Elbow see off competition from Portishead and others in HMV poll.
The Seldom Seen Kid, the Mercury Prize-winning album from Elbow, has been named the album of the year in a survey of critics and fans.
Retail chain HMV conducted the "poll of polls", using votes from their staff, music lovers and reviewers to find the most impressive disc of 2008 and Elbow's offering was nominated by 18 out of 35 outlets.
Trip-hop band Portishead's album Third came in second, while Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' Dig, Lazarus Dig completed the top three.
Fleet Foxes and Vampire Weekend finished fourth and fifth respectively with their self-titled offerings.
HMV's rock and pop-buyer Damien Evans said the poll reflects the quality of music released in 2008.
"Established artists such as Portishead, Nick Cave and Metallica have also returned to great acclaim, although I suspect few people would dispute that Elbow have given us the album of the year," he stated.
In other news, Elbow frontman Guy Garvey recently told the Metro winning the Mercury Prize was like an FA Cup moment.
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