Best Of

MTV News' Most Viewed Stories Of 2011: Nos. 5-1

Posted 12/29/11 8:00 am EST by John Mitchell in Best Of, Year End 2011

It's that time of year when we look back to see what stories really popped in 2011. From happy stories like Beyonce's big VMA baby bump reveal to sad stories like the tragic passing of Amy Winehouse, we were working hard in the MTV Newsroom to bring you all the news you were craving. Below are the top five stories in our countdown of the most viewed stories of the year from MTV News.

5. Cali Swag District Rapper M-Bone Killed In Drive-By Shooting (411K)

Early on May 16, hip-hop fans learned that Cali Swag District member M-Bone was the victim of a drive-by shooting the previous night and passed away from two gunshot wounds to the head, according to police in Inglewood, California. M-Bone, born Mante Talbert, was one-fourth of the group that rose to fame with their 2010 single "Teach Me How to Dougie."

When police arrived on the scene, they found the rapper in the driver's seat of an unspecified black vehicle and transported him to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. Witness accounts confirm that the gunmen pulled alongside Talbert in a separate vehicle and let off at least two rounds. The suspects then fled the scene. The following day, Cali Swag frontman C-Smoove tweeted, "Ma life changed drastically in the blink of an eye. rip mbone."

Read on for more. Read More...

Tags best of 2011, top stories, Year End 2011

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MTV News' Most Viewed Stories Of 2011: Nos. 10-6

Posted 12/28/11 8:00 am EST by John Mitchell in Best Of, Year End 2011

It's that time of year when we look back to see what stories really popped in 2011. From happy stories like Beyonce's big VMA baby bump reveal to sad stories like the tragic passing of Amy Winehouse, we were working hard in the MTV Newsroom to bring you all the news you were craving. Below are numbers 10 through six in our countdown of the most viewed stories of the year from MTV News. We'll have the top five for you tmorrow.

10. Kim Kardashian Files For Divorce (240K)
It was the early Christmas gift that just keeps on giving for tabloid editors and gossip bloggers. When Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from her husband of 72 days, Kris Humphries, everyone sort of lost their minds. The announcement inspired a major public backlash, as everyone with intact brain cells felt like the curtain had been pulled back on the Kardashian reality empire. Accusations that the couple's entire relationship had been faked for the cameras abounded and the public felt duped by the massive, millions-making wedding spectacular that aired on E! Of course, momager Kris Jenner was conveniently on her book tour when the announcement was made and denied the claims.

"After careful consideration, I have decided to end my marriage. I hope everyone understands this was not an easy decision," Kim told MTV News in a statement. "I had hoped this marriage was forever but sometimes things don't work out as planned. We remain friends and wish each other the best." The thing is, they do not remain friends: Humphries recently counter-filed for an annulment from Kim claiming fraud. If you are at all interested in watching the one-time couple's true love come undone, E! is currently airing "Kourtney & Kim Take New York," which focuses largely on the downfall of the Kardashian-Humphries relationship.

Read on for more. Read More...

Tags best of 2011, Year End 2011

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Amazing Albums You May Have Missed In 2011

Posted 12/22/11 11:00 am EST by MTV News in Best Of, Music, Year End 2011

By Zachary Swickey

It’s hard to believe that we are already about to wave goodbye to 2011. It’s been quite a kickass year for music too with new albums from all sorts of big-names artist. However, considering the wealth of bands out there these days – thanks to modern technology making it an easier process than ever before – it can be tricky to even get the attention of one’s own fans.

So while everyone is freaking out about the new Lady Gaga or Bon Iver record, I find myself listening to plenty of other albums much more – like my personal album of the year (to which New York magazine agrees), Canadian act Austra’s debut, Feel It Break. We felt it was our duty (and privilege) to introduce you to some of the best albums in 2011 that didn’t get the full-blown attention they deserved.

Read on to see which albums made the cut! Read More...

Tags best albums, best of 2011, Music, Year End 2011

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That Happened This Year? Rebecca Black's 'Friday' Edition

Posted 12/22/11 7:00 am EST by John Mitchell in Best Of, Year End 2011

Welcome to "That Happened THIS Year," MTV News' look back at the huge entertainment stories that were absolutely everywhere for a hot minute in 2011 but feel like they happened forever ago or faded so quickly from our collective memories that when we were brainstorming the year that was, we literally couldn't believe they happened this year!

Rebecca Black's "Friday" is so far along in its cycle as a song that it was used in Black Friday commercials this year. The song was so ubiquitous by early summer that when we saw Katy Perry in concert at the Nassau Coliseum, she sang the song a cappella and the entire arena joined in. It's the sort of attention usually accorded a years-old song that everybody knows and loves. That's about half right; "Friday" certainly feels years-old and everyone knows it … it's the loving it part that is kind of divisive.

