Sound of...

Sound of... is an annual BBC poll of music critics and industry figures to find the most promising new music talent. It was first conducted by the BBC News website in 2003, and is now widely covered by the corporation's online, radio and TV outlets, as well as other media. A 15-strong longlist is published each December, with a ranked shortlist and annual winner announced the following January.

Winners

Poll Year	Winner	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth	Sixth	Seventh	Eighth	Ninth	Tenth
Sound of 2003	50 Cent	Electric Six	Yeah Yeah Yeahs	The Thrills	Dizzee Rascal	Interpol	Audio Bullys	Mario	The Datsuns	Sean Paul
Sound of 2004	Keane	Franz Ferdinand	Wiley	Razorlight	Joss Stone	McFly	Scissor Sisters	The Ordinary Boys	Tali	Gemma Fox
Sound of 2005	The Bravery	Bloc Party	Kano	The Game	Kaiser Chiefs	KT Tunstall	The Dead 60s	The Dears	Tom Vek	The Magic Numbers
Sound of 2006	Corinne Bailey Rae	Clap Your Hands Say Yeah	The Feeling	Plan B	Guillemots	Sway	Chris Brown	Marcos Hernandez	Kubb	The Automatic
Sound of 2007	Mika	The Twang	Klaxons	Sadie Ama	Enter Shikari	Air Traffic	Cold War Kids	Just Jack	Ghosts	The Rumble Strips
Sound of 2008	Adele	Duffy	The Ting Tings	Glasvegas	Foals	Vampire Weekend	Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong	Black Kids	MGMT	Santigold
Sound of 2009	Little Boots	White Lies	Florence and the Machine	Empire of the Sun	La Roux	Lady Gaga	VV Brown	Kid Cudi	Passion Pit	Dan Black
Sound of 2010	Ellie Goulding	Marina and the Diamonds	Delphic	Hurts	The Drums	Two Door Cinema Club	Not announced
Sound of 2011	Jessie J	James Blake	The Vaccines	Jamie Woon	Clare Maguire	Not announced
Sound of 2012	Michael Kiwanuka	Frank Ocean	Azealia Banks	Skrillex	Niki & The Dove	Not announced

Sound of 2009

More than 130 critics, editors and broadcasters took part in the Sound of 2009 survey, which was won by electro-pop singer Little Boots. For the first time, a longlist of 15 acts from the 2009 poll was published by the BBC on 5 December 2008. The other five acts on the longlist were The Big Pink, Frankmusik, Master Shortie, Mumford & Sons and The Temper Trap.

Sound of 2010

The longlist for the Sound of 2010 poll was revealed on 7 December 2009. The acts nominated were Daisy Dares You, Delphic, Devlin, The Drums, Everything Everything, Giggs, Gold Panda, Ellie Goulding, Hurts, Joy Orbison, Marina and the Diamonds, Owl City, Rox, Stornoway and Two Door Cinema Club. The winners, revealed in early January 2010, were The Drums in fifth place, Hurts in fourth, Delphic in third and Marina and the Diamonds in second place. On 8 January 2010 it was announced that Ellie Goulding had taken first place.

Sound of 2011

The longlist for the Sound of 2011 poll was revealed on 6 December 2010. The acts nominated were Anna Calvi, Clare Maguire, Daley, Esben and the Witch, Jai Paul, James Blake, Jamie Woon, Jessie J, Mona, Nero, The Naked and Famous, The Vaccines, Warpaint, Wretch 32 and Yuck. On 7 January 2011, Jessie J was announced as the winner.

Sound of 2012

The longlist for the Sound of 2012 poll was revealed on 5 December 2011. The acts nominated are A$AP Rocky, Azealia Banks, Dot Rotten, Dry The River, Flux Pavilion, Frank Ocean, Friends, Jamie N Commons, Lianne La Havas, Michael Kiwanuka, Niki & The Dove, Ren Harvieu, Skrillex, Spector and StooShe. On 6 January 2012, Michael Kiwanuka was announced as the winner.

Criticism

Some feel the Sound of... survey, together with other polls, creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. Guardian critic Kitty Empire wrote in December 2007: "Many of us are editors commissioning, and journalists writing, our own ones-to-watch forecasts. In order not to look like idiots, we tend to tip acts with records coming out rather than some lad with a tin whistle we found on MySpace."

External links

• Sound of... at BBC Online