Section 1 – General

Well, well, well. After nearly 9 months and 686 votes there was literally nothing between Chorus and The Innocents with both albums receiving 185 each. Poll 2003-04 winner Erasure slips to third with I Say I Say I Say in fourth spot. In fact, in all previous polls, these four albums have made up the top four every time. Few surprises are to be found at the bottom of the table, except that someone voted for Other People's Songs (surely not?!).

For the third time, A Little Respect come out on top in the Favourite Song category, comfortably seeing off the only other previous winner in this category Always. Drama!, which was the runner-up last time out, falls down to joint 6th. Hideaway is the highest charting non-single in 8th, whilst Breathe is the only song from the 21st century to make the top 25. Personally, I was surprised to see the brilliant Waiting For The Day only chart at a lowly #43.

A resounding and utterly warranted victory for Crackers International in this new category, with the Christmas themed EP from 1988 gaining half of all votes. No surprise to see the band's only #1 single ABBA-esque in second place, leaving the remaining EPs to fight it out for the remaining 23% of the votes. Some of you may have noticed EPs that were part of other singles (such as Am I Right? and I Love Saturday) were not eligible to be voted for.

Having won two out of the three previous polls, Don't Suppose climbs back to the summit with a clear victory over previous winner Tenderest Moments. The top 5 remains largely unchanged with La La La returning to the top 10 after failing to make the grade last time out. I class When I Needed You as an album track (I guess technically it started as a b-side) – for the purists who disagree, it received 39 votes which would put it in second place.

Another new category for Poll 2012-13 sees Piano Song – Instrumental voted as the best instrumental. I can't help wondering if the margin of its victory is down to more people being familiar with it than its rivals. I am pleased to see my personal favourites Tragic, Jacques Cousteau and Tomorrow's World in the top 10. Technically some of these tracks do have some limited vocals... but I'll overlook this just this once!

As per usual, the excellent I Say I Say I Say artwork destroys the competition, gaining almost twice as many votes as its nearest rival. The three singles from this album also all make the top 15. The Chorus album always makes the top 3 as well although it's nice to see a new entry in the form of the fine Tomorrow's World artwork. The only album sleeve not to receive a solitary vote was The Two Ring Circus.

Three out of four wins for A Little Respect in this category with the ever popular Always not far behind in second place. Joint Poll 2003-04 winner Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me) continues to fall down the list and now charts at a lowly 10th place. Not sure how Blue Savannah got so many votes (I've always found it cringe-worthy), although the solitary vote for Onge's Be With You video did put a smile on my face (thank you, whoever you are)!

Another new category and another clear winner, with the The Tank, The Swan & The Balloon receiving a massive 42% of the total votes. It's nice to see many releases from the 21st century faring well, which can't be said for many of the other categories in this poll. Not really sure why seven people chose to vote for ABBA-esque – all the videos are found on other releases along with far more content.

Ever since it's release in 2003, Solsbury Hill has always won this category and this time is no exception. The top three remain unchanged with previous runner-up Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me) continuing to drop down the table. As previously, a couple of b-sides make the grade and all the ABBA covers are present and correct, unlike all tracks from Other People's Songs – Walking In The Rain didn't receive a single vote.

We have a new winner! William Orbit's Supernature mix takes the crown as the best remix, jumping up from third place last time out. The top three remain unchanged although there are a lot new entries in the top 10 this time around. By-and-large, these remixes are extended/12" mixes, which makes it all the more disappointing that from 1994-2007 Mute commissioned a load of dire club mixes instead of giving the fans what they like best.

For the first time users were allowed to vote for their favourite tour and it's little surprise that the spectacular Phantasmagorical Entertainment gained the most votes. It's interesting to see both tours from 2011 make the top 5 – is it because the band is getting stronger as a live act as time goes on or is it because these are most recent concerts in most people's memories? I'll leave you to make up your own mind on that one...

Business as usual in this category as the misunderstood Loveboat tops the chart for the third successive time, with little movement to be found elsewhere. The top five are all from the 21st century, with new entry Tomorrow's World in fourth spot. That seems harsh to me – and the relatively few votes for The Two Ring Circus, which is basically a remix/unplugged album hybrid, also feels unjust to me.

La Gloria always tops this particular poll and so it proves again with Sixty-Five Thousand once more in the runners-up spot. I really don't understand the disdain for You've Got To Save Me Right Now which is a new entry in third place, or how the awful Video Killed The Radio Star isn't much higher up on the table. Likewise, how can the fine The Circus make the top 15, when the weak 91 Steps does not? Can you tell I don't agree with these results?!

After receiving the least amount of votes in the Favourite EP category, Moon & The Sky Plus now receives the most amount of votes in the Least Favourite EP category. I think that's a pretty comprehensive condemnation of that release then! But these results aren't simply a reversal of the Favourite EP ones; Rain Plus has come 6th in both categories, demonstrating that EP generates very little positive, or negative, passion from the fans.

I can't think of a more worthy "winner" in this new category than Star – a video so cheap and nasty it does no justice to its song whatsoever. I don't share the dislike for the Heavenly Action video though, which is the runner-up in this category. Quite a few videos seem to polarise opinion – Blue Savannah, Always and Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me) all made the top 10 in the Favourite Music Video chart but are present here also.

Having not made the top 10 last time out Hideaway makes up for it by topping the table this time around, leaving Save Me Darling in a distant second place. In general, this is a great list of tracks, all of which would've made worthy singles (except for When I Needed You which has never resonated with me). The 37 votes for previous winner Phantom Bride weren't counted as technically this song was finally released as a single in 2009.

Twice in a row Stay With Me gets the most votes in this category. I don't believe this is a reflection of this song's quality (it's great!) but ballads don't tend to set the charts alight and so it proved with this song. The top three remain the same, albeit in a different order with poor old Freedom once again showing its not a fans' favourite. Few songs listed here were hits – but inexplicably Solsbury Hill and Ship Of Fools make the top 15.

Section 2 – Album Ratings

For this category, fans were invited to rank each album out of 10 with the average scores listed above as a percentage. We now finally have something to separate The Innocents and Chorus after they were tied in the Favourite Album category... even if it is just 0.1%! Wild! ranks higher than expected, especially as it is home to La Gloria, which tops the Least Favourite Song chart. Score-wise, the bottom three are well adrift from the other albums.

Section 3 – About You

As is the norm, male fans vastly outnumber female fans, this time by 4-to-1. That said, the percentage of female fans has grown slightly since the last poll – but it hasn't really changed the complexion of the result a great deal!

With little in the way of hit singles for some time, it's no real surprise that the average age of the fan base is increasing, with few new young fans discovering the band. The thirty-somethings now make up over half of all fans, down from over two-thirds previously.

Despite far more people participating in this poll compared to previously, the results remain pretty much as they were with the band's first hit single in Sometimes coming out on top. Always is the most recent song here again – next is Breathe well down the list in 19th place. The highest ranked album track is Hideaway in 17th.

Us Erasure fans are a loyal bunch aren't we – debut album Wonderland was the first album for over a quarter of people and while it didn't set the charts alight it did result in several life-long fans. Four of the next five albums topped the UK album charts, but welcome aboard to handful of fans who didn't discover the band until the turn of the century.

The usual suspects take the top two spots (as they always have) with a familiar looking top six also. A few artists return to a list pretty much comprised of golden oldies – the youngest artist to feature is Lady Gaga, but she is well down the rankings in 19th place.