Rankings on End of Year Critical Lists
MTV:
The 20 Best Albums of 2011
Quote:
20. Beyonc¨¦, 4
An artfully anachronistic album ¡ª in that it takes its cues from Fela Kuti and Earth, Wind and Fire instead of, you know, David Guetta ¡ª 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 Beyonc¨¦ makes her bid for artistic credibility. Sadly, it just took us all a while to realize it.
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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 - Beyonc¨¦ - 4
(Sony, released 27 June)
Recommended by: Victoria Derbyshire, Trevor Nelson, Westwood
"Following schizo double I Am... Sasha Fierce, Beyonc¨¦ 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, Beyonc¨¦ 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
Quote:
Beyonce, 4
ERIKA BROOKS ADICKMAN: Like our pals on the The Skorpion Show, my first listen of ¡°Run The World (Girls)¡± left me with the taste of ¡°meh¡±. It wasn¡¯t until I watched Beyonce¡¯s jaw-dropping performance of the girl-power track on Le Grand Journal that something clicked. I¡¯m not sure whether the mother-to-be and I had a real moment or what, but from then on I was all for 4. The album starts off with a slow burn with love ballads like ¡°1 + 1¡å and mellow jams ¡°Party¡± and ¡°Love On Top¡± before igniting into four-alarm-fire dance tracks (¡°Countdown¡±). The 30-year-old may be happily married, but, man, does she make ¡°Best Thing I Never Had¡± believable.
Key Track: ¡°End Of Time¡± is fun and dancy, and evokes the drumline excitement of Destiny¡¯s Child¡¯s ¡°Lose My Breath¡±.
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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 ¨C 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
:winning:#1 - "1+1"
NPR: 50 Favourite Albums of 2011
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Beyonc¨¦ 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 ¡ª preferably with the wrong words; "grind a'pony girl"? ¡ª 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 Beyonc¨¦ 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)
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Pitchfork: Best Music videos 2011
Beyonc¨¦: "Countdown" [Director: Adria Petty]
Consequence of Sound: Top 25 Videos
04. Beyonc¨¦ ¨C ¡°Countdown¡±
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With the video for ¡°Countdown¡±, Beyonc¨¦ proves once again that even though she¡¯s beyond successful in life, love, and career, it¡¯s impossible to hate her. The flawless makeup and choreography coupled (yes, that was intentional) with calculatedly goofy facial expressions and dancing maintain the tenuous balance between idol Sasha Fierce and Bey, the girl next door. It proves to her audience that even though Beyonc¨¦ is rapidly ascending the celebrity ladder to an almost untouchable height, she¡¯s just like any other girl who secretly wants to be Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face. Furthermore, ¡°Countdown¡±¡¯s brightly colored American Apparel wardrobe and hip warehouse space¡ªwhich are constantly advertised on our televisions, billboards, and Internet windows¡ªalong with the recently released Live at Roseland DVD package Beyonc¨¦ as an affordable lifestyle choice. And it works because you¡¯re too busy trying to peep Bey¡¯s baby bump to pay attention to the video¡¯s subliminal advertising. -Harley Brown
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Consequence of Sound: Top 25 Songs
04. Beyonc¨¦ ¨C ¡°4¡±
Quote:
At this point in her exceptional career, Beyonc¨¦ has transcended the traditional confines of pop diva status. Her latest album, 4, is full of the finest cuts of her career, be it for their infectious, poppy nature or for their demonstration of real, relatable emotional displays. And one could easily say ¡°Countdown¡± is the best song on that album and leave it at that. To do so, however, is to discredit a track that is not only great, but a step above on a record whose primary notion is of stepping further into sonic grace.
