1 January: Musicians honoured in the Queen's New Year Honours list include mezzo-soprano Felicity Palmer (CBE) and composer Howard Goodall (CBE), Richard Thompson (OBE) and Annie Lennox (OBE).
12 January: the Choice Music Prize nominations for Best Irish Album of 2010 were announced.
17 January: The 2011 Grammis Awards take place in Sweden. Robyn walks away as the big winner of the night receiving awards in four categories: Best Female Artist; Best Composer; Best Album for Body Talk; and Best Song for Dancing on My Own.
24 January: Original Adema vocalist Mark Chavez leaves the band for the second time.
29 January: Britney Spears's Hold It Against Me debuted at #1 on US Billboard Hot 100, making Spears the second artist to have more than one single to debut at no. 1, behind Mariah Carey. She also being the third female artist, behind Cher, Madonna and Janet Jackson to top the Hot 100 in three decades, as well as the seventh artist overall.
30 January: The Netherlands national final for the Eurovision Song Contest was held (Nationaal Songfestival). The song Je vecht nooit alleen (You will never fight alone) is chosen for Dutch band 3JS.
February: The nominations for the 2011 Meteor Awards were scheduled to be announced, with the main event to take place in March 2011, but the entire event was cancelled completely when Meteor cancelled its sponsorship.
3 February:, the inaugural Digital Socket Awards were held at the Grand Social, Dublin.
11 February:
Lady Gaga releases Born This Way the first single off her new album of the same name. It became the fastest iTunes single at the time. It later went on to remain number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 7 consecutive weeks
Indie rock band Immaculate Machine formally announce their breakup
13 February: Melissa Horn begins a tour of Denmark
18 February:
Slovakian national broadcaster Slovenská televízia announces that girl-group TWiiNS will represent the country at the 56th annual Eurovision Song Contest with the song I'm Still Alive.
Germany decide upon the song Taken by a Stranger in the final of Unser Song für Deutschland to represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest. Lena Meyer-Landrut will attempt to retain her title following Germany's win of the contest in 2010.
19 February:
Spain decides to send Lucía Pérez to Düsseldorf with the song Que me quiten lo bailao in the final of Destino Eurovisión.
Italy decides to send Raphael Gualazzi to Düsseldorf with the song Follia d'amore in the final of the Sanremo Festival 2011.
Kylie Minogue begins the European leg of her Aphrodite World Tour in Denmark, with dates following in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
26 February: The so-called 'Super Saturday' takes place where six nations choose their participants for the Eurovision Song Contest. Musiqq, Mika Newton, Nina, A Friend In London, Zdob şi Zdub and Getter Jaani will represent Latvia, Ukraine, Serbia, Denmark, Moldova and Estonia respectively.
28 February: Roxette begins its Charm School World Tour in Kazan, Rusia, in front of 8.000 people. 55 shows are set for Europe.
3 March: Two Door Cinema Club's debut album Tourist History was awarded the Choice Music Prize for Best Irish Album of 2010 at a ceremony at Vicar Street, Dublin. The event was broadcast live on Today FM and supported by IMRO and IRMA.
11 March: Kyuss begins their reunion tour in Europe under the moniker Kyuss Lives.
12 March: Eric Saade wins Melodifestivalen 2011 with his entry "Popular", he will represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany.
15 March: Former rapper Nate Dogg dies at age 41 from strokes
27 March: The 2011 Juno Awards, the 40th annual ceremony
31 March: Bridgit Mendler was signed with Hollywood Records.
3 April: LCD Soundsystem plays its final show at New York City's Madison Square Garden.
6 April: Per Wiberg quits Opeth.
12 April: Foo Fighters release their seventh studio album, Wasting Light.
13 April: The Great Barrier Reefs release their first studio record Finding Time.
14 April: On his sixtieth birthday, Julian Lloyd Webber gives the première of American composer Eric Whitacre's "The River Cam", written specially for the occasion.
29 April: The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton includes original music by Paul Mealor and John Rutter as well as traditional works by British composers such as Hubert Parry's setting of the anthem "I was glad" and William Walton's "Crown Imperial".
10 May: System of a Down began their first tour in 5 years in Edmonton.
12 May:
Katy Perry with fourth single from Teenage Dream, "E.T.", she becomes the only artist in history to spend 52 consecutive weeks in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100
Eric Saade wins the second semi-final in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany.
