With 2011 counting down to a close, the industry is slowing down to look back at its achievements over the past year.
Following a list of the most successful producers, Star News has followed up with a ranking of the most popular digital tracks over the past months.
The list was compiled by Olleh Music and ranks the top 50 songs this year which performed the best in the digital form. The number was determined by combining the number of downloads + the number of streams the song received on its website.
The honors for first place went to G.NA with her January title, “Black & White“. The song fared well, not only because of its early January release – which gives it a head-start advantage – but also for an easy melody that was accepted by both young and old alike.
IU also proved her title as one of this year’s hottest stars by landing three tracks on the top ten, including last year’s “Good Day” at #2 and “Someday” and “The Story Only I Didn’t Know” at #7 and #9, respectively.
Girl group T-ara also had a noteworthy year with one of this year’s most popular songs, “Roly Poly“, at #3.
The top ten was rounded out by Big Bang with “Tonight” (#4), SECRET with “Shy Boy” (#5), f(x) with “Pinocchio” (#6), CN BLUE with “Intuition” (#8), and B2ST with “Fiction” (#10).
Among the rookie groups to debut this year, Girls’ Day performed the strongest with “Twinkle Twinkle” at #11.
2NE1 also had a strong year with 4 songs on the top 50, including “Lonely“, “Don’t Cry“, “I Am the Best“, and “Ugly” at #14, 16, 22, and 39, respectively.
MBC‘s ‘Infinity Challenge’ also shook the charts with their ‘West Coast Highway Music Festival’challenge, where each member teamed up with a songwriter to pen their own duet track. Park Myung Soo and G-Dragon‘s collaboration track, “I Cheated“, landed at #20 while Yoo Jae Suk and Lee Juk‘s “Apgujeong Nallari” was positioned at #42.
Among the numerous OST (soundtrack) tracks released for dramas this year, Hyun Bin‘s “That Man” for SBS‘s ‘Secret Garden’ scored the highest (#21), apart from IU’s “Someday” which demolished the competition at #7.
Despite being heavily disadvantaged with late-year releases, both SNSD and Wonder Girls performed strongly with “The Boys” and “Be My Baby“, at #24 and #35, respectively.
Counting by individual months, the top songs for each month this year were Hyun Bin’s “That Man” (January), G.NA’s “Black & White” (February), Big Bang’s “Tonight” (March), Orange Caramel‘s “Bangkok City” (April), Sistar19‘s “Ma Boy” (May), SECRET‘s “Starlight Moonlight” (June), GG‘s “I Cheated” (July), 2NE1′s “Ugly” (August), Davichi‘s “Don’t Say Goodbye” (September), Lee Seung Gi‘s “Love Time” (October), and Wonder Girls’ “Be My Baby” (November).
You can see the full list below of the top-selling digital songs for 2011. Do you see your favorite artist?
- 1. ‘”Black & White” – G.NA
- 2. “Good Day” – IU
- 3. “Roly Poly” – T-ara
- 4. “Tonight” – Big Bang
- 5. “Shy Boy” – SECRET
- 6. “Pinocchio” – f(x)
- 7. “Someday” – IU
- 8. “Intuition” – CN BLUE
- 9. “The Story Only I Didn’t Know” – IU
- 10. “Fiction” – B2ST
- 11. “Twinkle Twinkle” – Girls’ Day
- 12. “My Heart is Beating” – K.Will
- 13. “Ma Boy” – Sistar19
- 14. “Lonely” – 2NE1
- 15. “Goodbye Baby” – Miss A
- 16. “Don’t Cry” – Park Bom
- 17. “Please” – Kim Bum Soo
- 18. “On Rainy Days” – B2ST
- 19. “Mirror Mirror” – 4minute
- 20. “I Cheated” – GG (feat. Park Bom)
- 21. “That Man” – Hyun Bin
- 22. “I Am the Best” – 2NE1
- 23. “Tok Tok” – Mighty Mouth (feat. Soya)
- 24. “The Boys” – SNSD
- 25. “Well Done” – Navi
- 26. “You Are the Best of My Life” – Lee Hyun
- 27. “Going Crazy” – Song Ji Eun (feat. Bang Yong Guk)
- 28. “Heart to Heart” – 4minute
- 29. “So Cool” – Sistar
- 30. “Starlight Moonlight” – SECRET
- 31. “Day By Day” – Kim Bo Kyung
- 32. “Bangkok City” – Orange Caramel
- 33. “Hot Summer” – f(x)
- 34. “Don’t Forget Me” – Huh Gak
- 35. “Be My Baby” – Wonder Girls
- 36. “Turned Off the TV…” – Leessang (Feat. T Yoon Mi Rae, Kwon Jung Ryeol)
- 37. “Don’t Say Goodbye” – Davichi
- 38. “For First-Time Lovers” – Jung Yong Hwa
- 39. “Ugly” – 2NE1
- 40. “Words That Freeze My Heart” – Wheesung (feat. Yong Jung Hyung)
- 41. “Love Song” – Big Bang
- 42. “Apgujeong Nallari” – Drooping Snail
- 43. “Tokyo Girl” – Busker Busker
- 44. “Hello” – Huh Gak
- 45. “Hold My Hand” – IU
- 46. “Bubble Pop!” – HyunA
- 47. “Cafe” – Big Bang
- 48 “I Miss You” – Noel
- 49. “Americano” – 10cm
- 50. “To Me” – Rainbow