Winners and Losers in the great big Hot Press Readers Poll

Picture This are the big winners in the Hot Press Readers’ Poll – the ‘Hotties’ – for 2018. The band picked up the awards for Best Group, Track of the Year, and Best Live Act for from the last 12 months.

Peter Casey and Donald Trump appear on the ‘Loathe Of The Year’ list (see below)!

The news comes as Picture This are set to take on the 3Arena this month, with a record-breaking five performances at the venue. They’re second album, MDRN LV, went straight to No. 1 on the Irish Album Charts following its release in February.

Album of the Year for 2018 went to Gavin James, for his sophomore release Only Ticket Home. Featuring some of his biggest hits to date, including ‘Always’, ‘Glow’ and ‘Hearts On Fire’, Only TicketHome was one of the top selling albums in Ireland, so it’s no wonder it (just about!) edged out The Academic’s Tales From The Backseatand Villagers’The Art of Pretending To Swim, to make the top spot.

The winner in the Best Female Artist of 2018 went to the legendary Imelda May, who came in ahead of Lisa Hannigan, Emma Langfordand Susan O’Neill, while the Best Male Artist was Hozier (who also won the award for Best Songwriter), with David Keenan coming in as a close second.

The Debut Album of the Year award went to The Academic, for Tales From The Backseat. The Dublin band edged out some truly fierce competitors, including Saint Sister(Shape of Silence), Wyvern Lingo (Wyvern Lingo), and Just Mustard(Wednesday), showing us once again why 2018 was a phenomenal year for new Irish music.

The Most Promising Act award went to Wild Youth, who have been packing out venues throughout the country and have just released their magnificent debut EP. They were closely followed by Dermot Kennedy and David Keenan, with the likes of Touts, Fontaines DC and Whenyoung all appearing the Top 10.

Best Electronic/Dance act of 2018 went to Irish synth-pop mainstays Le Galaxie. They came in ahead of Roisin Murphy, Le Boom, New Jackson and Arvo Party to take the top spot.

Best Rap/Hip-Hop act went to the somewhat surprising (but entirely deserving) choice of Tullamore trio Chasing Abbey. A summer of festival performances and some absolute banger hit singles has made this outfit one of the tightest, and most in-demand, acts in Ireland. They came in ahead of the likes of Versatile, Kojaque, Rejjie Snow and Paul Alwright.

Best Folk/Trad of 2018 went to the indomitable Christy Moore. It’s hard to argue when you’ve been in the business for 50+ years and your latest album (On The Road) STILL goes straight to the top of the Irish Album Charts! Elsewhere on the list, The Gloaming, Emma Langoford and Lisa O’Neill all land themselves in the Top 10.

The overall award for Best Musician went to U2’s The Edge. In many ways a force of nature, The Edge was pivotal in making the band’s latest album Songs of Experiencetheir best in over a decade, as well as ensuring that their live shows through America, Europe and Ireland in 2018 were the spectacular events that fans have come to expect from U2. In second place was Josh McClorey, formerly of The Strypes, and Martin Hayes of The Gloaming,

Best Radio DJ for 2018 was Today FM’s Ian Dempsey. The long-running breakfast show host came in just ahead of close competitors Jenny Greene and Meghann Scullyto take the top spot.

The award for the Best International Album went to Arctic Monkeys, for their latest release Tranquillity Base Hotel & Casino. The album came in ahead of Bruce Springsteen On Broadway, St Vincent’s Masseduction, Jannelle Monae’s Dirty Computer, and Idles’Joy As An Act of Resistance.

Elsewhere on our Readers’ Poll, Tommy Tiernan was No. 1 as Comedian of the Year, Red Dead Redemption 2was voted as Best Game of the Year, Repealing the 8^th took the top spot as Love of the Year, and Brexit– predictably – came in as 2018’s Loathe of the Year.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS FOR THE HOT PRESS READERS’ POLL:

Loathe Of The Year

1 Brexit

2 Trump

3 The Visit of The Pope

4 Love Island

5 Peter Casey’s election comments on Travellers and Social Welfare

Best Group

1 Picture This

2 Versatile

3 Kodaline

4 U2

5 Fontaines DC

6 Walking On Cars

7 Saint Sister

8 The Academic

9 Snow Patrol

10 Bell X1

Best Female

1 Imelda May

2 Lisa Hannigan

3 Emma Langford

4 Susan O’Neill (SON)

5 Áine Cahill

6 Roisin Murphy

7 Lisa O’Neill

8 Gemma Doherty (Saint Sister)

9 Soulé

10 Bridie Monds-Watson (SOAK)

Best Male

1 Hozier

2 David Keenan

3 Gavin James

4 Ryan Hennessy (Picture This)

5 Dermot Kennedy

6  Glen Hansard

7 Damien Dempsey

8 James Vincent McMorrow

9 Paul Noonan (Bell X1)

10 Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol)

