Louisville, KY-based My Morning Jacket [ tickets ] has been kicking around in relative obscurity since the late '90s, but the group appears headed for bigger things on the heels of its lauded 2005 release, "Z."

Thirteen liveDaily critics were asked to list their 10 favorite albums of 2005, and six placed "Z" on their list, as close to a consensus as we got this year. Coldplay [ tickets ]'s "X&Y" appears on five lists, making it a clean sweep for the last three letters of the alphabet.

Releases by Kanye West [ tickets ], The White Stripes [ tickets ] and Beck [ tickets ] turned up on four lists, while three critics singled out the efforts of Bright Eyes, Queens of the Stone Age, Shelby Lynne and Spoon. M.I.A. Placed high on two of our critics' lists, enough to sneak into 2005's Top 10.

Overall rankings were determined by first grouping albums by the number of ballots on which they appeared. Ties were then broken by weighting votes based on where albums ranked on individual lists.

Critics Picks: liveDaily's top albums of 2005

1. My Morning Jacket, "Z" (ATO)
2. Coldplay, "X&Y" (Capitol)
3. Kanye West, "Late Registration" (Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam)
4. The White Stripes, "Get Behind Me Satan" (V2)
5. Beck, "Guero" (Geffen)
6. Bright Eyes, "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" (Saddle Creek)
7. Queens of the Stone Age, "Lullabies to Paralyze" (Interscope)
8. Shelby Lynne, "Suit Yourself" (Capitol)
9. Spoon, "Gimme Fiction" (Merge)
10. M.I.A., "Arular" (XL/Interscope)