U2 top Rolling Stone magazine 2014 album list

U2's controversial album Songs Of Innocence has topped Rolling Stone magazine's Albums of the Year poll.

The Irish rockers sparked controversy in September (14) after making make their new record available for free as an automatic download to half a billion Apple users, but it appears the gamble has paid off.

Rolling Stone editors insist, "There was no bigger album of 2014."

Songs of Innocence beat Bruce Springsteen's High Hopes and The Black Keys' Turn Blue to land the top spot, while St. Vincent's eponymous album and Miranda Lambert's Platinum complete the top five.

Charli XCX's Sucker, Lana Del Rey's Ultraviolence, Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels, Salad Days by Mac DeMarco and Taylor Swift's 1989 make it to the top 10.

Beyonce's Drunk in Love has been named Single of the Year by the magazine, ahead of Turn Down for What by DJ Snake and Lil Jon and U2's Every Breaking Wave.

U2's successes will be a tonic for frontman Bono, who was forced to sit out recent promotional appearances and a World AIDS Day gig in New York's Times Square after injuring himself in a bicycle fall in Central Park last month (Nov14).

Meanwhile, the publication's revered film critic Peter Travers has named Boyhood the Movie of the Year, ahead of Birdman, Foxcatcher, Selma and Gone Girl.