Lats begin our Public v Critics smackdown by looking at which years had the most listings.
The chart shows the Publics 1001 top rated albums over time.
At first glance it looks similar to the chart for the Critics. It has a big peak in the late '60s to early '70s - and another smaller peak in the late '90s.
But there are some significant differences.
The oldest Public entry is 1940 vs 1955 for the Critics. But the Public also have the newest entry - to be expected, given publishing lead times.
The table below shows the public has more entries for the 1950s, 60s and 70s. The Critics have more entries for the 80s, 90s and 00s.
So are the Public just older than the Critics?
I think not for two reasons. Firstly, a poll relying on internet participation should be skewed towards younger listeners. Someone who was a teen in the 1950s is now in their late sixties - hardly the biggest net demographic.
Second, look at the peak in 1994 and the smaller peak in 1998. Regardless of their age, the Public is hip to some pretty recent music.
Juliet, my daughter, suggested that it was the job of critics to check out new music - so you'd expect a bias towards more recent music compared with the public. Makes sense to me.
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