50 Fun Facts About 2011 Music

Which British singer's Rolling in the Deep was named Billboard's number-one Hot 100 song of 2011?

Adele co-wrote it with producer Paul Epworth, reportedly in a single afternoon after a breakup, and it held number one for seven straight weeks.

Which teenage singer's debut single Friday went viral in 2011 and was widely parodied by comedians?

Rebecca Black recorded Friday with ARK Music Factory at 13, and by June 2011 its video had more than 166 million views and 3.2 million dislikes.

Which Lady Gaga single debuted at number one in February 2011 as the Hot 100's 1,000th chart-topper?

Born This Way was only the nineteenth song to enter the Hot 100 at number one, and it also opened at the top in Australia and New Zealand.

Katy Perry's Teenage Dream tied which Michael Jackson album's record of five Hot 100 number-one singles in 2011?

Bad, from 1987, had been the only album with five chart-toppers until Teenage Dream became the first by a woman to match it.

Adam Levine and Christina Aguilera, rival coaches on which TV talent show, teamed up for 2011's Moves like Jagger?

The Voice hosted the song's first performance in June 2011, and the Maroon 5 single finished ninth on Billboard's year-end Hot 100.

Which TV show's cast passed Elvis Presley in February 2011 for the most songs placed on the Billboard Hot 100?

Glee had placed eighty singles on the chart in 2010 alone, though fewer than a quarter of its entries lasted more than one week.

Which Grammy-winning singer was found dead at her home in Camden, London, in July 2011?

Amy Winehouse was 27, and her death prompted comparisons with other musicians who died at that age, known collectively as the 27 Club.

Which singer revealed her pregnancy on stage at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards after performing Love On Top?

Beyoncé's reveal set a Twitter record of 8,868 tweets per second and helped the broadcast draw 12.4 million viewers.

Which duo behind 2011's Party Rock Anthem are the son and grandson of Motown founder Berry Gordy?

LMFAO are Redfoo and his half-nephew Sky Blu, and Party Rock Anthem finished second on Billboard's year-end Hot 100 for 2011.

Far East Movement's Like a G6, one of Billboard's top songs of 2011, is named after what kind of vehicle?

A private jet: the writers were trying to outdo the Gulfstream IV, known as a G4, and only later learned that a Gulfstream G650 already existed.

Which Honolulu-raised singer topped the Hot 100 in January 2011 with Grenade and later hit with The Lazy Song?

Bruno Mars co-directed The Lazy Song's video himself, sharing the screen with five dancers in chimpanzee masks.

Which rapper sang her 2011 hit Super Bass on The Ellen DeGeneres Show with viral child duo Sophia Grace & Rosie?

Nicki Minaj saw Super Bass finish eighth on Billboard's 2011 year-end Hot 100, and Taylor Swift was among the stars who covered it.

Which rapper from Miami earned his first Hot 100 number one in 2011 with Give Me Everything?

Pitbull shared the milestone with Afrojack and Nayer, who also scored their first chart-topper; guest singer Ne-Yo already had one.

Which rapper adds two verses to the single version of Katy Perry's E.T., a 2011 Hot 100 number one?

Kanye West is absent from the album cut; the reworked single topped the Hot 100 in April 2011 and finished fourth on Billboard's year-end list.

Which pop star joined Rihanna on the 2011 remix that lifted S&M from number two to number one?

Britney Spears was the artist co-writer Ester Dean says she originally wrote S&M for, and the remix became her fifth Hot 100 chart-topper.

Which Scottish DJ produced and is featured on Rihanna's We Found Love, 2011's longest-running Hot 100 number one?

Calvin Harris saw the track spend ten non-consecutive weeks on top, overtaking Umbrella as the Barbadian singer's longest-running number one.

Which Gnarls Barkley singer climbed to number two in 2011 with a hit retitled Forget You for radio?

CeeLo Green sent the song back up the chart by performing it at the Grammys with Gwyneth Paltrow and a troupe of Jim Henson Company puppets.

Which Los Angeles band broke through in 2011 with Pumped Up Kicks, written by its frontman while a jingle writer?

Foster the People watched the song sit at number three for eight straight weeks; its frontman had written and recorded it in five hours.

Which group behind the 2011 hit Just Can't Get Enough headlined the Super Bowl XLV halftime show that February?

The Black Eyed Peas brought out Slash and Usher as guests during their halftime medley.

Which singer, new to the American Idol judging panel, premiered her On the Floor video on an episode in March 2011?

Jennifer Lopez built the track around a melody best known from Kaoma's 1989 hit Lambada, and it finished eleventh on Billboard's 2011 year-end list.

Which 2011 chart-topper became the first ballad with only vocals and piano to reach number one on the Hot 100?

Someone Like You was written at a piano with co-writer Dan Wilson, who also plays the only instrument heard on the record.

Which country trio won Record and Song of the Year for Need You Now at the Grammys held in February 2011?

Lady Antebellum took home five awards that night, and the trio's Just a Kiss went on to rank among Billboard's top songs of 2011.

Which jazz bassist beat Justin Bieber to the Best New Artist Grammy in a February 2011 upset?

Esperanza Spalding found the double bass at a performing arts high school, having played oboe and clarinet as a child.

Which Montreal indie band surprised viewers at the 2011 Grammys when The Suburbs won Album of the Year?

Arcade Fire beat albums by Eminem and Lady Gaga to the top prize, then added Juno and Brit awards for the same record.

Wiz Khalifa's 2011 number one Black and Yellow pays tribute to the colors of which hometown city?

Pittsburgh has black and gold as its official colors, shared by its football, hockey and baseball teams, and the rapper bought a car to match.

