Rankings on End of Year Critical Lists
MTV: The 20 Best Albums of 2011
QUOTE
20. Beyoncé, 4
An artfully anachronistic album — in that it takes its cues from Fela Kuti and Earth, Wind and Fire instead of, you know, David Guetta — it's little wonder 4 confounded a large portion of the record-buying public when it was released this summer. But given time, most (myself included) have come to love its classy flourishes and classically influenced roots. From big-boned ballads to weirdo world-music jams, 4 is clearly the disc on which Beyoncé makes her bid for artistic credibility. Sadly, it just took us all a while to realize it.
Amazon.com: 2nd Best Pop album of 2011
#2 - "4"
MSN: Albums of the Year
#2 - "4"
BBC: Music Writers Best Albums of 2011
7 - Beyoncé - 4
(Sony, released 27 June)
Recommended by: Victoria Derbyshire, Trevor Nelson, Westwood
"Following schizo double I Am... Sasha Fierce, Beyoncé took a year off but has come back brighter. Dozens of songs emerged from the original 4 sessions and the promo circuit's been leapt on with a vengeance, culminating - at least over here - in the intriguing Glastonbury headline slot (yet to wow us as we go to press). With 4's best bold tunes, Beyoncé has spruced up an already handsome catalogue. She's got the armoury to trump husband Jay-Z's perception-altering Pilton turn."
The New Yorker List
Stereogum Top 50 Albums of 2011: Number 18
Idolator's 10 Favourite Albums of 2011
Made the list
Rolling Stone: Best of 2011
Top 50 Albums
#25 - 4
The world's shrewdest diva turns on her star power full blast, indulges her oddball side and flaunts her mastery of seemingly every modern pop mode – from the riotous hiphop love ode "Countdown" to the sweet, faux-Stevie retrosoul ditty "Love on Top" to the futuristic stomper "Run the World (Girls)."
Top 10 Singles
#8 Countdown
A triumphal love song, slathered in crazy sauce: marching-band drums, backward-counting backup singers, honking horns and that weird-ass "boof-boof!" hook.
Blitz Top 50 albums: #16 - 4
NMETop 50 songs: #38 - Run The World (Girls)
Pretty Much Amazing: Top songs of 2011
#1 - "1+1"
NPR: 50 Favourite Albums of 2011
QUOTE
Beyoncé has given us many important questions to ponder. Just how does her hair stay consistently windblown? What is "swagu," and can I have some? And of exactly what relation is your "boof"? All of which is to say, no pop album this year was more fun and self-aware than hers. Sure, 4 has moments of schmaltz and overblown theatricality, but it's hard to turn a cynical eye to a record that contains, unequivocally, the song of the year. "Countdown" commands sing-alongs — preferably with the wrong words; "grind a'pony girl"? — and fevered discussions with theory nerds over its irregular song structure. A record made up of amazing singles, 4 leaps beyond the restraints of its Top 40 cultural signifier to cultural significance, as Beyoncé celebrates her lasting, loving relationship with her man, as well as her fluidity as an artist who refuses to be thrust into any single box. The year belongs to her. (Eleanor Kagan)
Pitchfork: Best Music videos 2011
Beyoncé: "Countdown" [Director: Adria Petty]
from 4b
