Another year has passed us by so it’s a good time to review the year and see what songs top the sales for the year 2011. As mentioned in our review last year, there are similar reviews. Ours is different in that it shows what people wanted to sing last year and not just what they wanted to listen to. No review can be completely accurate but we feel the following lists give a good review of the best music that came out in 2011 and that karaoke singers were requesting.
2011 Top Karaoke Pop Songs
#1 – Rolling In The Deep – Adele (Many people assume Adele to be a black singer because of the sound of her voice but she’s not. What you hear from her are powerful vocals with the feel of emotion behind every note. That is exactly what a good singer wants from a song. The challenge for any singer with ‘Rolling In The Deep’ is matching the emotion and feeling that Adele puts in her original version. Of course you can get away with not being able to match Adele’s vocal quality and still please your audience if you’re a six year old girl singing this song with all your heart, as did Alexa Narvaez on YouTube with currently over 13 million views.)
#2 – Someone Like You – Adele (Yes, Adele comes in with the top two Pop songs for 2011. ‘Someone Like You’ speaks of a person coming to terms with the fact that her past lover has moved on. She wishes him the best and sings that she will find ‘someone like you’, claiming to have come to terms with the status of their break-up but obviously revealing otherwise. Perhaps this song became so popular because most of us have had our hearts broken in the same way that this song relates.)
#3 – Party Rock Anthem – LMFAO with Lauren Bennett & Goonrock (Well I thought LMFAO must be a band, with possibly each letter of this group’s name representing one of their members. Man, am I ever out of the loop. LMFAO is an acronym for Laughing My Freaking Ass Off. LMFAO is actually a duo composed of Motown founder’s Berry Gordy’s youngest son Stefan aka Redfoo and his grandson Skyler aka SkyBlu. The song was one of the most popular dance songs of the year. If it’s fun to dance to then it must be fun to sing.)
#4 – On The Floor – Jennifer Lopez & Pitbull (If anybody remembers the Lambada from 1989 then you’ll no doubt notice the borrowed beat for the main riff. What can we expect for J-Lo’s next big single? Maybe a reworking use of the main riff from ‘Islands In The Stream’ or ‘Afternoon Delight’.)
#5 – You And I – Lady Gaga (Unlike most of Lady Gaga’s tunes and maybe just a shade less successful as some of Gaga’s dance songs, this tune was highly requested as a karaoke song. ‘You And I’ is a bluesy, rock and country inspired ballad that mildly samples the classic Queen song ‘We Will Rock You’.)
#6 – Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5 with Christina Aguilera (This song has a catchy hook and was popular among the karaoke crowd, and what has made it more appealing is that it is a female/male duet.)
#7 – Mr. Know It All – Kelly Clarkson (The original American Idol is still going strong five studio albums later. This song once again capitalizes on strong vocals and the hook ‘you don’t know a thing about me’ will stay in your head long after the last note of the song is played.)
#8 – Lighters – Bad Meets Evil & Bruno Mars (Bad Meets Evil is a duo consisting of rappers Royce da 5’9″ and Eminem. This duo actually was formed before Eminem gained his mainstream popularity in 1999, they broke up and now have since reunited. The song ‘Lighters’ is an alternative hip-hop song, different from hard core rap, especially with the added vocals of Bruno Mars.)
#9 – We Found Love – Rihanna (Rihanna once again hits the top of the charts with a catchy dance song. Many versions of this song also list Calvin Harris in the credits but we have not heard a duet version or any version that feature vocals other than Rihanna’s.)
#10 – I Do – Colbie Caillat (Like Colbie Caillat’s first single Bubbly, this song is a feel good, happy-go-lucky sunny day song that speaks of taking relationships to the next level. A perfect tune for the optimistic romantic.)
Honorable Mention:
Mistletoe – Justin Bieber (Some people may wonder why Justin Bieber is once again not on the top 10. He also didn’t make the top ten with any of his songs in 2010, possibly because although his songs have a broad appeal, when it comes to singing them there will be a much smaller audience. Collectively karaoke versions of his songs sold more than any other artist in 2011; Justin Bieber was the best selling Karaoke artist of 2011. The late season release of ‘Mistletoe’ nearly made the top 10. It was highly requested in late November and December. Many long for a fresh, new holiday song and this song filled that need precisely.)
Top 2011 Karaoke Country Songs
#1 – Dirt Road Anthem – Jason Aldean (This song talks about country life but adds a little ‘country rap’ in the mix. Very popular tune and choice for karaoke singers.)
#2 – Just Fishin’ – Trace Adkins (This song is about a father and daughter fishing together. Another feel good country song that pulls on your heart strings.”)
#3 – Country Girl (Shake It For Me) – Luke Bryan (This song is quite different from the earlier hit by Luke Bryan ‘Rain Is A Good Thing’. The title should be a dead giveaway that this song is not a ballad or a story song. It is a coming-right-at-you dance tune that caught on and became one of the most requested country songs to sing.)
#4 – Hell On Heels – Pistol Annies (There are some songs that are country cross overs; songs that can be played on both the Pop Charts and the Country Charts. Not this song, it’s definitely country. The Pistol Annies make a statement of a woman’s wrath, singing ‘sugar daddy I’m comin’ for you’. )
#5 – You Lie – The Band Perry (Another country tune about an unhappy relationship. You lie like a Persian rug, like a coon dog basking in the sun, like a penny in the parking lot. It seems many a country song is about that bitter feeling that one gets when they find out that their significant other isn’t so significant and people just love to sing about it.)
#6 – Honey Bee – Blake Shelton (This catchy tune did well on the Billboard 100 as well as going Number 1 on the country charts. The broad appeal of the song (and the fact that people were singing it) helped put it into the top ten of our list.)
#7 – Barefoot Blue Jean Night – Jake Owen (This song reminisces about the fun one had on his southern summer barefoot blue jean night. His buddy Frankie got hooked up with a Cadillac with horns on the hood! )
#8 – Story Of Us – Taylor Swift (an upbeat tempo song that by it’s title might indicate the song would be about a happy relationship. Unfortunately the chorus is ‘the story of us is a tragedy now.’)
#9 – This Is Country Music – Brad Paisley (Though not as commercially successful as some of Brad Paisley’s earlier hits, ‘This Is Country Music’ epitomizes what many feel a country song is all about. Country music fans can take pride in that their music often has some substance in it’s lyrics or message, which is not the norm with a pop tune.)
#10 – Just A Kiss – Lady Antebellum (Lady Antebellum songs are very popular in the karaoke world because of their duet capability. The way that Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott effortlessly switch lead vocals in their original renditions make many singers want to do the same in the karaoke versions. The challenge is finding two singers with the same vocal abilities of Lady Antebellum’s lead singers.)
So, once again, another year has given us a slew of new music. So you, the karaoke singer, need to stop singing the same old tune. You don’t want to subject the crowd to one more time of singing the same song that you sing week after week, no matter how good you sing that song. There is plenty of new karaoke music to choose from. Sometimes it may seemed that there is no good new music out there. However it may seem that way because you’ve gotten into the habit of listening to your ‘iPod’ with your pre-selected choices in music. Start making it a habit of listening to radio or turning on a music channel more often, then you’re going to find plenty of new selections to choose from.