2011 Pop Culture History

In 2011, the most-wanted man in the world was killed in Pakistan by Navy SEALs, the Arab Spring toppled governments across the Middle East, Harry Potter said goodbye after a decade, and Adele released an album that outsold nearly everything else on earth. Oprah ended her show. Steve Jobs died. Beyoncé announced a pregnancy at the MTV VMAs and broke Twitter. Charlie Sheen declared himself winning. By almost any measure, 2011 gave everyone a lot to talk about.

Quick Facts from 2011

• World-Changing Event: Snapchat launched on September 16, 2011; Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2, 2011
• Top Song: Rolling in the Deep by Adele, the best-performing single of the year on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100
• Influential Songs: Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons, It Will Rain by Bruno Mars, Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People, Born This Way by Lady Gaga
• Must-See Movies: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, The Help, Bridesmaids, Midnight in Paris, The Artist, and Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol
• People’s Sexiest Man Alive: Bradley Cooper
• Notable Book: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
• Price of a Gallon of Gas: $3.58
• Croft and Barrow Necktie: $34.00
• Nike Sneakers: $59.99 per pair
• The Funny Guy: Daniel Tosh
• The Billionaire: J.K. Rowling was the youngest self-made female billionaire in 2011, though substantial charitable giving has since reduced her net worth considerably
• Fun Fact: In 2011, it cost 2.41 cents to manufacture a single American penny
• Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Rabbit, associated with elegance, diplomacy, and good luck; people born in rabbit years are said to be kind, perceptive, and unusually good at staying out of trouble
• The Conversation: Did you hear they got bin Laden? Also, are you watching the Royal Wedding?

Top Ten Baby Names of 2011

Girls: Sophia, Isabella, Emma, Olivia, Ava
Boys: Jacob, Mason, William, Jayden, Noah

Sophia claimed the top spot for girls, beginning a run that would keep it at or near number one for several years. Jacob had been the most popular boys’ name in America for thirteen consecutive years at this point, a record that would hold just a little longer before Noah began its rise.

Fashion Icons and Sex Symbols of 2011

Mila Kunis, Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway, Katy Perry, Emma Watson, Bar Refaeli, Blake Lively, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Cobie Smulders, Olivia Munn, Cameron Diaz, Kate Middleton

Kate Middleton arrived on this list via one of the most-watched events of the year. Jennifer Lawrence was about to become a household name. Mila Kunis had Friends with Benefits and Black Swan in the same 12-month window, which was no coincidence given the cultural conversation around her.

The Heartthrobs of 2011

Colin Firth, Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Taylor Lautner, Johnny Depp, Rob Pattinson, Hugh Laurie, Joe Manganiello, Tim Tebow, Brad Pitt

The Quote

“I’m winning.” — Charlie Sheen, in approximately 400 separate media appearances between January and April 2011, during a public meltdown that generated more coverage than most actual news events and briefly made “winning” an ironic cultural catchphrase

Time Magazine’s Person of the Year

The Protester, recognizing the wave of popular uprisings that swept through 2011 — the Arab Spring that toppled governments in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen; the Occupy Wall Street movement that spread to cities across the United States and 82 countries by October; and protest movements from Moscow to Athens. Time described it as the most significant year for popular protest since 1989.

Miss America and Miss USA

Miss America: Teresa Scanlan, Gering, Nebraska — at 17, the youngest Miss America since 1937
Miss USA: Alyssa Campanella, Los Angeles, California

We Lost in 2011

Steve Jobs, co-founder and visionary force behind Apple, died October 5, 2011, at age 56, of complications from pancreatic cancer. He had resigned as CEO in August, citing his inability to continue leading the company. His biography by Walter Isaacson, published two weeks after his death, became one of the year’s best-selling books. The outpouring following his death was global in scale. When Jobs died, the volume of tweets per second surpassed even the record set by Beyoncé’s pregnancy announcement at the VMAs six weeks earlier.

Amy Winehouse, whose voice was one of the most distinctive in contemporary music and whose debut album Back to Black had made her a phenomenon, was found dead in her London home on July 23, 2011, at age 27. The cause was accidental alcohol poisoning. She became the latest member of the so-called 27 Club, joining Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, and Kurt Cobain. Her album Back to Black returned to the top of the UK charts following her death and became the best-selling album of the 21st century in Britain.

Elizabeth Taylor, one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood’s golden era and one of the most recognizable faces of the 20th century, died March 23, 2011, at age 79 of congestive heart failure. She had been married eight times to seven husbands, won two Academy Awards for Best Actress, and was one of the first major celebrities to publicly advocate for AIDS research, long before it was comfortable to do so.

