#204 Week #28 Wrap-Up - THE WINNERS
HEY FOLKS
It’s over! It’s done! We now know the Best Album of 2000, and it’s
STANKONIA defeated STORIES FROM THE CITY, STORIES FROM THE SEA, 125-123, to become the Best Album of 2000, in the closest match in Best Album history.
A big thank you to everyone who listened to the albums (not just the 128 in the tournament), who nominated albums, voted in the runoff tournament, voted on the seeds, voted in the matches, wrote Designated Cheerleaders, talked about it on Bluesky, and subscribed and read the newsletter. This literally doesn’t exist without you. I should know; when I first started Best Albums, I in fact did try to do it by myself, and gave up almost instantaneously.
The nomination phase for this tournament began January 3rd of 2024, over a year ago, and wrapped up on Friday morning, February 28th, 2025. There were some difficulties figuring out how to do this away from Twitter, but I think we got there. My goal for the next one is to get it completed before the end of 2025. It takes six months to run a tournament, but I think I can do it. But we’ll talk about that in the next newsletter, which should be out within a few days.
(Don’t forget! The newsletter now has comments if you go to the archive. I hope you use them for suggesting nominees for the 1989 tournament.)
Again, thank you. I hope you enjoyed the journey.
THE BEST ALBUM OF 2000 PREDICTION BRACKET TOP 20 COUNTDOWN
Let’s get straight to it: the winner of the Best Album of 2000 Prediction Bracket is SpimTobley, owner of O Twitter, Where Art Thou? Congratulations! They will have the honor of placing any qualifying 1989 album in the forthcoming Best Album of 1989 tournament*. I remember them from Twitter, but I’m not sure if they’re on Bluesky, so I hope to hear from them soon.
On the points side of the contest, You have GOT to be Kid A-ing me!, owned by The99thGec, number one bracket for six weeks, takes the top with 271 points; the next closes bracket had 220. (Being number one for six weeks tends to give you a lot of points.) Also congratulations! They will also have the honor of placing any qualifying 1989 album in the forthcoming Best Album of 1989 tournament*.
If you placed in the Top 5 in either the standard bracket contest or the points version, there is a chance, not a big one, but a chance you could be eligible for a prize when the time comes. So if you are in the Top 5 of either, stay tuned. Here’s what the Top 5 of each looks like once you eliminate duplicates (because you can only win once):
BRACKET TOP 5, ADJUSTED
O Twitter, Where Art Thou?
I Made Our Wedding Band Learn “Our Way to Fall”
Millennial Labor
Mr. Me’s Beautiful Bracket
My Bracket is More Sad and Painful Than Yours
POINTS TOP 5, ADJUSTED
You have GOT to be Kid A-ing me!
You’re Pretty Good Looking (For a Bracket)
And He Also Made False Predictions
Like Water for Chocolate Starfish
Brians over Baghdad
Congratulations to everyone!
* Prizes are contingent on there being any available slots after the initial slots are filled in with the albums that made it in on nomination votes. (I’ll explain this more in the future.) Anyway, there’s usually anywhere from 5 to 10 available slots, but there is always the possibility of zero open slots. If there is only one open slot, the prize will go to the initial bracket contest winner, in this case O Twitter, Where Art Thou?.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
On Monday, #1 OutKast, STANKONIA defeated #4 Radiohead, KID A, 130-92-1 (223 votes, +38).
On Tuesday, #2 PJ Harvey, STORIES FROM THE CITY, STORIES FROM THE SEA defeated #3 The New Pornographers, MASS ROMANTIC, 106-74-2 (182 votes, +32).
On Wednesday, #4 Radiohead, KID A defeated #3 The New Pornographers, MASS ROMANTIC, 90-65-1 (156 votes, +25). KID A is the Third Best Album of 2000. MASS ROMANTIC is the Fourth Best Album of 2000.
On Thursday, #1 OutKast, STANKONIA defeated #2 PJ Harvey, STORIES FROM THE CITY, STORIES FROM THE SEA, 125-123 (248 votes, +2). STANKONIA is the Best Album of 2000. STORIES FROM THE CITY, STORIES FROM THE SEA is the Second Best Album of 2000.
Thanks again for voting, reading, subscribing, commenting, arguing and supporting.
Kent