Track of the Year

1 Picture This – When We Were Young

2 Hozier – Nina Cried Power

3 David Keenan – Evidence Of Living

4 Villagers – Trick Of The Light

5 Gavin James – Always

6 Snow Patrol – Don’t Give In

7 Fontaines DC – Too Real

8 Kodaline – Follow Your Fire

9 whenyoung – Pretty Pure

10 Versatile – Ketamine

Album of the Year

1 Gavin James – Only Ticket Home

2 The Academic – Tales From The Backseat

3 Villagers – The Art of Pretending to Swim

4 Glen Hansard – Between Two Shores

5 Saint Sister – Shape of Silence

6 Wyvern Lingo – Wyvern Lingo

7 Elephant – 88

8 Kojaque – Deli Daydreams

9 Rejjie Snow – Dear Annie

10 David Kitt – You

Debut Album of the Year

1 The Academic – Tales From The Backseat

2 Saint Sister – Shape Of Silence

3 Wyvern Lingo – WYVERN LINGO

4 Just Mustard – Wednesday

5 Kojaque – Deli Daydreams

6 The Wood Burning Savages – Stability

7 Rejjie Snow – Dear Annie

8 Spies – Constancy

9 Robert John Ardiff – Between the Bed and Room

10 Hilary Woods – Colt

Best Live Act

1 Picture This

2 U2

3 King Kong Company

4 David Keenan

5 Snow Patrol

6 Walking On Cars

7 Fontaines DC

8 Bell X1

9 Lisa Hannigan

10 Glen Hansard

Most Promising Act

1 Wild Youth

2 Dermot Kennedy

3 David Keenan

4 Saint Sister

5 Fontaines DC

6 Whenyoung

7 Chasing Abbey

8 Just Mustard

9 Touts

10 Bitch Falcon

Best Dance/Electronic

1 Le Galaxie

2 Roisin Murphy

3 Le Boom

4 Talos

5 Laoise

6 New Jackson

7 Arvo Party

8 Sunil Sharpe

9 John Daly

10 Proper Micro NV

Best Rap/Hip Hop

1 Chasing Abbey

2 Versatile

3 Kojaque

4 Rusangano Family

5 Rejjie Snow

6 JyellowL

7 Jafaris

8 Temper-Mental MissElayneous

9 Super Silly

10 Paul Alwright

Best Folk/Trad

1 Christy Moore

2 David Keenan

3 The Gloaming

4 Emma Langford

5 Finbar Furey

6 Lisa O’Neill

7 Clannad

8 Paul Brady

9 Lankum

10 John Blek

Best Songwriter

1 Hozier

2 Glen Hansard

3 David Keenan

4 U2

5 Conor J O’Brien (Villagers)

6 Damien Dempsey

7 Ryan Hennessy

8 Emma Langford

9 James Vincent McMorrow

10 Lisa O’Neill

Best Musician

1 The Edge (U2)

2 Josh McClorey (The Strypes)

3 Martin Hayes (The Gloaming)

4 Sharon Shannon

5 James Vincent McMorrow

6 Gemma Doherty (Saint Sister)

7 Robbie Malone

8 Gavin Glass

9 Sarah Michelle

10 Jeremy Hickey (RSAG)

Comedian of the Year

1 Tommy Tiernan

2 Dara Ó Briain

3 Aisling Bea

4 Jason Byrne

5 David O’Doherty

6 Dylan Moran

7 Jennifer Zamparelli

8 Alison Spittle

9 David McSavage

10 Ed Byrne

Best Radio DJ

1 Ian Dempsey

2 Jenny Greene

3 Meghann Scully

4 Eoghan McDermott

5 Paul McLoone

6 John Creedon

7 Dara Quilty

8 Tom Dunne

9 Dave Fanning

10 Kelly Anne Byrne

Best Album (International)

1 Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

2 Bruce Springsteen – Springsteen On Broadway

3 Gorillaz – The Now Now

4 St. Vincent – MassEducation

5 Jannelle Monáe – Dirty Computer

6 Various Artists – Black Panther: The Album

7 Idles – Joy As An Act Of Resistance

8 The Darkness – Live at Hammersmith

9 Nils Frahm – All Melody

10 Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar

Best Game 

(Irish and International)

1 Red Dead Redemption 2

2 FIFA 19

3 Spider-Man

4 Fortnite

5 Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Love Of The Year

1 Repealing the 8th

2 The Hot Summer

3 Re-election of Michael D

4 Blindboy

5 Wes Hoolahan