
| 23 | White Stripes | White Blood Cells |
| 24 | Meanwhile, Back In Communist Russia ... | Indian Ink |
| 25 | My Vitriol | Finelines |
| 26 | Daft Punk | Discovery |
| 27 | Marillion | Anoraknophobia |
The albums I played to death:| These aren’t necessarily the same as my favourite albums now, but the ones I remember buying on release and playing over and over and over again. |
| |
| 12/03/01 | Divine Comedy | Regeneration |
| 26/03/01 | Gorillaz | Gorillaz |
| 05/11/01 | Chris T-T | The 253 |
| | Top tracks of 2001 |
| |
| 1 | Melys | Chinese Whispers |
| 2 | Pulp | Duck Diving (Peel Session) |
| 3 | (International) Noise Conspiracy | Capitalism Stole My Virginity |
| 4 | Charlatans | A Man Needs to Be Told |
| 5 | Feeder | Buck Rogers |
| 6 | Spoon | Everything Hits At Once |
| 7 | Electric Soft Parade | Empty At The End |
| 8 | New Order | Crystal |
| 9 | Turin Brakes | Mind Over Money |
| 10 | Divine Comedy | Love What You Do |
| 11 | Gorillaz | Clint Eastwood |
| 12 | Ash | Burn Baby Burn |
| 13 | U2 | Beautiful Day |
| 14 | Seafood | Cloaking |
| 15 | Röyksopp | Eple |
| 16 | Sing-Sing | Feels Like Summer |
| 17 | Strokes | Hard To Explain |
| 18 | Divine Comedy | Eye Of The Needle |
| 19 | Gorillaz | 19-2000 |
| 20 | Muse | Plug In Baby |
| 21 | Starsailor | Good Souls |
| 22 | Straw | Sailing Off The Edge Of The World |
| 23 | Shea Seger | Clutch |
| 24 | Radiohead | Knives Out |
| 25 | Turin Brakes | Underdog (Save Me) |
| 26 | Feeder | Just A Day |
| 27 | Ian Brown | F.E.A.R. |
| 28 | Divine Comedy | The Perfect Love Song |
| 29 | Ash | Shining Light |
| 30 | Stephen Malkmus | Jo Jo's Jacket |
| 31 | Mull Historical Society | Mull Historical Society |
| 32 | Emilíana Torrini | To Be Free |
| 33 | Electric Soft Parade | There's A Silence |
| 34 | Human League | All I Ever Wanted |
| 35 | David Kitt | Song From Hope Street |
| 36 | Nickelback | How You Remind Me |
| 37 | Stephen Malkmus | Discretion Grove |
| 38 | Divine Comedy | Bad Ambassador |
| 39 | Alpha feat Jarvis Cocker | This Is Where I Came In |
| 40 | (International) Noise Conspiracy | Up For Sale |
| 41 | Wheatus | Teenage Dirtbag |
| 42 | Alternative 3 | Let's Go Electronic |
| 43 | Andrew WK | Party Hard |
| 44 | Spiller feat Sophie Ellis-Bextor | Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) |
| 45 | Starsailor | Alcoholic |
| 46 | Strokes | Last Night |
| 47 | Mo-Ho-Bish-O-Pi | Playboy |
| 48 | They Might Be Giants | Man It's So Loud in Here |
| 49 | Chris T-T | Build A Bridge, Burn A Bridge |
| 50 | Charlatans | Love is The Key |
| 51 | Mull Historical Society | I Tried |
| 52 | Chumbawamba | Timebomb |
| 53 | Bjork | Pagan Poetry |
| 54 | Garbage | Androgyny |
| 55 | Catatonia | Stone By Stone |
| 56 | Desert Hearts | DSR |
| 57 | Chris T-T | Sellotape (Dawson's Creek) |
| 58 | Big Dog | Raise The Alarm |
| 59 | A Camp | I Can Buy You |
| 60 | Muse | Feeling Good |
| 61 | Garbage | Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!) |
| 62 | Mull Historical Society | Bar Code By-Pass |
| 63 | Kylie Minogue | Love At First Sight |