14 May: Eric Saade comes third in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, Sweden best placement since 1999 when Sweden won.
18 May:
Lady Gaga releases her new CD Born This Way Exclusively on the Swedish Music Streaming Program Spotify
Adrian Lux signs with Universal Music Sweden.
23 May: Lady Gaga releases her second studio album Born This Way which debuts at number 1 on the Billboard 200
25 May: Scotty McCreery is crowned winner of American Idol (season 10) while Lauren Alaina is named the runner-up.
28 May: Kings of Leon headlined a sold-out 30th anniversary Slane Concert.
4 June: The 19th Annual KROQ Weenie Roast took place at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Irvine.
11 June: Musicians honoured in the Queen's Birthday Honours list include Bryan Ferry (CBE), broadcaster Bob Harris (OBE) and jazz singer Claire Martin (OBE).
16 June: Preliminary 2011 Polaris Music Prize longlist is announced.
28 June: Where The Action Is 2011 festival in Gothenburg.
July: ChartAttack, a music website published by the longtime former Canadian music magazine Chart, suspends publication.
2 July: The Script performed their first stadium headlining concert at the Aviva Stadium.
8–11 July: Oxegen 2011 took place, with headline acts Arctic Monkeys, Black Eyed Peas and Foo Fighters.
9 July: Sonisphere In Globe Arena Stockholm.
17 July: Illinois rock band Cheap Trick is unharmed after a stage collapses during a performance at the Cisco Bluesfest in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
28–30 July Storsjöyran in Östersund.
1 August: Saskatoon band The Sheepdogs are announced as the winners of Rolling Stone's "Do You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star" competition for unsigned rock bands.
11-13 August: Way Out West City festival in Gothenburg
15 August: Blink-182 start their 20th Anniversary Tour. The tour visited Canada in 2011, the United States and Europe in 2012 and Australia in 2013.
27 August: "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" by Katy Perry becomes the fifth single from the album Teenage Dream to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, tying Michael Jackson's record for the most singles from one album to do so. She is the second artist and only woman in history to achieve this.
2 September: It was announced that drummer Mike Pedicone was kicked out of My Chemical Romance due to Pedicone stealing from the band. No charges were pressed.
10 September: Edward Gardner conducted the Last Night of the Proms for the first time. The programme included works by Béla Bartók and Franz Liszt as well as the traditional Elgar, and the soloist for "Rule Britannia" was Susan Bullock. A highlight was the première of Peter Maxwell Davies's Musica benevolens.
17 September: With Katy Perry's fifth single from Teenage Dream, "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)", she completed 69 consecutive weeks inside the top ten, more than any artist in history.
19 September: Arcade Fire are announced as the winners of the 2011 Polaris Music Prize for their album The Suburbs.
24 September: "I Wanna Go" by Britney Spears became Spears's 21 top-forty single, the third-highest female total since her first week on the chart on November 21, 1998, and only behind Taylor Swift with 27 and Rihanna with 22. It also broke the record for longest distance between the first and last # 1 on the POP CHARTS.
27 September: Blink-182 release their long-awaited and highly anticipated sixth studio album Neighborhoods. This is the first album they recorded together since their indefinite hiatus in 2005. It debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200.
1 November: Canadian entertainment news website andPOP acquires ChartAttack, announcing plans to revive it with expanded video content.
6 November: Belfast's Odyssey Arena hosted the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards.
21 November: Nominees were announced for the Irish Music Television Awards. The awards ceremony took place at The Sugar Club in Dublin on 28 November 2011.
6 December: Korn's tenth studio album, The Path of Totality, debuts at number 10 on the Billboard 200 with 55,000 copies sold in its first week. This album marks the beginning of a new direction for nu metal, with artists like Skrillex and many more contributing to the album with dub step and more electronic sounds.
11 December: Little Mix emerge winners of the 2011 X Factor series. They are the first group entry to win in the programme's eight-year history.
21 December: MCD confirmed Oxegen 2012 would not take place but said that Oxegen 2013 would take place.
Also in 2011:
The Royseven song "We Should Be Lovers", taken from the album You Say, We Say, was the most played Irish song on radio in 2011.
Please address any comments concerning this page to The Music Maestro
Mark Chard BSc
Page created: 15th January 2011
Last edited: 2nd August 2017