Joe Frazier, heavyweight champion of the world and one of the defining figures in the history of boxing, died November 7, 2011 at age 67 of liver cancer. His three fights with Muhammad Ali — the Fight of the Century, the Super Fight, and the Thrilla in Manila — are among the most celebrated in the sport’s history. The Thrilla in Manila in 1975 is widely regarded as the greatest boxing match ever fought.

Andy Rooney, whose curmudgeonly weekly commentary segment on 60 Minutes had been a fixture of American Sunday evenings since 1978, died November 4, 2011, at age 92, just five weeks after delivering his final commentary.

Peter Falk, whose portrayal of the rumpled, ostensibly bumbling detective Columbo made him one of the most beloved television actors in American history, died June 23, 2011, at age 83.

Clarence Clemons, the saxophonist for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band whose instrument was as much a signature of that sound as Springsteen’s voice, died June 18, 2011, at age 69, of complications from a stroke.

America in 2011 — The Context

Barack Obama was in the third year of his presidency. The economy remained sluggish, unemployment hovered near 9 percent, and the debate over the Affordable Care Act — signed into law in 2010 — was still generating enormous political heat. The national debt ceiling crisis dominated the summer, with Congress and the White House battling to the last moment before a deal was reached in August. Standard and Poor’s downgraded the United States’ credit rating for the first time in history, from AAA to AA+, in the immediate aftermath.

On May 2, 2011, President Obama announced in a late-night address that Osama bin Laden had been killed by U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six during a raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The announcement came nearly ten years after the September 11 attacks. Crowds gathered spontaneously outside the White House and at Ground Zero in New York. The operation was conducted without notifying Pakistani authorities in advance, which created its own diplomatic complications.

The Arab Spring, which began with a single act of protest in Tunisia in December 2010, evolved into a regional movement that overthrew the governments of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen in 2011. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned in February after 30 years in power. Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was captured and killed by rebel forces in October after 42 years in power. The outcomes in each country varied considerably, and the movement’s initial optimism gave way in many places to prolonged instability.

The Occupy Wall Street movement began on September 17, 2011, when protesters gathered at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan to protest economic inequality, corporate influence in politics, and the concentration of wealth in the top 1 percent of earners. The phrase “We are the 99 percent” entered the political vocabulary. The movement spread to 82 countries by October. New York City cleared Zuccotti Park of protesters in November, and most encampments were eventually dispersed, but the conversation about inequality it amplified continued well beyond 2011.

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the northeastern coast of Japan, triggering a massive tsunami that devastated the Tohoku region and killed approximately 15,900 people. The tsunami also caused a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986. The disaster caused an estimated $235 billion in damage, making it the costliest natural disaster in recorded history.

The Space Shuttle program ended in 2011 after 30 years of operation. The final mission, STS-135, was flown by Atlantis, which landed at Kennedy Space Center on July 21, 2011. A total of 135 missions had flown since 1981. The program had carried 355 individuals into space, deployed and serviced the Hubble Space Telescope, and helped build the International Space Station.

The Royal Wedding

On April 29, 2011, Prince William married Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London. The ceremony was attended by approximately 1,900 guests, with one million spectators lining the streets of London and an estimated two billion watching on television worldwide. It was the most-watched television event of the year globally. Coverage began the night before in many countries and continued throughout the day. A commemorative plate industry emerged immediately.

The Scandal

Charlie Sheen was fired from Two and a Half Men in January 2011 following a series of public outbursts, erratic behavior, and a very public feud with show creator Chuck Lorre. What followed was one of the stranger public spectacles in recent entertainment history. Sheen launched a one-man media tour that included the phrase “winning” repeated across interviews, television appearances, and eventually a live tour called the Torpedo of Truth, which opened to largely negative reviews. He set a Guinness World Record for the fastest time to reach one million Twitter followers. Two and a Half Men continued without him, recast with Ashton Kutcher. Sheen later starred in Anger Management, which turned out to be quite a reasonable title given the circumstances.

The Penn State child sex abuse scandal broke in November 2011, when former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was charged with 52 counts of sexual abuse of minors over a 15-year period. Head coach Joe Paterno, one of the most celebrated figures in college football history with 409 career wins, was fired by the university’s board of trustees amid questions about what he knew and when. Paterno died of lung cancer on January 22, 2012, less than three months after his dismissal. The scandal triggered a broad reckoning with institutional failure and the protection of powerful figures.

