Best of 2011

As the year comes to an end, let's take a minute to look back on the musical standouts from 2011. While I believe it's almost impossible to create these standout lists that will appeal to almost everyone's tastes, these are ones that made the year extra special for me, and I hope that by providing you with this that they may do the same in return.

In no particular order, we have the Top 10 Albums of 2011:

Austra- Feel It Break

Foster the People- Torches

James Blake- James Blake

Fleet Foxes- Helplessness Blues

Gauntlet Hair- Gauntlet Hair

Givers- In Light

M83- Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

The Weeknd- House of Balloons

Theophilus London- Timez are Weird These Days

Youth Lagoon- The Year of Hibernation

Here are some sample tracks from the best albums above:

Most Played Track: 

Delorean - Stay Close (RAC Mix) by RAC

This year's most played track is a remix done by RAC off of the original single "Stay Close" by the Spanish band Delorean. This song will forever be associated with my semester in Barcelona in 2011 and will simultaneously remain as one of my favorite songs held dearly to my heart. I honestly don't want to know how many times I played this in the past year. Might be embarrassing, but this song is so good that I can do nothing but full-handedly own it.

Most Memorable Video:

Rihanna- We Found Love

I know. It's the "main" of "mainstream." It's Rihanna. I get it. But it also has over 85 MILLION views on YouTube, somehow gets the non-music lovers conversing about music, and it completely encapsulates today's nonchalant youth. What it is that makes being young and carefree and having zero priorities so envious and awesome is all conglomerated into this video from 2011, and you just can't deny the goodness in that... even if it is Rihanna.

What have you been listening to to get you through your year?

Until next year, jammers. Cheers!