But so what if everyone knows it because it is, arguably, as Yahoo Music critic Lyndsey Parker noted "the worst song ever"? In fact, the song's notoriety was driven by the criticism – it had accumulated 167 million views on YouTube before it was pulled in mid-June … and over 3.1 million "dislikes" (87 percent of its total ratings), helping it surpass Justin Bieber's "Baby" in late-March as the most disliked YouTube video ever.

By year-end, all the hype earned Black a spot on the list of Twitters top trends of the year, but on a more serious note, she was forced to leave school due to harassment from her classmates and is now being home-schooled. Read More...

Tags best of 2011, Rebecca Black, that happened this year, Year End 2011

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That Happened This Year? Royal Wedding Edition

Posted 12/21/11 7:00 am EST by John Mitchell in Best Of, Year End 2011

We remember it like it was yesterday. (Except we don't. Not at all.) It was a beautiful spring day (according to the Internet) in London. There he was, the future King of England, marrying his beautiful long-time love.

Months and months of non-stop media coverage came to a head on April 29 (right?) when Prince William married Catherine Middleton, who no matter how much the palace tries to sell her as Catherine, Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Cambridge, will always be our girl Waity Katie, sister of sexy frequent-backside-revealer James.

Kate's gorgeous Sarah Burton dress! Pippa Middleton's bum! Prince Harry looking like the scoundrel we know (hope?) he is despite being clad in his finest officer's duds! Swoon! The Royal Wedding had all the makings of a fairytale event for the ages, and it definitely was … probably … over in England where the populace actually cares about Royal matters. Here in America, beyond Kate's dress and the meme-worthy supporting characters (seriously, call us, James Middleton), the Royal Wedding just wasn't a particularly memorable event.

As soon as it was over, it was like it happened forever ago. From the pre-manufactured memorabilia to the ongoing headlines speculating about Kate's weight or the possibility that she's pregnant, it's like Kate and Wills have been married for years. But, lo and behold, they are still newlyweds! Read More...

Tags best of 2011, royal wedding, that happened this year, Year End 2011

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That Happened This Year? Charlie Sheen's Meltdown

Posted 12/20/11 7:00 am EST by John Mitchell in Best Of, Year End 2011

Is it just us or has the celebrity scandal-to-forgiveness cycle gone into overdrive? Once upon a time, when a superstar did something sketchy and got busted, he or she usually issued an apology then went into hiding for a bit before returning to the public eye to see if they'd been forgiven. A perfect example of the old-school way of handing things is Mel Gibson, who in July of 2006 was arrested for drunk driving and went on an anti-Semitic tirade then pretty much disappeared from the public eye for over three years, making his first post-scandal film appearance in 2010's "Edge of Darkness." (We won't get into his most recent domestic violence/scary voicemails shenanigan and how that's working out.)

Then there's Charlie Sheen, who in record time went from being at the center of an enormous, completely insane scandal to appearing at the Emmys as a dignified pop cultural war survivor. All of which happened this year! Can you believe it?

In January, Sheen's top-rated comedy "Two and a Half Men" was put on hiatus while he received treatment at his home for substance abuse. The remainder of the season was cancelled, however, the following month after Sheen made some extremely disparaging remarks about series creator Chuck Lorre, and CBS and Warner Bros. officially fired the actor from the series in early March. That was when things really went off the rails. Those interviews! The goddesses! His custody issues with troubled ex-wife Brooke Mueller. Tiger blood! "Winning." The drugs. The warlock nonsense. His disastrous "My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not An Option" tour.

It was just a non-stop run of self-inflicted indignities that boggles the mind. (And at the time I worked at a celebrity gossip website … I'd written about my fair share of terrible, degrading, demoralizing things. None of them holds a candle to the Sheen Saga of 2011 in terms of jaw-dropping, can't-believe-this-is-actually-happening madness.)

But when it was over, it was OVER. Sheen was replaced on "Two and a Half Men" by Ashton Kutcher (is there something about that role?) and the world kept on spinning. Read More...

Tags best of 2011, that happened this year, Year End 2011

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That Happened This Year? Jennifer Lopez Joins the Judges Table On 'American Idol,' Reinvigorating Her Career

Posted 12/19/11 7:00 am EST by John Mitchell in Best Of, Jennifer-Lopez, Year End 2011

Even the idea that Jennifer Lopez's career comeback began less than a year ago seems to defy physics. Did she somehow interrupt the space-time continuum in an effort to alter the very nature of time, where one year seems like three or four, to fool us into thinking she never really went anywhere?

