Much has been made of the turn of the decade and nearly every music publication has taken the chance to release an ‘albums of the decade’ list. Likewise, most have by now published a ‘best of 2009′ list as well. So rather than follow suit and add to an overflowing fountain of lists, we at Wizard Wars have designed a BCS-like formula full of unnecessary coefficients and obnoxious terminology to discover the most successful album of the year.

The system takes into account four main areas of criteria: reviews, downloads, sales, and digital media plays (estimated through last.fm). From these four realms of ranking, a combined score out of 100 is then granted to each album. After weeks of learning to use excel, then just a few minutes typing in numbers, the RDSL system was used to investigate 11 albums in total, before revealing to us the 5 most ‘successful’ albums of 2009. Despite the revolutionary system, the results are not altogether overly surprising, but judge for yourself.

Top 5 albums of 2009:

5. Passion Pit – Manners (68.6) – Consistency was the key for Manners down the stretch as it managed to capture the number 5 spot despite having the lowest overall review score of any competing album.

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4. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (76.4) – Absolutely dominating the sales charts, Phoenix looked set for a top-3 finish, however a dismal download performance meant they had to settle for fourth spot. Do the French still use dial-up?

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3. The xx – xx (76.7) – The second European band to crack the top 5, The xx’s wonderful debut record was the most listened to of 2009 and held its own from aboard in every statistical category.

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2. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest (78.2) – Named after a piece of land I can see from my window, ‘Veck’ finished in the top 3 in every category and out-sold this year’s champions.

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1. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion (83.7) – Apparently the secret formula does not reveal any true revelations as the best reviewed album of 2009 is also the most successful.

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Stay tuned for the most successful albums of the decade…