From the initial wail of Bey¡¯s voice to the marching band vibe, the track is the heart and soul, the lifeblood of a record that is a dynamo of R&B gold, both new and old. Queen B has built an empire of love songs and tributes to her boo(s), but none, be it on this album or the three before, come off as easily and thoroughly as they do here. We dare anyone to resist falling under the spell of the chorus where, like a Gucci-wearing version of The Count, Beyonc¨¦ counts down the ways in which she loves her man. It¡¯s everything we love about Beyonc¨¦: the sing-along-ability, the bombastic nature, and the beat that digs its nails into your hips to make them shimmy all night. Count it any way you want, this number¡¯s a shining gem in Beyonc¨¦¡¯s bangin¡¯ catalog. -Chris Coplan
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Fuse: Top 40 of 2011
19. Best Thing I Never Had
Prefix: Top 50 Albums of 2011
48. Beyonce: 4
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2011, at times, seemed like the Year of Beyoncé, 12 months full of testaments to her all-encompassing cultural penetration: the GIF ubiquity, the pregnancy hysteria, the lavish music videos. In the midst of all this media noise, it's easy to forget that 4 represents Bey's finest and most cohesive album to date, juggling mature meditations on love and legacy with ecstatic, effervescent pop. 4 is the rare pop album to which the descriptor "graceful" can be applied; it proves that getting older does not guarantee becoming boring, and that it's possible to love passionately without compromising the spark that defines you - —Jamieson Cox
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Spin 50 Best Albums of 2011
39. Beyoncé: 4
Most pop singers spent 2011 chasing down dubstep producers. But the one star capable of out-dancing them all shifted into a totally different lane, releasing an album of '70s-inspired soul and funk tunes alongside suave baby-making ballads. Beyoncé's fourth album isn't a "Party," though she snagged André 3000 to contribute a guest rap and production from Kanye West, The-Dream, Frank Ocean, Diplo, Babyface, et al. It's sophisticated proof that Sasha doesn't need to be fierce to run the world.
C.G.
Paste Magazine: Best Album covers of 2011
#7. 4
Pitchfork: Top 100 tracks of 2011
07. Beyoncé:
"Countdown" [Columbia]
Quote:
The first Destiny's Child singles were broadsides backed up by joyful jitter-funk, kiss-offs aimed at bad boyfriends, lackluster lovers, and guys who just couldn't take a hint. Losers who creep around behind their trusting partners' backs, lames who flood inboxes with unwanted advances, frauds, and misers of all stripes. Beyoncé made telling them off, crushing their egos, and sending them home to mama sound like a total blast. As recently as "Irreplaceable", an older and wiser Ms. Knowles was finding empowerment in relationships gone wrong, sounding less aggrieved than emboldened by finally laying down the law. I mean, do I even need to bring up "Single Ladies"?
But Beyoncé's been enjoying domestic bliss for some time now, and on the evidence of "Countdown", Jay-Z has yet to get on her bad side. If anything, his devotion has ignited Queen B's most delirious hymn to being head-over-heels since "Crazy in Love". This track is a virtuoso performance from singer and producers alike, so giddy with the thrill of having someone have your back that it can't sit still. The tempo shifts are like a smitten lover trying to calm herself down only to start babbling about how awesome everything is all over again a moment later. "Countdown" can't stop spinning out new musical ideas every few seconds because maybe this zinging synth riff or this crazy orchestral percussion crescendo will help you catch the feeling, too. Beyoncé cycles breathlessly through every vocal trick at her command, from church choir ululating to fierce fast-rap, and somehow it's both overwhelming and infectious, coming off like the most emotionally affecting sound effects record ever recorded. Sure, we've all been in love. But it's doubtful we've ever sounded this damn excited about it. --Jess Harvell
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26. Beyoncé
"1+1"[Columbia]
Quote:
Following Beyoncé's work on "1+1" is like a journey to the center of her craft, a stripping away of every distraction until all that's left is her voice. Without it, "1+1" would be a muted ballad: Its simple guitar line and stardust-sprinkled strings serve no purpose other than to evoke a sense of familiar romantic intimacy, and then to elegantly step aside while Beyoncé delivers one of her most wonderfully impassioned performances ever.
"1+1" possesses that slightly scary intensity that has been R&B's worst-kept secret weapon since Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing", but it also demonstrates perfectly how Beyoncé stands apart from every other big-chested diva getting her Whitney on. She lets the song sing through her with a clarity that is never clinical, a strength that never sabotages, and an expressiveness that is precisely as sentimental as its subject matter requires. Beyoncé is R&B's field marshal, demanding of her listeners and herself an absolute fidelity to the music's emotional possibilities, with a perfectly modulated vehemence that is as captivating as it is tyrannical. "Pull me in close and don't let me go," she commands, but here it's her own grasp that is thrillingly assured. --Tim Finney
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The Guardian
Best albums of 2011, No 4: Beyoncé – 4
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People who don't like R&B like Beyoncé, so it was understandably confusing when her fourth solo album turned out to be refined, straight-up R&B. Unlike most of her peers, who have spent the past couple of years chasing the Guetta effect – layering Euro-synths on pop-step woomphs to create homogenised commercial R&B – Beyoncé kept it classy. People complained 4 had too many ballads, it had no hits, it was nothing like the energetic Major Lazer-sampling first single Run the World (Girls). But that track was a red herring – a Single Ladies sequel suggesting ultra-modern glitches and more of the same Sasha Fierce-ness.