For all intents and purposes, La Lopez's return to the top began on January 19, 2011 (we can't believe it either), when the tenth season of "American Idol" premiered on FOX. And in one fell swoop, nearly six years of box office flops and album misfires were erased and Lopez was suddenly everywhere again!

In the spring, Lopez's single "On the Floor" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart at number nine (the highest debut of her career) and went on to peak at No. 3. It marked her first top ten hit since 2003's "All I Have." With about 445 million views on YouTube, the video for "On the Floor" eclipsed Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" in November to become the most watched video by a female artist ever on the video-watching website. (Justin Bieber's "Baby" remains the YouTube champion by a substantial margin with nearly 675 million views.)

She was even chosen for the cover of Glamour magazine's Women of the Year issue.

And that's far from all. Read More...

Tags best of 2011, Jennifer-Lopez, that happened this year, Year End 2011

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Our Suggestions For Your 2011 Holiday Party Playlist

Posted 12/12/11 2:30 pm EST by John Mitchell in Best Of, Holiday, parties, Year End 2011

It's that time of year.

Whether you 're the boss of a quiet little company in Omaha, Nebraska, or you're a busy city dweller with a tight urban family and too much work piled up to travel over the river and through the woods, the holidays mean one thing: PARTY! (Actually, they mean a lot of things, like love and family and giving, but just go with it.)

That means it's time to boogie! From an official company affair to just having a bunch of friends over to swill one-too-many bottles of Three Buck Chuck, if you're hosting a shindig, you have to have a playlist that is going to get everybody up and moving.

Here are some required (not recommended, mind you) singles from the year that was that demand to be spinned at your holiday fiesta.

>>>"Till The World Ends," Britney Spears
It's Brit's biggest single in years and it's maybe one of her best. "You want a party song, call a partier," Rolling Stone said in its three-and-a-half star review. "Written by Ke$ha (with Max Martin and Dr. Luke), the second single from Femme Fatale is ginormously pumping uber-Euro uber-disco: sky-sucking synth streaks, a beat that sounds like blimps f**king and a thousand shirtless drunken sailors chanting along on the chorus." In dance music language, that's pretty much the highest possible compliment. Plus, we're about a year out from the Mayan apocalypse, so ... you know ... dance till the world ends, y'all!

>>> "We Found Love," Rihanna
It's been the No. 1 single in the country for the last SIX consecutive weeks (and counting) and pretty much everyone loves it to pieces. If you don't play "We Found Love," your friends or employees will know just how out of step with pop culture you really are.

Read on for more! Read More...

Tags best of 2011, Holiday, Party, Year End 2011

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Stocking Stuffers From Some Of Our Favorite Bands We Like

Posted 12/12/11 1:08 pm EST by MTV News in Bands We Like, Best Of, Holiday

By Zachary Swickey

With Christmas officially less than two weeks away, it’s about time that procrastinators like myself get off the couch and do some final shopping for the holiday season. If you don’t feel like getting 26-pound gummy bears for your whole family, then why not consider the gift of music? Don’t go the lazy iTunes gift card route either. Instead, put some thought into this to show how much you care and try to gift someone with tunes they’ve probably never heard but you think they will fall for. They'll never forget the guy or gal who introduced them to their favorite new band, and they’ll appreciate the fact that you seem to know them pretty well.

Here in the MTV Newsroom, we always want to do our part, so here are some albums that would make ideal stocking stuffers from some of our favorite Bands We Like artists we showcased this year. Read More...

Tags Bands We Like, best of 2011, Holidays

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Don't Forget To Vote For The Band You Think Is Going To Blow Up Big In 2012!

Posted 12/7/11 10:41 am EST by John Mitchell in Bands We Like, Best Of, Newsroom Poll, Year End 2011

This year we've hit upon rock bands from across the spectrum in our weekly feature Bands We Like. As some of these somewhat under the radar groups begin to take off – Other Lives will soon be the opening act for Radiohead, El Bronx fulfilled their own fantasy by appearing on Conan’s late night show and The New Regime’s Ilan Rubin is the new drummer for Tom DeLonge’s side-project, Angels & Airwaves – we're looking to you indie music fiends to see which Band We Liked is destined to will be the breakout act of 2012.

We've narrowed down five of our favorites (Fitz & the Tantrums, Other Lives, Dredg, The New Regime and Mariachi El Bronx). Now, it's your turn. To find out more about the bands we've selected, go HERE, and vote in our "Which Band We Liked Will Blow Up In 2012?" poll after the jump. Read More...

Tags Bands We Like, best of 2011, Newsroom Poll, Year End 2011

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