Which veteran rapper joins Lil Wayne as a guest on Chris Brown's 2011 hit Look at Me Now?

Busta Rhymes appears with his co-stars in a graffiti-covered parking garage in the video, and the single finished 21st on Billboard's 2011 year-end Hot 100.

Which young star raps a verse on Justin Bieber's Never Say Never, the title song of the singer's 2011 concert film?

Jaden Smith was the lead in the 2010 remake of The Karate Kid, which used the track as its theme song before the concert film borrowed the title.

Which Disney Channel star fronted the Scene, the band behind the 2011 hits Who Says and Love You Like a Love Song?

Selena Gomez premiered the Who Says video on Disney Channel, and Love You Like a Love Song later earned the band its first MTV Video Music Award nomination.

Which boy band, formed on The X Factor, released the debut single What Makes You Beautiful in September 2011?

One Direction took the song to number one in the UK and later performed it at the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.

Which Swedish streaming service, built as a legal alternative to piracy, launched in the United States in July 2011?

Spotify had been running in several European markets since October 2008 before founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon took it across the Atlantic.

Which band from Athens, Georgia, announced in September 2011 that it was calling it a day after 31 years?

R.E.M. bowed out amicably, three decades after forming as University of Georgia students; Losing My Religion had been its highest-charting hit.

Which band's 360° Tour ended in July 2011 as the highest-grossing concert tour in history up to that time?

U2 sold $736 million of tickets, overtaking the Rolling Stones' previous record, and kept the title until 2019.

Which French DJ's 2011 album Nothing but the Beat produced the hits Without You, Turn Me On and Titanium?

David Guetta filled the album with guest singers, among them Usher on Without You and Sia on Titanium.

Which country star scored 2011 crossover hits with the country-rap Dirt Road Anthem and the duet Don't You Wanna Stay?

Jason Aldean was not the first to record Dirt Road Anthem: its writers Colt Ford and Brantley Gilbert had each cut their own version.

Which ballad took the sibling country trio The Band Perry into the pop top 20 and onto Billboard's 2011 year-end chart?

If I Die Young was written by the trio's singer Kimberly Perry, who performed alongside her brothers Neil and Reid.

Which British singer topped the BBC's Sound of 2011 poll and scored a worldwide hit with Price Tag?

Jessie J also won the Critics' Choice Brit Award that year, and Price Tag, with a guest verse from B.o.B, went to number one in the UK.

Which Katy Perry hit, third on Billboard's 2011 year-end Hot 100, had a video dedicated to the It Gets Better Project?

Firework came with a Dave Meyers video shot in Budapest, showing youngsters gaining confidence in themselves.

Which smooth-jazz saxophonist mimes a rooftop solo as an uncle in Katy Perry's 2011 video for Last Friday Night?

Kenny G only mimed: he did not play on the actual recording, and the video's house band was the pop-rock trio Hanson.

Rihanna's What's My Name?, a top-20 song of 2011, gave which Canadian rapper his first Hot 100 number one?

Drake took the guest spot on the second single from the album Loud, which jumped to number one in only its third week on the chart.

Which veteran beach-song singer, an idol of the song's co-writer, guests on Zac Brown Band's 2011 hit Knee Deep?

Jimmy Buffett, of Margaritaville fame, joined because co-writer Wyatt Durrette was a fan, and the single ranked 80th on Billboard's 2011 year-end Hot 100.

Lil Wayne's 2011 hit 6 Foot 7 Foot is built on a sample of which Harry Belafonte calypso classic?

Banana Boat Song, also known as Day-O, supplied the hook for the first single the rapper recorded after his release from prison in November 2010.

Lupe Fiasco's 2011 hit The Show Goes On borrows the melody of its hook from which Modest Mouse song?

Float On was close enough that Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock and two bandmates were credited as co-writers of the rap hit.

Which singer sang the hooks on both Coming Home and I Need a Doctor, two rap hits on Billboard's 2011 year-end chart?

Skylar Grey also co-wrote Coming Home, and sang it live on American Idol in March 2011.

Which pop star co-wrote Till the World Ends, a 2011 top-five hit for another singer, with Dr. Luke and Max Martin?

Kesha later added new vocals of her own to the song's Femme Fatale Remix, the version that carried the single into the top five.

Which Taylor Swift single from 2011, written as an answer to her detractors, went on to win two Grammys?

Mean won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance, and some critics heard it as an anti-bullying anthem.

Which singer broke through in 2011 with Video Games, editing its video herself from webcam clips and archive footage?

Lana Del Rey saw the homemade clip go viral, which won her a record deal, and the song later took an Ivor Novello Award.

Which E Street Band saxophonist, who died in June 2011, plays the solo on Lady Gaga's The Edge of Glory?

Clarence Clemons, known as The Big Man, got the call because Gaga wanted the sound of Bruce Springsteen's band on the track.

Edward Maya's accordion-led Stereo Love, one of Billboard's top songs of 2011, came from which European country?

Romania had not sent a bigger hit to America: Stereo Love peaked at number 16 on the Hot 100, the best showing by a song from the country up to then.

Which rap-rock group fronted by Travie McCoy reached number four on the Hot 100 in 2011 with Stereo Hearts?

Gym Class Heroes formed after their singer met drummer Matt McGinley in a high school gym class, and Stereo Hearts opens with a hook sung by Maroon 5's frontman.

Lady Gaga performed You and I at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards in drag as which male alter ego?

Jo Calderone opened with a lovesick monologue before the song, and the cigarette-smoking character also appears on the single's cover.