Note: a lot of chart positions are based on Wikipedia, and thus may be inaccurate.

 

1 – Jessie J. The winner of the Critics’ Choice BRIT Award, Jessie J scored 5 top 20 hits in 2011 – Do It Like A Dude (#2 in January, having reached #25 in 2010), Price Tag (#1 in February, also a top 10 hit in 21 other countries), Nobody’s Perfect (#9 in May), Who’s Laughing Now (#16 in September), Who You Are (#8 in December having originally charted at #40 in March). She also featured on James Morrison’s Up (which charted at #48 earlier this month), and has just charted with Domino (at #54), which has been top 5 in Australia and New Zealand. The album Who You Are was released in February and reached #2 (also reaching the top 5 in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Denmark).

 

2 – James Blake. Already a #47 hit, Limit To Your Love re-charted at #39 in January, and reached the top 5 in Flanders and Denmark. Follow-up The Wilhelm Scream only charted at #136. His self-titled album was released in February, reaching #9 in the UK, and #1 in Flanders. The album was nominated for the Mercury Prize.

 

3 – The Vaccines. The Vaccines reached #32 in February with Post Break-Up Sex and #53 in March with If You Wanna. They missed the top 75 with their next 2 hits Norgaard (#84) and Wetsuit/Tiger Blood (#164). The album What Did You Expect From The Vaccines was released in March and reached #4.

 

4 – Jamie Woon. Charted in 2010 with Night Air (#67), but did not reach the top 75 in 2011, coming close with Lady Luck (#76). He has however reached the top 5 in Flanders and Denmark. The album Mirrorwriting was released in April, reaching #15 (it also reached the top 20 in Flanders, Denmark and Norway).

 

5 – Clare Maguire. The Last Dance reached #23 in March (and #3 in Denmark), with follow-up The Shield And The Sword reaching #91. The album Light After Dark was released in February, reaching #7.

 

Anna Calvi – her self-titled album was released in January, reaching #40 in the UK (and being nominated for the Mercury Prize), and reached the top 10 in Flanders.

 

Daley – having featured on Gorillaz’s #37 hit Doncamatic in 2010, Daley did not chart in 2011. He featured on Wretch 32’s album track Long Way Home.

 

Esben & The Witch – the album Violet Cries was released in January, reaching #13 on the Indie Chart.

 

Jai Paul – single BTSTU reached #139 in May.

 

Mona – their self-titled album was released in May, reaching #39.

 

Nero – had one of the first new hits of 2011 with Me And You (#15), then followed it up with Guilt (#8 in May), Promises (a low-selling #1 in August), and Crush On You (#32 in October), and Reaching Out (#92). The album Welcome Reality was released in August, and was a low-selling #1 one week after Promises reached #1 in the Singles Chart.

 

The Naked & Famous – Young Blood reached #64 in March (and #1 in their native New Zealand). Follow-up Punching In A Dream reached #139. The album Passive Me, Aggressive You was released in September, reaching #25 in the UK and #1 in New Zealand.

 

Warpaint – album The Fool reached #41 in October 2010.

 

Wretch 32 – had 3 top 5 hits in 2011: Traktor (#5 in January), Unorthodox (#2 in April), and Don’t Go (#1 in August). However Forgiveness only reached #49 in December. He was also part of The Collective, who reached #24 with Teardrop. The album Black & White was released in August, reaching #4.

 

Yuck – their self-titled album was released in February, reaching #62.

 

Artists who did not make the Sound of 2011 list but did hve success in 2011:

 

Birdy

Ed Sheeran

Loick Essien

Maverick Sabre

Rizzle Kicks

Not a good year chartwise for debuting acts really was it (compared to usual at least), it was definitely more the year of the unexpectedly huge comeback from artists who one assumed had had their day!

 

Kudos to Ed Sheeran though for being by far the biggest new act of the year that wasn't on here. How he didn't make it onto the list I have no idea what with the increasing hype that even I noticed building around him from as far back as early 2010.

If I recall correctly The Naked And Famous' debut single here was Punching In A Dream, not Young Blood. I prefer PIAD personally but that's clearly an unpopular opinion as Young Blood was the bigger hit by far (though neither can really be described as hits, at least not in the UK :P)

Jessie J obviously flattened the rest of the top 5, Vaccines followed White Lies in 2009 in having a decent-selling album and being big on the festival circuit. However, I think they're in a better position for Album #2 than White Lies were around "Ritual".

The Vaccines really surprised me. I assumed they'd début high and then bomb but they actually sold fairly well in the long run, even if they made the album dirt cheap really quickly. They were lucky to have R1 support but for an act like that to get a Gold album in 2011 is quite something.

Jessie J the only clear success from any of the longlist, and probably the biggest new star of the year (Ed Sheeran would come close though. asides from that, very little success within the top 5, James Blake and The Vaccines have done very well considering their type of music isn't the most popular these days

Jessie J the only clear success from any of the longlist, and probably the biggest new star of the year (Ed Sheeran would come close though. asides from that, very little success within the top 5, James Blake and The Vaccines have done very well considering their type of music isn't the most popular these days

 

Wretch 32 and Nero have both done quite well for themselves too - Nero went to #1 on both charts (albeit with low sales and awful chart runs) as well as getting 2 other reasonably big top 15 hits, Wretch 32 had 3 top 5 hits including a #1 (this one with pretty decent sales :P) and a fairly big top 5 album which is pretty much the most a rapper can hope for unless their name is Eminem or Tinie Tempah.

 

The rest haven't done great apart from The Vaccines' album though.

