Wednesday 23rd November 2011 by Luke Britton | Photos by WENN.com

Tags: Kanye West

This year has, admittedly, been one dominated critically by women. Lady Gaga won basically all the good VMAs possibly (leaving just a few to seem modest), Jessie J topped the BBC Sound Poll and PJ Harvey took away the Mercury Prize.

But this doesn't mean that the men in rock and pop have been standing around twiddling their thumbs. Nope, they've been quite busy too.

The rap world has seen the two titans of hip-hop Kanye West and Jay-Z team up for 'Watch The Throne' while Odd Future's Tyler the Creator has been this year's most surprising success story.

Elsewhere in the rock game, Radiohead have dominated yet again, faced by fierce competition by the likes of The Horrors, Coldplay and Noel Gallagher.

All things electronically-tinged has been the height of fashion lately with Jamie XX and James Blake expanded the dubstep label and bringing their unique blend of the genre to the wider public's attention. Skrillex has also been making teens go wild with his onslaught of bass and beats.

But one of the most beautiful albums of the year just may have been written by one man. We're talking about Bon Iver, better known as Justin Vernon.