Rolling Stone names best albums, singles and movies of 2011


“Best of” and year-end round-ups are always popular, and one featuring music and movies is always fun.

Albums of the Year

1. Adele, ‘21’
2. Jay-Z and Kanye West, ’Watch the Throne’
3. Paul Simon, ‘So Beautiful or So What’
4. Fleet Foxes, ‘Helplessness Blues’
5. Radiohead, ‘The King of Limbs’

Top 50 list:

Singles of the Year

1. Adele, ‘Rolling in the Deep’
2. Jay-Z and Kanye West, ‘Ni**as in Paris’
3. Britney Spears, ‘Till the World Ends’
4. Foo Fighters, ‘These Days’
5. Paul Simon, ‘Rewrite’

Top 50 list:

Movies of the Year

1. Drive
2. The Artist
3. The Descendants
4. Moneyball
5. Midnight in Paris

Top 10 list:

The complete lists are published in the new issue of Rolling Stone, on newsstands Friday, and online at

Categories: Trends
Kristi Gustafson Barlette

11 Responses

  1. derryX says:

    You might want to think about getting that (more…) link onto a different line than the list link…

  2. Amanda Talar says:

    I agree with all #1′s!

  3. asereht says:

    Radio stations sure know how to ruin a good thing. “Rolling in the Deep” was played to death.

  4. THE UKMA says:

    adele best album, nope
    best single, maybe
    drive, hell no as best movie
    proof positive that rolling stone has slipped down a notch in cutural awareness and significance!

  5. David Leisure says:

    Singles: 1. Not so much 2. Not in MY Paris 3. They feel bad for her 4. Its 1999 again, I guess 5. No Chevy Chase duo, no dice.

  6. ChristineV says:

    LOVE Adele!

  7. Dee says:

    I’ve never even heard of Fleet Foxes lol doesn’t mean much tho

  8. Magpies says:

    Paul Simon. Who are those other people? :-)

  9. eddie s says:

    I don’t pay any attention to most new music? any more. I used to keep the Radio on 24/7 but no longer. I don’t even own an IPOD and the live Radio is terrible it is all the same music? I mean we used to have the three chord wonders, but now we have the three word shouters who spend 3 minutes repeating the same phrase over in a whisper a yell and an unintelligle scream or long moaning sequence with various noise effects in the background. Excluding Adele, she is the “Carol King” of the 2000′s very talented woemen. The rest are mediocre to say the least, that is why Country out sells Rock or Rap, it actually has talented musicians working in the genre. What qualifies me to makee that statement, I been in three Bands over the years and I been playing guitar; lead, Rhythm, Bass and Drums for nearly 45 years.

  10. That guy with the beer gut says:

    I hate lists like these! How the eff can you compare Paul Simon and jay Z?! Total apples and oranges.

  11. MK says:

    How about not judging these lists until making a point to see the movies or listen to the music on them?

    Btw- eddie s- Fleet Foxes is considered world renowned and had the album of the year back in 2008, as named by The Times, Pitchfork Media, and Billboard which is pretty good considering their, as you call it, “long moaning sequences.”