007 Year Commentary

Here is a wee summary of 2011 by month ... enjoy!

January

The year started off with What's My Name by Rihanna & Drake rising a place to #1, taking over from the X Factor winner's song When We Collide by Matt Cardle. Electronic drum & bass duo Nero made their debut with Me & You and hot tip James Blake charted with his cover of Limit To Your Love. Bruno Mars hit #1 with 2nd single Grenade on huge first week sales, and made #1 with album Doo Wops & Hooligans which went on to sell over 1 million. BBC Sound Of 2011 winner Jessie J hit #2 with debut hit single Do It Like A Dude. 2008 poll winner Adele came back with huge #2 single Rolling In The Deep and released her multi record breaking 21 album. The album has sold 3.7m copies in the UK, making it the best seller of 2011 by some way and the biggest selling January release since Arctic Monkeys in 2006 ... more Adele achievements to follow! Rapper Wretch 32 debuted with #5 hit Traktor, Britney made her comeback with #6 hit Hold It Against Me and Ke$ha got her first UK #1 with We R Who We R, albeit with a short chart run. Chase & Status hit #5 with single Blind Faith and #2 with album No More Idols. Liam Gallagher's band Beady Eye debuted with #31 single The Roller, more Gallghers later! Hotly tipped indie band The Vaccines debut single Post Break Up Sex hit #32 and Chris Brown made his comeback with top 10 hit Yeah 3X.

February

This month saw the first of the "on air on sale" releases, an optional scheme making single releases available to buy as soon as airplay started, meaning a stop to record companies holding back releases. This was later scrapped, however a big beneficiarry of this was Price Tag by Jessie J which hit #1 and went on to sell almost a million. Rapper Tinie Tempah teamed up with Ellie Goulding for top 20 hit Wonderman, Pink made #10 with Perfect and Noah & The Whale got an unexpected top 20 hit with LIFEGOESON. Rapper Chipmunk hit #2 with Champion alongside Chris Brown, Lady Gaga made her return with the iconic Born This Way single and JLS hit #8 with Eyes Wide Shut. Following a very popular Brits performance, Adele's Someone Like You hit #1 and her 21 album continued what was to be an 18 week run on top alongside debut album 19 a mainstay in the top 5. This makes Adele the only living artist to achieve 2 simultaneous top 5 albums and also the only one to have 2 singles and 2 albums in the top 5 together. Rihanna scored another top 3 hit with the controversial single S&M and Alexis Jordan got a 2nd top 10 hit with Good Girl. Jessie J hit #2 in the albums chart with Who You Are (behind you know who) and Beady Eye #3 with Different Gear, Still Speeding.

March

In March, rapper Wiz Kalifah debuted with Black & Yellow, teen star Birdy had a top 20 hit with her cover of Skinny Love and Britney struggled to #21 with Til The World Ends, just behind Olly Murs with 3rd single Heart On My Sleeve. Nicole Scherzinger got her first solo #1 with Don't Hold Your Breath and The Wanted scored a #3 hit with their Comic Relief single Gold Forever. Snoop Dogg scored a massive hit with his Felix sampling dance/rap hit Sweat and Black Eyed Peas scored a huge #3 hit with Just Can't Get Enough. Jennifer Lopez scored a huge #1 with her Lambada sampling dance hit On The Floor, becoming her biggest selling UK hit ever with sales ion excess of 750,000. Mother's Day saw big albums from the likes of Ronan Keating (with Burt Bacharach), the Overtones and X Factor's Mary Byrne. Other acts to get top 10 albums included Elbow, REM, Avril Lavigne, Overtones and Noah & The Whale, albeit with less than spectacular total sales.

April

Hotly tipped female singer Katy B hit #2 (behind Ms Adkins) in this month with her debut album On A Mission and #8 with 3rd single Broken Record. US hip hop duo hit #1 with their huge Party Rock Anthem, which went on to sell a million copies in the UK as well as being huge in the US. Arctic Monkeys made their return to the charts with the oddly titled top 30 single Don't Sit Down Cos I've Moved Your Chair. Katy Perry had another huge #3 hit with ET, Nicki Minaj scored her first UK top 30 hit with Girls Fall Like Dominos and Cee Lo Green's 3rd solo single BRight Lights, Bigger City made #13. Foo Fighters album Wasting Light made #1, temporarily halting Adele's run at #1 until it returned a week later. Beyonce made her comeback with #11 hit Run The World (Girls) and also Britian's Got Talent was responsible for Tracy Chapman's 1988 hit Fast Car achieving its highest UK peak of #4. LAdy Gaga got another top 10 hit with Judas, rappers Wretch 32 & Example teamed up on #2 hit Unorthodox and Nero scored their first top 10 hit with Guilt.