Edited December 27, 201113 yr by Coldbray

Wretch 32 and Nero have both done quite well for themselves too - Nero went to #1 on both charts (albeit with low sales and awful chart runs) as well as getting 2 other reasonably big top 15 hits, Wretch 32 had 3 top 5 hits including a #1 (this one with pretty decent sales :P) and a fairly big top 5 album which is pretty much the most a rapper can hope for unless their name is Eminem or Tinie Tempah.

 

The rest haven't done great apart from The Vaccines' album though.

 

I was referring to just within the top 5 :P but yes, of course they have both done better than probably all of the top 5 bar Jessie J, The Vaccines have sold more albums granted, but haven't had great singles success

The Vaccines did well this year, their album is great and really catchy!

Ed Sheeran was excluded because of such hype, if he'd been included in the list and won, people would complain that it was too obvious and that he'd be huge in 2011 regardless of the list. You could say the same for acts like Jessie J, I guess, but Sheeran had released 6/7 EPs of songs before the Sound of 2011 nominations were even revealed.

 

Jessie J, Wretch 32, Nero and The Vaccines have done the best from that list clearly, Anna Calvi's debut was very well received, as was James Blake; both nominated for the Mercury Prize. Clare Maguire didn't do as well as I'd hoped actually, reckon it was the wrong time of the year for her to release 'Light After Dark', especially as the album sounds very Christina Perri - whose success wasn't until later in the year.

 

As for Daley and Esben & the Witch - neither have made any attempt to release anything to the public. Daley has made some album appearances, but unlike Delilah (another who didn't make the list), seems to be taking his time releasing own material. The Naked & Famous and Warpaint have both been focused on touring, rather than releasing music - I've seen both at festivals/gigs and both were deserving of the nomination.

If I recall correctly The Naked And Famous' debut single here was Punching In A Dream, not Young Blood. I prefer PIAD personally but that's clearly an unpopular opinion as Young Blood was the bigger hit by far (though neither can really be described as hits, at least not in the UK :P)

 

"Young Blood" was released before PIAD in September 2010.

 

Ed Sheeran was excluded because of such hype, if he'd been included in the list and won, people would complain that it was too obvious and that he'd be huge in 2011 regardless of the list. You could say the same for acts like Jessie J, I guess, but Sheeran had released 6/7 EPs of songs before the Sound of 2011 nominations were even revealed.

 

Surely the same applies to Skrillex for the 2012 list?

I'm still annoyed Jessie J won.It was the critical press that started the ball rolling on her.

 

Warpaint- Undertow

Clare Maguire- Ain't Nobody, Shield and the Sword, The Last Dance

James Blake- Limit to your Love, Wilhelm Scream

Yuck- Get Away

The Naked and the Famous- Young Blood

Nero- Crush on You

 

All individually better than Jessie J's collective output.

 

Yes, I don't like Jessie J and her weird performance style and her pedestrian song writing. :no:

I'm still annoyed Jessie J won.It was the critical press that started the ball rolling on her.

 

Warpaint- Undertow

Clare Maguire- Ain't Nobody, Shield and the Sword, The Last Dance

James Blake- Limit to your Love, Wilhelm Scream

Yuck- Get Away

The Naked and the Famous- Young Blood

Nero- Crush on You

 

All individually better than Jessie J's collective output.

 

Yes, I don't like Jessie J and her weird performance style and her pedestrian song writing. :no:

 

THIS.

 

Essentially Jessie J is a slutty, dull Clare Maguire.

Surely the same applies to Skrillex for the 2012 list?

I agree, and on a much bigger scale then Ed too. Massive hype (not just here either, internationally) and he's MASSIVE over the internet. He's just not had much commercial success yet.

THIS.

 

Essentially Jessie J is a slutty, dull Clare Maguire.

 

Except she doesn't sound like a foghorn.

The small list of acts they missed shows just how shocking a year it was for new acts being promoted. A diabolical state.

Except she doesn't sound like a foghorn.

 

She sounds like the sound effects on an electric keyboard a lot of the time which is why I think she didn't benefit from her TOTP performance as much as we would have expected. 6 million people hearing her do impressions of a coin plopping into water at the end of her sentences. :huh:

Ed Sheeran was excluded because of such hype, if he'd been included in the list and won, people would complain that it was too obvious and that he'd be huge in 2011 regardless of the list. You could say the same for acts like Jessie J, I guess, but Sheeran had released 6/7 EPs of songs before the Sound of 2011 nominations were even revealed.

 

Jessie J, Wretch 32, Nero and The Vaccines have done the best from that list clearly, Anna Calvi's debut was very well received, as was James Blake; both nominated for the Mercury Prize. Clare Maguire didn't do as well as I'd hoped actually, reckon it was the wrong time of the year for her to release 'Light After Dark', especially as the album sounds very Christina Perri - whose success wasn't until later in the year.

 

As for Daley and Esben & the Witch - neither have made any attempt to release anything to the public. Daley has made some album appearances, but unlike Delilah (another who didn't make the list), seems to be taking his time releasing own material. The Naked & Famous and Warpaint have both been focused on touring, rather than releasing music - I've seen both at festivals/gigs and both were deserving of the nomination.

 

I may be wrong, but I don't think Ed Sheeran was excluded because of hype. Because there was not much. The blogsphere (usually a very good indicator) had literally nothing on him. He was good mates with Example etc. and that's what got him noticed to begin with. He sort of slipped under the radar, even when he released that EP he didn't have that much hype!

Ed Sheeran wasn't excluded because of hype, but more because he was just another of the evergreen ten-a-penny underground acoustic artists this time last year. There was nothing at all to suggest he'd cross over and actually become a success.

 

And Tom, Jessie hasn't got the slightest similarity to Clare Maguire? :lol: They look vaguely similar but that's about it, their music couldn't be further apart!