Instead, 4 ended up being a more muso affair, but without the death knell of dullness that term suggests. It was the sound of a pop star maturing, usually a polite way of saying "getting boring" or "giving up", but which Beyoncé effortlessly pulled off. This was partly owing to her choice of co-writers/producers. Madonna has only just cottoned on to Nicki Minaj and MIA; as one of the biggest singers in the world, it's a sign of confidence that Beyoncé trusted most of this to the-Dream. He wrote or produced (or both) its finest songs, from the blubby vocal-flexing showcase 1+1 to the dancehall-driven Countdown, and the twitchy, brassy End of Time, one of the few tracks she didn't release as a single, though she really should have. The excellent, understated slow jam I Miss You, meanwhile, was a Frank Ocean collaboration, again putting her ahead of the game where others were trying to catch up.
When 4 was released in June, it got middling reviews. Beyoncé was riding high on her Glastonbury headline performance, having just wowed 70,000 people with her spectacular showmanship and a hit-heavy set. 4's mid-tempo pacing and retro nods – to 70s funk and 90s soul, and even to Prince-style 80s pop on bonus track Schoolin' Life – must have felt like a comedown, because it didn't immediately seem like she was pushing things forward. But 4 isn't immediate. Most pop is instant, chasing a cheap thrill; that's what's so exciting about it, but it can feel unsustainable, too. This is the sound of a world-class superstar, insisting she's in it for the long haul.
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MTV: top songs of the year
09. Beyoncé, "Love on Top": You wanted a throwback jam, you've got a throwback jam. Big, bold, brassy and blissed-out, it represents everything B was going for on her 4 album, recalling roiling old R&B classics and the supreme diva-tude of the all-time greats. Sure, I could've gone for something like "Run the World (Girls)" or even "Countdown," but "Love on Top" is where it all clicks, sublimely so. Joy for days, which, given our dire times, made this one an absolute lifesaver. Oh, and as is the case with all of her best tunes, Beyoncé belts here. And really, what else do you need?
SLANT TOP SINGLES OF 2011:
24. Beyoncé, "Love on Top."
With merely respectable sales and a paltry two Grammy nominations (when, just last year, she was bestowed a second nomination for the same track she'd been nominated for a year earlier), Beyoncé's 4 has languished long enough that it's no doubt going to emerge someday as her great, underappreciated masterpiece, her Fulfillingness' First Finale. Even if it doesn't, somewhere between the disc's copious ballads and its few, hyperventilating dance tracks, Beyoncé strikes a perfect balance with this breezy midtempo tribute to the 1980s (even though she can't resist throwing in about 17 key changes). The video's NKOTB choreography puts the icing on top.
Eric Henderson
Pitchfork Top 50 Albums of 2011
27. Beyoncé - 4
If you're one of the most successful and talented people in the world and are married to another one of the most successful and talented people in the world, there's danger in releasing an album about how awesome your relationship is. But 4 works thematically because Beyoncé isn't bragging; she's singing about how she feels happy, at ease, and loved. Since that's all anybody really wants, who could be mad at it? Beyond that, the record is a showcase of what Mrs. Carter-Knowles does so well, which is collecting great beats, singing her lungs out over top of them, and offering something for everybody along the way. You've got the so-thumping-it's-almost-silly club banger ("Countdown"), the even-your-mom-loves-it tearjerker ("1+1"), the empowerment jam ("Best Thing I Never Had"), and a few more heaters. Personal contentment, it seems, has done wonders for her artistic restlessness. --
Joe Colly
Stereogum's
Top 10 videos of 2011
The Gummy Awards: Your Top 10 Music Videos Of 2011
:winning:
01. Beyoncé – “Countdown”
Billboard critic's picks:
Best 20 Singles of 2011
12. Countdown - Beyoncé
Is there anyone on the planet who says the word "boo" better than Beyonce?
