What happened in 2011

“We Found Love”

Rihanna Featuring Calvin Harris · 8 weeks at #1 in 2011

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Spotify ↗Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

1. Jan 1FireworkKaty Perry2 wks
2. Jan 8GrenadeBruno Mars4 wks
3. Jan 29Hold It Against MeBritney Spears1 wk
4. Feb 19Black And YellowWiz Khalifa1 wk
5. Feb 26Born This WayLady Gaga6 wks
6. Apr 9E.T.Katy Perry Featuring Kanye West5 wks
7. Apr 30S&MRihanna Featuring Britney Spears1 wk
8. May 21Rolling In The DeepAdele7 wks
9. Jul 9Give Me EverythingPitbull Featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer1 wk
10. Jul 16Party Rock AnthemLMFAO Featuring Lauren Bennett & GoonRock6 wks
11. Aug 27Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)Katy Perry2 wks
12. Sep 10Moves Like JaggerMaroon 5 Featuring Christina Aguilera4 wks
13. Sep 17Someone Like YouAdele5 wks
14. Nov 12We Found LoveRihanna Featuring Calvin Harris8 wks

Dates are the first chart week at #1 in 2011; weeks count only those in 2011.Find the #1 song on your birthday →

1. Jan 1Estonia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the 17th Eurozone country.
2. Jan 1A suicide bombing took place outside a Coptic Orthodox Church in Alexandria, Egypt, following a New Year service, killing 23 people.
3. Apr 7The Israel Defense Forces use their Iron Dome missile system to successfully intercept a BM-21 Grad launched from Gaza, marking the first short-range missile intercept ever.
4. Apr 27During the most active day of the 2011 Super Outbreak 218 tornadoes killed 317 people across 16 U.S. states.
5. Apr 29Watched by a worldwide television audience of tens of millions, Prince William and Catherine Middleton were married at Westminster Abbey in London.
6. May 2Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six in his private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
7. Jul 9South Sudan gains independence and secedes from Sudan.
8. Aug 5NASA launched the Juno probe to Jupiter as part of the New Frontiers program.
9. Sep 11A dedication ceremony is held at the United States National September 11 Memorial on the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks in New York City, and the memorial opens to family members.
10. Sep 17Adbusters, a Canadian anti-consumerist publication, organized a protest against corporate influence on democracy at Zuccotti Park in New York City that became known as Occupy Wall Street.
11. Sep 20The United States military ended its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, consequently allowing gay and lesbian people to serve openly.
12. Oct 31The global population of humans reaches seven billion. This day is now recognized by the United Nations as the Day of Seven Billion.
13. Nov 18The sandbox video game Minecraft exited beta with the official release of version 1.0.
14. Nov 26NASA launched the Mars Science Laboratory mission from Cape Canaveral, carrying the Curiosity rover on board.

Event summaries from Wikipedia’s “On this day”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Each links to its article.

• U.S. President

  Barack Obama

• UK Prime Minister

  David Cameron

• Prime Minister of Canada

  Stephen Harper

• President of France

  Nicolas Sarkozy

• German Chancellor

  Angela Merkel

• Prime Minister of Japan

  Naoto Kan → Yoshihiko Noda

• President of Russia

  Dmitry Medvedev

Everyone who held the office at some point in 2011, from Wikidata.

A selection of the best-documented titles on Wikidata, by first release year; not a box-office ranking.

• Violet McGrawAmerican actress · Apr 22
• Yağız Kaan ErdoğmuşTurkish chess prodigy and grandmaster · Jun 3
• Lil BubAmerican celebrity cat (died 2019) · Jun 21

From Wikipedia’s “On this day”, CC BY-SA 4.0.