Neil Young's Harvest has claimed top spot in a newly released tally of the top 100 Canadian albums, besting the work of music stars like Joni Mitchell, the Band, Gordon Lightfoot and the Tragically Hip.

Nearly 600 music fans and critics, artists, retailers and other members of the industry submitted their votes for author and journalist Bob Mersereau's new book, The Top 100 Canadian Albums, released Thursday.

Mersereau, a reporter for CBC New Brunswick, acknowledged that the list will cause heated debate among music fans across the country.

"The important part is to talk about Canadian music and enjoy it," he said. "I'd be shocked if there wasn't complaints and arguments and debates."

Iconic Canadian acts pop up throughout the list, with Young making eight appearances and Mitchell, the Guess Who and Lightfoot turning up five times each.

The top 20 albums are:

  1. Harvest, Neil Young (1972)
  2. Blue, Joni Mitchell (1970)
  3. After the Gold Rush, Neil Young (1970)
  4. Music From Big Pink, the Band (1968)
  5. Fully Completely, the Tragically Hip (1992)
  6. Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette (1995)
  7. The Band, the Band (1969)
  8. Funeral, Arcade Fire (2004)
  9. Moving Pictures, Rush (1981)
  10. American Woman, the Guess Who (1970)
  11. Songs of Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen (1967)
  12. Reckless, Bryan Adams (1984)
  13. Five Days in July, Blue Rodeo (1993)
  14. Twice Removed, Sloan (1994)
  15. Up To Here, the Tragically Hip (1989)
  16. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, Neil Young with Crazy Horse (1969)
  17. 2112, Rush (1976)
  18. Court and Spark, Joni Mitchell (1974)
  19. Whale Music, Rheostatics (1992)
  20. Acadie, Daniel Lanois (1989)

Aside from Arcade Fire's eighth-place slot, other newer artists who made the cut include Broken Social Scene (No. 28 for You Forgot It in People) and Feist (No. 43 for Let It Die).

Mersereau will travel across the country to promote the new title at a series of book launches and report back about his stops via his blog on the website of his publisher, Goose Lane Editions.

With files from the Canadian Press