Animal Collective Win Album of the Year in 'Poll of Polls'

Those of you sick to the back teeth of end-of-the-year polls can finally release a sigh of relief as 'Merriweather Post Pavilion' -- the eighth studio album from nouveau-psychedelicists Animal Collective -- has been declared Album of the 2009 in HMV's annual Poll of Polls survey.

The last word in end-of-the-year round-ups, the music retailer collates the results of polls from 34 different organisations including magazines and websites. Speaking of the winning album, the store's rock and pop manager John Hirst said that Animal Collective's album "sounded like nothing else out there".

The poll also threw up two notable trends: Eight of the top 10 acts are signed to independent labels and New York-based acts Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grizzly Bear and Dirty Projectors joined the winners to take four out of the top five positions.

"It's also encouraging to see indie labels doing so well which reflects on the vibrant state of our music right now," Hirst said. Previous winners have included Elbow, Arcade Fire, Daft Punk and OutKast.

The 2009 Poll of Polls reads:
1. Animal Collective -- 'Merriweather Post Pavilion'
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- 'It's Blitz'
3. The xx -- 'The xx'
4. Dirty Projectors -- 'Bitte Orca'
5. Grizzly Bear -- 'Veckatimest'
6. The Horrors -- 'Primary Colours'
7. Fever Ray -- 'Fever Ray'
8. Florence and the Machine -- 'Lungs'
9. Bat for Lashes -- 'Two Suns'
10. Wild Beasts -- 'Two Dancers'