Beyonce’s politically charged visual album Lemonade is the music critics’ favourite album of the year.
The record, which tackles themes of black empowerment and female identity, topped a “poll of polls” compiled by the BBC.
It beat David Bowie’s elegiac swansong Blackstar, which was released two days before his death in January.
Third place went to Frank Ocean’s Blonde, a sprawling, impressionistic take on art-soul.
Beyonce’s sister Solange also fared well. A Seat At The Table, her soulful, thoughtful portrayal of the struggles faced by black women, both historically and in 2016, came fifth.
The full top 20 looked like this:
| 1) Beyonce | Lemonade | 376 |
| 2) David Bowie | Blackstar | 341 |
| 3) Frank Ocean | Blonde | 309 |
| 4) Chance The Rapper | Coloring Book | 278 |
| 5) Solange | A Seat At The Table | 256 |
| 6) Kanye West | Life Of Pablo | 204 |
| 7) A Tribe Called Quest | We Got It From Here | 192 |
| 8) Radiohead | A Moon Shaped Pool | 191 |
| 9) Angel Olsen | My Woman | 188 |
| 10) Mitski | Puberty 2 | 169 |
| 11) Leonard Cohen | You Want It Darker | 163 |
| 12) Rihanna | Anti | 144 |
| 13) Anderson .Paak | Malibu | 116 |
| 14) Bon Iver | 22, A Million | 101 |
| 15) The 1975 | I Like It When You Sleep… | 94 |
| 16) Anohni | Hopelessness | 92 |
| 17) Car Seat Headrest | Teens of Denial | 84 |
| 18) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | Skeleton Tree | 83 |
| 19) Christine & The Queens | Chaleur Humaine | 81 |
| 20) Kaytranada | 99/9% | 72 |