May

This is the month in which boyband Blue made their comeback with the UK Eurovision song I Can, limping to #16. French producer David Guetta made a comeback with Flo Rida and Nicki Minaj on huge #3 hit Where Them Girls At (he needs some grammar lessons me thinks). Bruno Mars made it a hat track of UK #1s as the Lazy Song climbed to #1 just before Pitbull, Neyo and Afrojack hit the top with mega hit Give Me Everything. Indie band Fleet Foxes hit #2 with their 2nd album, as did the debut from actor Hugh Lawrie and Kate Bush with Director's Cut ... behind the all concquering Adele. Swedish House Mafia made #10 with Save The World, Yasmin scored her biggest hit with Finish Line (#13) and Take That hit #15 with new single Love Love. Girl group the Saturdays hit #8 with Notorious and Alexandra Stan hit #5 with euro hit Mr Saxobeat. Chris Brown got his biggest selling single to date with #4 peaking Beautiful People, alongside Benny Benassi. Lady Gaga hit #6 with The Edge Of Glory and #13 with Hair, both "buzz" singles from her #1 album Born This Way.

June

Kelly Rowland made her return to the top 10 alongside producer Alex Gaudino on #6 hit What A Feeling, albeit only lasting a few weeks. Better fortunes were to be had from Rihanna's California King Bed which hit #8 but stuck around for a while. Example got his first UK #1 as Changed The Way You Kiss Me hit #1, ahead of Nicole Scherzinger's #3 hit Right There and Coldplay's comeback #6 single Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall. Arctic Monkeys maintained their 100% hit rate of #1 albums with Suck It & See, to be knocked off by a reissue of Take That's million selling Progress. Ed Sheeran hit #3 with his debut hit The A Team, going on to stay for 17 weeks in the top 10. Producer Calvin Harris debuted a place ahead with the Kelis featuring Bounce, both entering ahead of the #5 Tinchy Stryder and Dappy collaboration Spaceship. Jason Derulo got his 2nd #1 hit single with Don't Wanna Go Home and Alternative act Foster The People debuted in the top 30 with Pumped Up Kicks. Beyonce hit #3 with Best Thing I Never Had and hit the top with her 4th album entitled 4, both released simultaneously.

July

DJ Fresh's much delayed release of Louder saw him top the singles chart, alongside ex Kosheen singer Sian Evans, ahead of How We Roll by Loick Essien (feat Tanya Lacey). Katy Perry got herself yet another top 10 hit with the 5th single from her Teenage Dream album, entitled Last Friday Night (TGIF). Adele peaked at #11 with the 3rd single Set Fire To The Rain, from her multi-million selling album, with over 500,000 single sales. The Wanted got their biggest hit to date and 2nd #1 single with Glad You Came. David Guetta featured Taio Cruz and Ludacris on top 5 hit Little Bad Girl, Scouting For Girls got another top 20 hit Love How It Hurts and Maverick Sabre debuted with Let Me Go at #16. For the 3rd year running JLS went to #1 with the lead single from their 3rd album, She Makes Me Wanna featuring Dev. Amy Winehouse sadly died this month which resulted in her Back To Black single reaching a new peak of #8, leading her 5 consecutive top 40 entires with Love Is A Losing Game making top 40 for the first time. Amy's iconic album Back To Black also returned to #1 and debut album Frank peaked at a new high of #5.

August

Cher Lloyd became the first of 2010's X Factor conestants to get a hit single as Swagger Jagger entered straight in at #1, one of the year's many "non-#1s" - chart toppers with a very short chart run. The next was Nero who hit #1 with Promises but like Swagger Jagger could only manage a 5 week top 40 run and no place in the year end top 40, Nero's album Welcome Reality did similarly by debuting at #1 and dropping fast. Wretch 32 got his first chart topper with Don't Go, ahead of Scottish singer Emile Sande's debut hit Heaven. After several flops Maroon 5 rapidly turned their fortunes around with the release of their huge #2 hit Moves Like Jagger which went on to sell over a million, also featuring Christina Aguilera. Olly Murs got his second chart topper with lead single off album #2 Heart Skips A Beat, this may have only been #1 for a single week but has proven to have very good staying power. Will Young hit #1 with his 5th studio album Echoes and #5 with the lead single Jealousy, also after several prior flops. Nicki Minaj also hit #8 with the long running hit single Superbass.

September

Next flash in the pan #1 was Example with his 2nd of the year Stay Awake, ahead of Ed Sheeran's #4 single You Need Me, I Don't Need You. Ed hit #1 with his huge selling album +, ahead of albums from Laura Marling and the Kooks. Although yielding no top 40 singles, Red Hot Chilli Peppers got their 3rd consecutive #1 album with 10th studio album I'm With You. Joe McElderry reversed his fortunes as his Classic album hit #2, ahead of top 10 album from Bombay Bicycle Club, Lil Wayne and Dolly Parton. Pixie Lott scored her 3rd UK chart topper as All About Tonight beat off big new releases from the Saturdays (All Fired Up) and Leona Lewis (Collide), as well as M5's Moves Like Jagger which was at #2 for 7 consecutive weeks behind 6 different #1s. The next of those was One Direction with their huge debut What Makes You Beautiful, preceeding another single week #1 No Regrets by rapper Dappy (from N-Dubz). Jason Derulo's It Girl hit #4 and James Morrison made a comeback with I Won't Let You Go. Kasabian also got themselves a 3rd #1 album with Velociraptor, ahead of a second duets album by Tony Bennett.

