2011 has seen a number of new acts emerge onto the music radar so here at FemaleFirst we’re looking back over this year to look at the top 5 breakthrough acts of 2011
Ed Sheeran
It’s been a busy year for the Yorkshire born 20-year-old. He burst onto the music scene earlier this year with his debut single ‘The A Team’ after being signed by Asylum/Atlantic Records. ‘The A Team’ was praised with being the highest-selling and highest-charting debut single of 2011 after entering the UK chart at number 3 and selling over 58,000 copies in the first week.
Sheeran then released the amazingly catchy ‘You Need Me, I Don’t Need You’ which peaked at number 4 in the charts. It received great reception from critics and was greatly favoured by DJs such as Zane Lowe. The album ‘+’ was released on 9th September 2011 and peaked at number 1 in the UK album chart as well as going double platinum.
‘Lego House’ was released on 11th November and has so far peaked at number 5 in the UK charts. The video featured Harry Potter star Rupert Grint as an obsessed fan.
LMFAO
LMFAO have been on the music scene since 2008 when they signed with Interscope records but it was only in 2011 when they released their single ‘Party Rock Anthem’ that they become widely known. The single, which came of their second album ‘Sorry for Party Rocking’, reached number one in the US, UK, Canada and over ten other countries.
Their most recent song ‘Sexy and I know It’ got the whole world wiggling when it was released on 3rd October. The song reached number one on iTunes charts all around the world as well as topping the Australian and Canadian Hot 100. LMFAO are currently working on the video for their next single ‘Sorry for Party Rocking’.
Christina Perri
The song ‘Jar of Hearts’ has been on non-stop play over UK airwaves recently despite being released over a year ago in the US. Due to it’s use in numerous TV shows both in the US and UK the single has now spent 29 weeks in the UK singles chart after peaking at number four.
Perri released the album ‘lovestrong.’ on 19th September 2011 in the UK and it peaked at number nine with mixed reviews but songs from the album are still continuing to be used in many TV shows. Her song ‘A Thousand Years’ was used on the soundtrack for the highly anticipated film The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1
Emeli Sande
She first appeared on Chipmunks ‘Diamond Rings’ and has since collaborated with Roll Deep’s Wiley and most recently collaborated with Professor Green on his chart topping single ‘Read All About It’.
Sande first started by writing songs for the likes of Alisha Dixon, Professor Green, Chipmunk, Tinie Tempah and Cheryl Cole but was signed to Virgin Records in 2010. She later signed another deal with EMI records in early 2011.
She released ‘Heaven’ the first single from her greatly anticipated debut album ‘Our Version of Events’ on 14th August 2011 and it was met with a good reception. ‘Daddy’ is set to be the second single from the album, in which she collaborates with Naughty Boy.
Sande was recently announced to be the winner of the Brit Awards Critics’ Choice for 2012.
Dev
Dev first came into the public consciousness when she featured on the track ‘Like A G6’ with the Cataracs and Far East Movement. The single went to number one on the US Billboard Top 100 chart. Dev also wont an award for the song as it was voted International Video of The Year at the 2011 MuchMusic Video Awards.
She then went on to release ‘Bass Down Low’ which reached number 10 in the UK singles chart, the highest position it reached in any chart around the world. Dev teamed up with JLS for the song ‘She Make Me Wanna’ which topped the UK singles chart making it Dev’s second number one collaborative hit.
Dev’s debut album ‘The Night The Sun Came Up’ was released on 20th September 2011 so if you want to hear more of her electro-crunk tunes then you know where to go!
Cara Mason
FemaleFirst
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