As 2011 comes to a close, it’s time to look back on all of the music this year has given to us. Without a doubt, this has been an exciting and record-breaking year for music. This has no doubt been a year full of dance music, with music from Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Britney Spears, Pitbull, and LMFAO dominating the radio. However, it was Adele’s bluesy soul-inspired pop music that reigned supreme. With two huge #1 singles and by far the biggest selling album of the year, 21, Adele was easily the artist of the year.

In a close second would be pop star Katy Perry, who sent two more songs to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, tying Michael Jackson’s almost 25 year record for most #1 singles from an album. Not to mention, she walked away with Video of the Year at the VMA’s. Continuing the year’s theme of female-domination, Lady Gaga released her sophomoric album, Born This Way, which saw the year’s highest first week sales. Prior to its release, Gaga almost made a bit of history when the album’s title track became the 1,000th #1 single of the Hot 100 era, after debuting at the summit. Since then, she has sent three more singles to the top-10. To round it out for the ladies, Britney Spears and Rihanna each had a pair of #1’s, including a remix of “S&M,” which features both of them.

In the boys’ corner, Pitbull continued his streak of hits, including the Ne-Yo-assisted “Give Me Everything,” while Bruno Mars proved his staying power with one of 2011’s biggest singles, “Grenade.” Chris Brown also continued his comeback with hits such as “Look At Me Now.” However, it was LMFAO who took it home for the guys, with one of the year’s most infectious and popular hits, “Party Rock Anthem,” which was a hit for almost literally the entire year.

In the world of rock music, huge albums from the Foo Fighters, Radiohead, and Coldplay, and crossover hits from Maroon 5 kept the genre alive. While hip-hop saw one of its most intriguing newcomers, Nicki Minaj, emerge as the year’s most prominent artists in the genre, beating out most of her male competition, including fellow newbie Wiz Khalifa, who had a #1 hit with “Black & Yellow.” However, it was Jay-Z and Kanye West’s collaboration album, Watch The Throne that was this year’s biggest hip-hop highlight. In country, Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum continued their domination, while The Band Perry made a huge splash bursting onto the scene.

This year, we lost some great artists, including rappers Heavy D and Nate Dogg, E-Street saxophonist Clarence Clemmons, legendary songwriters Jerry Leiber and Nick Ashford, and of course, the incomparable Amy Winehouse. In addition, some legendary bands, including R.E.M. and The White Stripes decided to call it quits, while others, such as The Stone Roses and Black Sabbath decided to re-form giving us alot to be excited for in 2012.