YEAR IN REVIEW 1995 : The Consensus Top 10

In the biggest landslide in 15 years of voting, PJ Harvey has swamped the competition in The Times’ pop contributors’ annual balloting for best album. The Englishwoman keeps the crown in a woman’s hands, receiving it from last year’s winner Courtney Love and topping a field in which women or female-led bands fill six of the 10 slots.

The field features grizzled veterans Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen, but is notable for the presence of five debut albums--from Alanis Morissette, Elastica, Tricky, the Geraldine Fibbers and D’Angelo.

Here is the consensus Top 10. Albums are awarded 10 points for a first-place vote, nine points for second and so forth.

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Artist, Title (Label) Points Ballots (Firsts) 1. PJ Harvey, “To Bring 90 11 You My Love” (Island) (6) 2. Alanis Morissette, 50 9 “Jagged Little Pill” (Maverick) 3. Neil Young, “Mirror 42 6 Ball” (Reprise) 4. Elastica, “Elastica” 41 6 (DGC) (1) 5. Tricky, “Maxinquaye” 36 8 (Island) 6. Bruce Springsteen, 33 4 “The Ghost of Tom Joad” (2) (Columbia) 7. Bjork, “Post” 28 4 (Elektra) (1) 8. The Geraldine Fibbers, 27 5 “Lost Somewhere Between the Earth and My Home” (Virgin) 9. Various artists, “Waiting 23 3 to Exhale” (Arista) 10. Smashing Pumpkins, 21 5 “Mellon Collie and the (1) Infinite Sadness” (Virgin)

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Here are the individual best album choices of our 17 voters: Bjork: Lorraine Ali; Mark Davis, “You Came Screaming” (Cutlet): Mike Boehm; Elastica: Chuck Crisafulli; Foo Fighters, “Foo Fighters” (Roswell/Capitol): Heidi Siegmund; Goldie, “Timeless” (FFRR), Dennis Romero; PJ Harvey: Steve Appleford, Richard Cromelin, Elysa Gardner, Steve Hochman, Connie Johnson, Enrique Lopetegui; Annie Lennox, “Medusa” (Arista): Paul Grein; Raekwon the Chef, “Only Built for the Cuban Linx” (Loud/RCA): Cheo H. Coker; Smashing Pumpkins: Jonathan Gold; Bruce Springsteen: Jerry Crowe, Robert Hilburn; White Zombie, “Astro-Creep: 2000” (Geffen): Sandy Masuo.