— Year-End Charts —
The Best-Selling Albums and Songs of 2011
21 took the year outright while Katy Perry ran the singles chart — the clearest albums-versus-singles split of the decade.
Artists of the Year
Top ArtistAdeleCombined albums + singles performance
Top Albums ArtistAdele
Top Singles ArtistKaty Perry
Top 10 Albums of 2011 Billboard 200
- 121Adele
- 2Speak NowTaylor Swift
- 3Born This WayLady Gaga
- 4My Kinda PartyJason Aldean
- 5The GiftSusan Boyle
- 6Tha Carter IVLil Wayne
- 7Pink FridayNicki Minaj
- 8Sigh No MoreMumford & Sons
- 9LoudRihanna
- 10Teenage DreamKaty Perry
Top 10 Songs of 2011 Hot 100
- 1Rolling in the DeepAdele
- 2Party Rock AnthemLMFAO ft. Lauren Bennett & GoonRock
- 3FireworkKaty Perry
- 4E.T.Katy Perry ft. Kanye West
- 5Give Me EverythingPitbull ft. Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer
- 6GrenadeBruno Mars
- 7Forget YouCeeLo Green
- 8Super BassNicki Minaj
- 9Moves like JaggerMaroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera
- 10Just Can’t Get EnoughThe Black Eyed Peas
What the 2011 Charts Show
- Adele held both the No. 1 album and the No. 1 song of 2011 — the rarest double on the year-end charts.
- The year split: Adele led on albums while Katy Perry led on singles.
- Speak Now placed in the year-end top 10 for a second straight year, having also charted in 2010.
How the 2011 charts were compiled
Every position here is a chart placement — measured sales, radio airplay and streaming across Billboard’s tracking year — not an editorial ranking. Albums come from the year-end Billboard 200, songs from the year-end Hot 100.
Billboard’s tracking year runs from roughly late October to mid-October rather than January to December, which is why a late-autumn release can win the following year and why a song can appear on two consecutive year-end lists.
Liner Notes
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