| 64 | Grandaddy | The Crystal Lake |
| 65 | Fischerspooner | Emerge |
| 66 | Pulp | Sunrise |
| 67 | David Hughes | Sky Bassophere |
| 68 | Weezer | Island In The Sun |
| 69 | P J Harvey | This Is Love |
| 70 | Soundtrack Of Our Lives | Sister Surround |
| 71 | Alien Ant Farm | Smooth Criminal |
| 72 | Markus Nikolai | Bushes (Norman Cook Remix) |
| 73 | System of a Down | Chop Suey |
| 74 | Lamb | Gabriel |
| 75 | Depeche Mode | Free Love |
| 76 | Coral | The Oldest Path |
| 77 | Air | Radio #1 |
| 78 | Starsailor | Fever |
| 79 | Basement Jaxx | Where's Your Head At |
| 80 | Soulwax | Conversation Intercom |
| 81 | Stereophonics | Mr Writer |
| 82 | Cake | Short Skirt Long Jacket |
| 83 | Cooper Temple Clause | Let's Kill Music |
| 84 | Travis | Sing |
| 85 | System of a Down | Toxicity (Version 7.0) |
| 86 | Bloodhound Gang | Fire Water Burn (Radio Edit) |
| 87 | Ben Folds | Rockin The Suburbs |
| 88 | Sum 41 | Fat Lip |
| 89 | Basement Jaxx | Romeo |
| | Original chart - top tracks of 2001 |
| |
| 1 | Avalanches | Frontier Psychiatrist |
| 2 | Gorillaz | Clint Eastwood |
| 3 | Sum 41 | Fat Lip |
| 4 | Feeder | Just A Day |
| 5 | Nickelback | How You Remind Me |
| 6 | Spoon | Everything Hits At Once |
| 7 | Depeche Mode | Free Love |
| 8 | Strokes | Hard To Explain |
| 9 | New Order | Crystal |
| 10 | Royksopp | Eple |
| 11 | P J Harvey | This Is Love |
| 12 | Bjork | Pagan Poetry |
| 13 | Radiohead | Knives Out |
| 14 | Charlatans | A Man Needs To Be Told |
| 15 | Gorillaz | 19/2000 |
| 16 | Ash | Burn Baby Burn |
| 17 | Straw | Sailing Off The Edge Of The World |
| 18 | Stephen Malkmus | Jo Jo's Jacket |
| 19 | Papa Roach | Between Insects And Angels |
| 20 | System Of A Down | Chop Suey! |
| 21 | Coral | The Oldest Path |
| 22 | Starsailor | Good Souls |
| 23 | Feeder | Buck Rogers |
| 24 | Turin Brakes | Underdog (Save Me) |
| 25 | Divine Comedy | Love What You Do |
| 26 | Pulp | Sunrise |
| 27 | Mark B & Blade | Ya Don't See The Signs (Grant Nicholls remix) |
| 28 | Papa Roach | Last Resort |
| 29 | Turin Brakes | Mind Over Money |
| 30 | Basement Jaxx | Where's Your Head At? |
| 31 | King Adora | Suffocate |
| 32 | Utah Saints | Lost Vagueness |
| 33 | Big Dog | Raise The Alarm |
| 34 | They Might Be Giants | Man It's So Loud In Here |
| 35 | Mull Historical Society | I Tried |
| 36 | Cake | Short Skirt Long Jacket |
| 37 | Shea Seger | Clutch |
| 38 | Human League | All I Ever Wanted |
| 39 | U2 | Walk On |
| 40 | Electric Soft Parade | Empty At The End |
| 41 | Alien Ant Farm | Movies |
| 42 | Sum 41 | In Too Deep |
| 43 | 54-40 | Casual Viewin' |
| 44 | Ian Brown | F.E.A.R. |
| 45 | David Kitt | Song From Hope Street |
| 46 | They Might Be Giants | Boss Of Me |
| 47 | Seafood | Cloaking |
| 48 | Cooper Temple Clause | Let's Kill Music |
| 49 | Electric Soft Parade | There's A Silence |
| 50 | White Stripes | Hotel Yorba |
| | My favourite cover versions of 2001 |
| |
| 1 | Muse | Feeling Good |
| 2 | Alien Ant Farm | Smooth Criminal |
Monday 31 December 2001, 58 views
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