The numbers

The scale

Every review gets two numbers: a score from 1.0 to 10.0, one decimal, and a skip count. Like this: 9.4 / 1 SKIP.

Every rating is a record as a record — not a playlist, not a singles chart, not a mood. You listen through. Every track you would reach over and skip gets counted, and we tell you which one and why.

• 1.0–3.9

  The skip wins. You put it down and you do not owe it another night.

• 4.0–6.9

  A record with a case. Some nights it holds. You might stay; you might not.

• 7.0–8.9

  You stay. You might argue for it. The album is doing the work of an album.

• 9.0–9.9

  Close enough to start a fight. Still not Certified. A 9.4 never gets the seal.

• 10.0

  With 0 skips, this is Certified #NoSkipper, the only rating that carries the seal on the lower-right corner of the sleeve. Not 9.9. Not “basically a ten.” Ten means ten, and it needs 0 skips too.

Certified #NoSkipper = 10.0 AND 0 skips. The Nation can argue a 9.4 until morning. The corner stays empty.