October

As James Morrison scored his 3rd chart topper in the albums, Loca People by Sak Noel became the next of the long run of "non-#1s". As in most years X Factor was responsible for new peaks by several classic tracks, Damien Rice Cannonball (#9) and Goo Goo Dolls Iris (#3) being 2 prime examples this year. Rihanna got a 6 week (non-consecutive) run at #1 with her huge hit We Found Love, in collaboration with Calvin Harris. LMFAO got a 2nd top 10 hit with the ironically titled Sexy & I Know It, ahead of Eminem's side project Bad Meets Evil's #10 hit Lighters with Bruno Mars, who had a #11 hit Marry You. After a top 30 "buzz" single, Florence & Machine made top 20 with lead single Shake It Out and hit #1 with 2nd album Ceremonials. Newly reformed Steps hit #1 with their Ultimate Collection album, ahead of Evanescence's third album. Matt Cardle scored a top 10 hit with his first lead single, Run For Your Life penned by Gary Barow hit #6 but only lasted for 2 weeks in the top 40. His album had better fortunes, debuting at #2, behind Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds which contains the top 20 singles The Death Of You & Me and AKA What A Life ... much better than Liam's Beady Eye. The Wanted hit #2 with Lightning, Kelly Clarkson made her comeback with #5 hit Mr Know It All and Lana Del Rey debuted at #9 with piano led ballad Video Games. Justin Bieber entered at #21 with Mistletoe, yes a Christmas song in October! Professor Green topped the chart alongside Emeli Sande with Read All About It, ahead of Labrinth and Tinie Tempah's Earthquake, with the latter proving to have more longevity. Coldplay topped the album chart for the 5th time with Mylo Xyloto and single Paradise becomes chart elligible, later going on to hit #1.

November

Both JLS and One Direction released follow ups to huge chart toppers but just fell short, Take A Chance On Me was #2 for JLS and the next week Gotta Be You was #3 for 1D. Susan Boyle's 3rd album Someone To watch Over Me hit #1, as did Michael Buble's huge Christmas album with the latter going on to sell over a million in less than 2 months. Cher Lloyd's second single With Yuor Love and debut album Sticks & Stones both made #4 in the respective charts. David Guetta got himself another top 10 single with Usher, as Without You was reduced in price, a tactic which has helped many singles up the charts recently. Bruno Mars made #14 with his single It Will Rain from the Twilight sound track, ahead of Maverick Sabre's second single I Need. US rapper Flo Rida made his return with #2 hit Good Feeling, as did Drake with his biggest UK hit Take Care alongside Rihanna, album of the same name hit top 10 also. Westlife got their smallest hit as Lighthouse could only limp to #32, however despite a #40 single Snow Patrol's Fallen Empires gave them a 5th top 5 album. Pixie Lott however experienced the second album flop as her Young Foolish Happy could only limp in at #18, single What Do You Take Me For only made #10.

December

The last month has seen X factor runner up Olly Murs top the charts again with second album In Case You Didn't Know and single Dance With Me Tonight. X Factor judge Kelly Rowland scored another #6 hit, this time on her own with Down For Whatever, however her album Here I Am has flopped. After being sampled in Flo Rida's long enduring hit, producer Avicii hit #4 with Levels. Rihanna topped the album charts with talk That Talk ahead of One Directions debut, Westlife's Greatest Hits and Kate Bush's festive album. X Fator runner up Rebecca Ferguson hit #10 with single Nothing's Real But Love and #3 with album Heaven. The X Factor Finalists hit #1 but with significantly lower sales with their annual charity single, this time a cover of Wishing On A Star, featuring JLS and One Direction. Jessie J gets a 4th top 10 hit with the title track to her album Who You Are, ahead of Emeli Sande's underperforming second single Daddy at #21. US hip hop stars Lloyd and T Pain had top 10 debuts to get them their biggest UK hits. The Christmas classics made their annual chart appearence with Mariah Carey's offering peaking the highest, being overtaken by Pogues/Kirsty on the week leading up to xmas. There were also several new seasonal offerings this year with varying fortunes, from Justin Bieber, Stacey Solomon ans the cast of The Only Way Is Essex. Little Mix emerged as this year's X Factor winners and went on to inevitably top the charts, albeit on rather lower sales. However as the final was the week before Christmas there was compeittion for the Christmas #1, ultimately won by the Military Wives with Wherever You Are on sales over 500,000.