Although the album's first single, Run The World (Girls) was less than successful, Beyoncé still stunned people with a performance at the Billboard awards, where she also got a tribute. The video for Run The World has gotten over 100 million views on YouTube in just 7 months. 4 opened with 310k sales, her lowest first week figures. However, she was still able to sell more than most of her peers in their opening weeks. 4 stayed strong for several weeks on the Billboard 200, while she released her Top 20 single "Best Thing I Never Had". Her small series of concerts, "4 Intimate Nights" at Roseland sold out in 20 seconds, and several celebrities such as Lady Gaga attended the shows. At the VMAs she announced her pregnancy and stole the show with her "Love On Top" performance, in which she revealed her baby bump. Her recent singles "Countdown" and "Party" have been doing great, "Countdown" reaching the top of the Dance charts and Party getting mainstream radio airplay even though it was released to urban radios.
...Oh, I'm sorry, you were saying something I was too busy looking at Bee's stems to think coherently.
"Love on Top", "Countdown" and BTINH were all really nice songs, and "I Was Here" is shaping up to be my favorite song on the album. Solid, solid stuff from Bee this year.
With 3 smash singles, 2011 was definitely a great year for Miss Britney Spears. She started off with her single Hold It Against me, debuting at the top of the charts. This gave her 2 consecutive singles debuting at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. On March 29, Femme Fatale was released, and with bad first week sales (273k) she was still able to spawn another smash single; Till The World Ends dominated the top 10 of the charts for months, and it also turned into Britney's most successful single on the radio. However, this spot was later taken by the third single off Femme Fatale: I Wanna Go. The song reached the summit of the Pop 40 charts and it was a huge hit. The album's tour (The Femme Fatale Tour) kicked off June 16th in Sacramento, and received rad reviews from the critics. The night of the VMAs, Britney was honored by winning "Best Pop" for "Till The World Ends", and the same night she was also given a tribute and the "Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award" or "Lifetime Achievement Award". While touring Europe and heading to South America for the first time, Britney released the 4th single off Femme Fatale, Criminal. The song reached the top 20 in the Pop 40.
From Britney Spears delivering a pair of unexpected performances, to pop stars like Rihanna taking home trophies, to Beyoncé receiving the Billboard Millennium Award after a show-stopping number, the 2011 Billboard Music Awards were full of big surprises and unforgettable moments. The show was opened with a sexy "S&M" performance by Rihanna, that included a surprise appearance from Britney Spears. Spears returned later to perform alongside Nicki Minaj. The show was packed with A-List performers, including Ke$ha and the Black Eyed Peas. However, the show's highlight was the amazing performance by Ms. Beyoncé Knowles, before accepting her "Billboard Millennium Award". She was also honored with a video tribute that included speeches from music legends such as Stevie Wonder to the First Lady Michelle Obama. The show was closed by Neil Diamond.