Top 25 Pop Songs of 2011

2011 didn’t turn out like it was supposed to.

It was supposed to be the year that the electro-Europop ushered in by Lady Gaga completed its rise to total airwave domination. It was supposed to be the year hip-hop gave up trying to be as relevant as it was in the ’00s. It was supposed to be the year rock staged a comeback. But none of those things happened.

Sure, electro-Europop was big, but it came via Rihanna and Britney Spears. Gaga had moved on already. While hip-hop is struggling to have as many big hits as it did five years ago, Kanye, Jay-Z, Drake, Nicki Minaj and Donald Glover continue to push the boundaries of what we expect of the genre. The biggest surprise of 2011, however, was the explosion of soul and folk music. Parents bought Adele’s 21 at Wal-Mart while their kid’s downloaded “Rolling in the Deep” for their iPod. British folk quartet Mumford & Sons not only landed a top 40 hit, but their two-year-old album rose to No. 2 in the album charts. Bon Iver shared Grammy nomination categories with Katy Perry and Bruno Mars.