"Still love the way he talk, still love the way I sing" -- Just a reminder that this song is about Jay-Z
The Bob Fosse fever dream that is the utterly fantastic "Countdown" video
MTV:
Best Live MTV Performances Of 2011
#4 - Beyoncé, VMAs
At this year's MTV Video Music Awards, Beyoncé hit the stage in a sparkly tux and a glowing smile that never faded as — in typical Sasha Fierce fashion — she worked the crowd. From the effervescent single "Love on Top" (from her critically acclaimed 4) to her nod to the Motown era, the performance was ebullient. But it was the very last moment in her set that ensured it would go down in the VMA annals. Mrs. Carter, with a little hip-hop swagger, dropped the mic, opened her jacket and revealed an adorable baby bump. Leave it to the Queen B to rock the house, make headlines and set Twitter records all at once. — Andrea Duncan-Mao
NewYorker
Culture desk:
"Best singer" of 2011 article
New York Times: (albums)
From Retro Yuck to Foodie rap
10. BEYONCÉ “4” (Columbia) That this has been Beyoncé’s least commercially successful album is actually an accomplishment. Finally this superstar is shedding her obligations to the masses and focusing on her obligations to her voice. If the results are a bit old-fashioned, so be it. She’s earned the right to age on her own terms.
CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND:
Top 50 Albums of 2011
13. Beyoncé – 4
Born from bits and pieces of Fela Kuti, Broadway musicals, and Lionel Richie, 4 is simultaneously one of Beyoncé’s most musically diverse and personal records. It’s a master class, of sorts, of pop music over the last 40 years. From the mega-sized R&B/show tune/love anthem of “Countdown” to the old-school swag of “Party” featuring André 3000, 4 is a hit factory extravaganza – only with more substance. It’s incredibly personal; far deeper than anything else in her otherwise emotionally available career. Yet it’s also quite compact, doing away with some fluff and filler that plagued her past LPs. Already, we’re bubbling over with joyous anticipation for what 5 has to offer.
-Chris Coplan
CMU Artist Of the Year (selected as one of ten)
Quote:
Beyonce
Beyonce¡¯s ¡®Run The World (Girls)¡¯ launched her fourth studio album, ¡¯4¡ä. Although not as successful as hoped, the ¡¯4¡ä crusade strutted on, with second single ¡®Best Thing I Never Had¡¯ coinciding with a headline set at Glastonbury, a marathon demonstration of her supreme stagecraft, and one of the more glamorous showbiz spectacles yet to flood the Pyramid Stage¡¯s iconic outline.
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(Full review available
here)
Pretty Much Amazing: Best Albums of 2011
34 Beyoncé – 4
GUARDIAN (UK) INDIVIDUAL CRITICS LIST:
Their top 10 albums and tracks of 2011. Then we tallied up their votes, awarding 10 points for first place, nine points for second place and so on, ending with a solitary point for any albums in 10th place. The total number of points were counted and any ties were decided by who got the most first-place votes.
Alex MacPherson
Albums
:winning: 1. Beyoncé - 4
Ben Beaumont Thomas
Albums
7. Beyonce - 4
Tracks
4. Beyonce - I Miss You
Caspar Llewellyn Smith
Albums
5. Beyonce - 4
Tracks
4. Beyonce - Countdown
Dan Hancox
Albums
2. Beyonce – 4
Tracks
4. Beyonce – Best Thing I Never Had
Michael Cragg
Albums
:winning: 1. Beyonce - 4
Tracks
:winning: 1. Beyonce - Countdown
Rebecca Nicholson
Albums
2. Beyonce - 4
Tracks
9. Beyonce - I Miss You
Sam Wolfson
Albums
:winning: 1. 4 - Beyonce
Sean Michaels
Tracks
:winning: 1. Beyoncé - 1+1
Sian Rowe
Albums
6. Beyonce - 4
Tracks
5. Beyonce - Countdown
Tom Ewing
Tracks
9. Beyonce - Schoolin' Life
One Thirty BPM - Top 50 Albums of 2011
[QUOTE]
44.Beyonce - 4
For many people, 2011 will be remembered as the year that Beyonce made her first truly brilliant album. Though it has been damn near impossible to deny her talent as both a singer and a performer since she first gained stardom with Destiny’s Child, Beyonce as a songwriter always had room for improvement. Each of her three previous solo albums had genuine highlights to be sure, but 4 marked the first time where Beyonce had crafted an album that can and should be taken in as more than merely a collection of good songs. As an even greater testament to her success with 4, the only track on the album that sounds out of place, (“I Was Here”), is also the only one on which Beyonce is not listed as a co-writer. 4 is the album where arguably this generation’s most talented female pop-star threw caution to the wind and acknowledged that she had nothing left to prove. With this boldness came an influx of wide-ranging influences from psych-R&B (“1+1″), to Fela Kuti inspired afrobeat (“Countdown”), and everything in between. By diversifying her sound, Beyonce crafted her best and most personal work yet. 4 is as bereft of pandering as it is of filler and for a woman so close to the center of the cultural zeitgeist to have created such a work is worth applauding.
I prefere this angle 
