Eric's Top Songs of 2011

An exciting and memorable 2011 has ended, and in honor of remembering the good times and preserving those memories in the future (and building my end-of-year music shopping list), it's time for my annual countdown show. I admit that I initially wasn't very excited about putting this list together; I thought most of my heavily-used playlists from this year's training runs and commutes were overwhelmingly last year's stellar songs. But as I actually sat down and put the list together, I realized that 2011 was another great year for music.

Before going through the list, I need to give a shout-out to Spotify, whose 2011 U.S. release made discovering and listening to music (and making this list) much easier.  By allowing me to make playlists of music that I wasn't sure I wanted to buy and that may not have been on the radio, Spotify expanded the songs I could discover, which improved this year's pool of candidates and gave a big push to B-Sides. Honorable Mentions this year go to  Default's "Turn it On," Mumford & Son's "Little Lion Man," OneRepublic's "Secrets" and Skillet's "Hero." These all were released on 2009 so are ineligible for this countdown; maybe if I had Spotify last year and listened to them more I would have appreciated them earlier. Only 5 of my top 20 are in Billboard's top 100, which explains why the local top-40 station (whose playlist more closely resembles the week's top-10) was much less interesting than what I was able to build on my Spotify list. I've never tried this before, but I think you can listen to my top 75 by clicking here.

So what were the candidates this year? Last year I bemoaned the decline of rock but 2011 experienced a major resurgence. Sure, I'm not a huge fan of the not-really-rock-anymore Maroon 5 (#63) that was Billboard's #9 or the tinny Foster the People (#68) sound that was Billboard's #13. And I'm not a huge Foo Fighters or Chili Peppers fan, so was less excited than most about their new albums. No Eric's-chart-makers for either band yet; maybe next year. Linkin Park (#15, #74) is one of my favorite bands (and my second-most-played) but "A Thousand Sunds" was their weakest album yet. But rock popularity is rock popularity, and when these bands helped make rock popular again it helped the prospects of other stellar rock albums by Flyleaf (#4, #17), Rise Against (#7, #18), Avril (#8, #47, #50) and Filter (#12, #66, #73) and some great singles by Paramore (#6) and Anberlin (#10).  My favorite rock story of the year is the advance of Skillet (#1, #53, #65). Eric describes this band as a cross between Three Days Grace and Flyleaf. Cheryl says it's Breaking Benjamin with a girl. I'm not sure Skillet actually surpasses any of those other three, but Awake is a fantastic album with a heavy rock sound perfect for my playlist (and has been picked up for music at Caps games).

The second genre that hung in there in 2011 was Europop. Stereo Love (#2), In The Dark (#5) and Mr. Saxobeat (#11) aren't terribly original, but all three work great to keep my mind or my legs churning.

A big surprise to me was the quality of this year's releases by the pop princesses. Ke$ha (#3, #30, #38, #46) and Britney (#20, #35, #39, #59) tied for the most songs on my list. Katy Perry had three songs (#9, #22, #51) and E.T. (album version) almost gave her a fourth. It's been a while since I've heard a song that pumps the adrenaline as well as Blow.

And as 2011 moves out it's in great anticipation of 2012. Evanescence and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus have each released new albums that should be prominent in next year's list. Paramore and The Veronicas (my first- and third-most-played bands) are rumored to be releasing new albums this spring. And, as always, I look forward to the new sounds from bands that I haven't even heard of yet.

So finally, a quick review of the rules. Each song on the countdown must have been released in 2010 or 2011, or be an unreleased track off an album with a song that was. No song on a previous list is eligible. The length of my countdown show varies, but this year we have Eric's Top 75 songs of 2011 (click here to listen):


