For 32 years, the Village Voice's annual music poll has "enjoyed an almost unchallenged run" as the gold standard of year-end Top 10 lists, says the New York Times. But the angst created by New Times' takeover of the paper, and the ensuing departure of music critic and poll organizer Robert Christgau, has emboldened a music blog to mount a challenge to Pazz and Jop's hegemony. After Christgau turned them down, Gawker Media's The Idolator hired former Seattle Weekly music editor Michaelangelo Matos to organize the competing poll, which "will largely be modeled after Pazz & Jop," according to the Times.
