2011 was certainly a topsy-turvy year for the world, but the entertainment world also had its fair share of big events and even bigger surprises. Join the Clarion this week as we present a look back at the 11 best (and biggest) events to hit the world of music, movies, TV and gadgets, and be sure to pick up the Clarion next week for our 2012 preview!
11. Adele rules the billboard charts with LP and single
Remember last summer when you couldn’t touch the radio dial without hearing Adele croon, “I’m rolling in the deep”? That’s because her single was listed as number-one on the Billboard chart for eight consecutive weeks and ranked within the top ten for an additional eight weeks. And just as “Rolling in the Deep” was no stranger to the Billboard chart, Adele’s album 21 was officially the highest grossing album of the year, selling 5.82 million copies in 2011.
10. ‘The Artist’ hearkens back to bygone era of silent film
With big-budget, CGI-heavy movies topping the box office charts in 2011, a silent film such as “The Artist” generating as much Oscar buzz as it has is truly a noteworthy event for followers of cinema. Featuring stand-out (but quiet) performances from its French stars, Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, and with fantastic direction from Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist” has received rave reviews and is likely to have a strong showing at this year’s Academy Awards.
9. ‘Breaking Bad’ amps up the awesome
In 2011, fans of Breaking Bad were not disappointed as the high-stakes fourth season came to its showdown conclusion. This show has been raved about for each year it has been on television, blasting down barriers with its intriguing story, only improving as the stories and characters have grown more and more complex. The show is now available in its entirety for instant streaming on Netflix, so there’s no reason you shouldn’t be prepared for its fifth and final season set for 2012.
8. ‘Call of Duty’ and ‘Battlefield 3′ blast it out on consoles
In a battle between the battle-simulators, EA’s “Battlefield 3” and Activision’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” being released within weeks of one another was arguably the biggest event in gaming last year. With “Battlefield” featuring more tactical, realistic game-play and “Modern Warfare” serving as an outlet for the more casual gamer, this proved to be a truly massive showdown in the world of gaming, with the two games together raking in more than $1 billion over the course of just a few weeks. “Modern Warfare” eventually proved to be the winner in terms of sales, but “Battlefield” did take a healthy chunk of Activision’s market share, proving that competition truly does breed innovation – first-person shooters have never been better.
7. ‘The Big Bang Theory’ becomes TV’s most-watched comedy
Despite being focused on a rag-tag, nerdy group of geniuses, the quirky comedic slapstick mood of this show has appeal for almost any viewer, which was proven as The Big Bang Theory became TV’s most-watched comedy in 2011. The merging of several different personalities is a wonderful recipe for conflict and humor. The show also manages to include shenanigans ranging from top-secret government toilets to deciding the chain of command in a game of paintball, making The Big Bang Theory a relaxing and satisfying comedic outlet.
6. The Beach Boys release ‘Smile Sessions,’ announce 50th anniversary tour
2011 wasn’t just a huge year for female pop artists. The Beach Boys, one of the ‘60s most legendary groups, came back (finally) with its follow-up to 1966’s Pet Sounds, in the form of a box set known as The Smile Sessions. While receiving much critical and commercial acclaim, the Boys didn’t just stop there, and last month announced that they would be returning with a bang in 2012 with a brand new record and a massive, 50-date, 50th-anniversary tour. As one of the true founding artists of America’s pop-rock movement, The Beach Boys truly recall a bygone era in American music, and it will be interesting to see how (or whether) the band’s carefree sound has been changed by the tides of history.
5. U2’s ‘360′ Tour breaks ticket-sale records
U2’s famous tour first made headlines for its unique, UFO-like 360° stage set-up and later for its partial postponement in North America due to Bono’s back injury and need for spinal surgery. However, by its conclusion, the tour’s true effect was economic, breaking records for ticket sales (over seven million) and gross income (over $700 million). In an era of dying record companies and waning CD sales, a group that can still sell-out stadiums on a nightly basis shows that life and promise still exist in the ever-uncertain music industry.
4. The Royal Wedding breaks online streaming record
Whether you think the extreme hype surrounding the marriage of Kate Middleton and Prince William was ridiculous or not, the fact that wedding coverage of the Western world’s only remaining monarchy broke the record for most simultaneous online streams (over 70 million) truly says something about the modern world. A love for technology doesn’t necessarily entail a rejection of history, and in 2011, the digital, historical, antiquated and instant, all, for a brief moment, became one.
3. Katy Perry ties Michael Jackson’s single record
Move over, MJ: there’s a new King (or Queen) of Pop around. 2011 was an incredible year for Katy Perry, whose 2010 record Teenage Dream became the second record in history (after Michael Jackson’s Bad) to generate five U.S. Hot 100 hits. Her record-breaking year didn’t end with sharing the stage with MJ, however; the pop singer became the first to spend a consecutive 52 weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard singles chart. Love her or hate her, such numbers are impressive, and it would have been almost impossible to spend 2011 without hearing one of Perry’s infectious modern pop jams.
2. It all ends with “Deathly Hallows: Part Two”
Grossing over $1 billion in ticket sales, and breaking records for the biggest opening weekend, “Deathly Hallows: Part 2” reminded us just how much time had passed since the series began ten years ago. The Boy Who Lived had become a man, the Dark Lord had indeed risen again and Ron and Hermione finally kind of liked each other. Unlike “Deathly Hallows: Part 1,” which was a meandering trek, “Part 2” was a slam-bang action adventure, complete with bank heists, explosions and the climactic showdown between Harry and Voldemort. The parting shot of the trio sending their own kids off to Hogwarts served as a bittersweet reminder that the magic had, at last, come to an end.
1. Steve Jobs Dies at 56
With the world of entertainment changing so rapidly, it would be remiss to forget the man whose inventions and innovations had a critical hand in catalyzing these changes in the first place. With iTunes and the iPod, Jobs revolutionized the music industry in profound ways that will be felt for decades to come. With the iPhone and its App store, Jobs broke down the barriers between communication, productivity, computing and entertainment, and erased our prior beliefs about what a phone could, and should, do. Perhaps most importantly of all, Jobs, who built Apple from a niche-based computing firm into one of the most profitable companies in the world, truly exemplified the American spirit. He reminded us that with the right mix of innovation and determination, the seemingly impossible can become anything but. Such a living message, in this time of economic insecurity and dwindling innovation, might prove to be Jobs’ greatest contribution of all.
By: Christian Allen (Entertainment editor), Gigi Peccolo (Staff writer), Makayla Cisneros (Staff writer) and Janay Wright (Contributing writer). Photos courtesy of Collider.com, ClaytonMorrissey.com, KonsoleKingz.com, MikesBloggityBlog.com, Spokenword.ac.uk, Erati.com, TotallyCoolPix.com and Apple.com.