75. Shake Me Down - Cage the Elephant (11/10)
74. The Catalyst - Linkin Park (8/10)
73. Shot From the Sun - Filter (2010)
72. Just Can't Get Enough - Black Eyed Peas (2/11)
71. New Low - Middle Class Rut (10/10)
70. Maybe - Sick Puppies (6/10)
69. Pumped Up Kicks - Foster the People (9/10)
68. Without You - David Guetta ft Usher (9/11)
67. I Just Wanna Run - The Downtown Fiction (8/10)
66. Plume - Filter (2010)
65. Never Surrender - Skillet (2009-2011)
64. Hang You Up - Yellowcard (3/11)
63. Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5 ft Christina Aguilera (6/11)
62. On the Floor - Jennifer Lopez ft Pitbull (2/11)
61. You Are a Tourist - Death Cab for Cutie (3/11)
60. Paradise - Coldplay (9/11)
59. Hold It Against Me - Britney Spears (1/11)
58. Coming Home - Diddy (11/10)
57. Rocketeer - Far East Movement (10/10)
56. Stereo Hearts - Gym Class Heroes ft Adam Levine (6/11)
55. Yeah 3x - Chris Brown (10/10)
54. My Body - Young the Giant (1/11)
53. Forgiven - Skillet (8/10)
52. Living In a Dream - Finger Eleven (8/10)
51. The One That Got Away - Katy Perry (10/11)
50. I Wish You Were Here - Avril Lavigne (9/11)
49. You Make Me Feel - Cobra Starship ft Sabi (5/11)
48. Take Me Back - Taio Cruz (2009-2010)
47. Not Enough - Avril Lavigne (2011)
46. Animal - Billboard Remix - Ke$ha (2010-2011)
45. Tonight (I'm Lovin' You) - Enrique Iglesias ft Ludacris (11/10)
44. Good Feeling - Flo Rida (8/11)
43. We Found Love - Rihanna (9/11)
42. Dirty Dancer - Enrique Iglesias ft Usher & Lil Wayne (5/11)
41. The Cave - Mumford & Sons (2/10)
40. Tonight Tonight - Hot Chelle Rae (3/11)
39. Criminal - Britney Spears (9/11)
38. Crazy Beautiful Life - Ke$ha (2010-2011)
37. Good Life - OneRepublic (11/10)
36. Perfect - P!nk (12/10)
35. I Wanna Go - Britney Spears (6/11)
34. Burn - Papa Roach (11/10)
33. Electric Chapel - Lady Gaga (2011)
32. All I Want - A Day to Remember (10/10)
31. Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO (1/11)
30. The Harold Song - Ke$ha (2010-2011)
29. Written In the Stars - Tinie Tempah ft Eric Turner (9/10)
28. Impossible - Kelly Clarkson (2009-2010)
27. Price Tag - Jessie J ft B.o.B. (1/11)
26. More - Usher (11/10)
25. Higher - Taio Cruz (11/10)
24. Give Me Everything - Pitbull ft Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer (3/11)
23. Highway Unicorn (Road To Love) - Lady Gaga (2011)
22. Who Am I Living For? - Katy Perry (2010-2011)
21. Backseat - New Boyz ft The Cataracs & Dev (2/11)
20. Till the World Ends - Britney Spears (3/11)
19. The Ballad Of Mona Lisa - Panic! At The Disco (2/11)
18. Help Is On The Way - Rise Against (1/11)
17. Circle - Flyleaf (2009-2010)
16. Marchin On - OneRepublic (6/10)
15. Burning In the Skies - Linkin Park (3/11)
14. Hey Baby (Drop It on the Floor) - Pitbull ft T Pain (9/10)
13. SING - My Chemical Romance (11/10)
12. No Love - Filter (11/10)
11. Mr. Saxobeat - Alexandra Stan (1/11)
10. Impossible - Anberlin (7/10)
9. Circle the Drain - Katy Perry (2010-2011)
8. Push - Avril Lavigne (2011)
7. Make It Stop (September's Children) - Rise Against (5/11)
6. Monster - Paramore (6/11)
5. In the Dark - DEV ft Flo Rida (4/11)
4. Arise - Flyleaf (2009-2010)
3. Blow - Ke$ha (2/11)
2. Stereo Love - Edward Maya ft. Vika Jigulina (2/10)
1. Awake and Alive - Skillet (2/10)