Pop Culture Facts and History

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 opened on July 15, 2011, ending a film franchise that had run for 10 years, 8 films, and the entire childhood of a generation of moviegoers. The film grossed $1.34 billion worldwide and was the highest-grossing film of the year. The franchise as a whole grossed over $7.7 billion, making it the highest-grossing film series in history at the time.

Adele’s album 21 was the best-selling album in the world in 2011, eventually selling over 30 million copies. Rolling in the Deep was the best-performing single of the year on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100. Adele performed Someone Like You at the MTV VMAs with no production other than a piano, and the resulting response — including visibly emotional reactions from the audience — became one of the most discussed live performances of the year.

Katy Perry tied Michael Jackson’s record of five number-one singles from a single album when Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) reached the top spot, joining California Gurls, Teenage Dream, Firework, and E.T. as number ones from Teenage Dream. Jackson’s record had stood since Bad in 1987.

Game of Thrones premiered on HBO on April 17, 2011, and drew 2.2 million viewers for its debut. By the time it ended, it would become the most-watched series in HBO history. The first episode established clearly that this was a show in which characters audiences had been encouraged to identify with could be killed without warning. The audience adjusted accordingly.

Beyoncé announced her pregnancy at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards by performing Love on Top, then opening her jacket to reveal her baby bump. The announcement generated 8,868 tweets per second, a record at the time. Blue Ivy Carter was born on January 7, 2012.

The Oprah Winfrey Show ended on May 25, 2011, after 25 years and 4,561 episodes. No daytime talk show in American television history had run longer or reached more people. The finale, in which Oprah spoke directly to her audience without guests or production elements, drew 16.4 million viewers. Her OWN network had launched earlier that year.

Bridesmaids, written by and starring Kristen Wiig and directed by Paul Feig, opened in May 2011 and grossed $169 million on a $32 million budget, making it the highest-grossing R-rated female-led comedy in history at that point. Its success was widely credited with changing Hollywood’s calculus on female-driven studio comedies. Wiig was nominated for an Academy Award for her screenplay.

Ed Sheeran released his debut single The A Team in June 2011. Game of Thrones premiered. Twitch.tv, the video game streaming platform, launched as a spinoff from Justin.tv. Minecraft was officially released to the public after two years of beta testing. Wordle would not arrive for another decade, but the infrastructure of internet distraction was advancing rapidly.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark opened on Broadway on June 14, 2011, after the most troubled production in Broadway history, marked by multiple delays, director replacements, and injuries to several performers during the flying sequences. It ran until January 4, 2014, grossed over $75 million, and managed to recoup its production costs despite everything.

Rebecca Black released the music video for Friday on YouTube in February 2011. Within days, it had accumulated millions of views and was the most discussed song on the internet, almost entirely for unflattering reasons. It is widely cited as one of the most significant early examples of viral internet fame through mockery, a category that has only grown since.

Dynamic Eye Sunglasses, invented by Chris Mullin, used liquid-crystal lenses to instantly block sun glare without the wearer needing to do anything. The technology represented a significant departure from the standard tinted-lens approach that had remained unchanged for decades.

Nobel Prize Winners in 2011

Physics was awarded to Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt, and Adam Riess for their discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe. Their observations of distant supernovae in the late 1990s led to the conclusion that the universe is not merely expanding but expanding at an increasing rate, driven by what has become known as dark energy. The discovery overturned longstanding assumptions about the ultimate fate of the cosmos.

Chemistry went to Dan Shechtman for his discovery of quasicrystals — materials with atomic structures that follow mathematical rules previously thought impossible in nature. When Shechtman first reported his findings in 1982, he was asked to leave his research group. He was vindicated thoroughly.

Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Bruce Beutler, Jules Hoffmann, and Ralph Steinman for their work on the immune system — specifically, the discovery of the mechanisms of innate immunity. Steinman received his prize posthumously; he had died three days before the announcement, which the Nobel Committee determined did not disqualify him under their rules.

Literature went to Tomas Tranströmer of Sweden, a poet whose spare, imagistic work had been widely translated and whose influence on contemporary poetry was acknowledged long before the prize formalized it.

Peace was awarded to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakkol Karman for their nonviolent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work. Sirleaf, the president of Liberia, was the first woman elected head of state in Africa.

Economics went to Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims for their empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy, work that helped economists understand how policy changes and economic shocks propagate through national economies over time.

2011 Toys Inducted to the National Toy Hall of Fame

Hot Wheels, the Dollhouse, and the Blanket were inducted in 2011. The inclusion of the Blanket — a security object rather than a manufactured toy — acknowledged the role of comfort objects in childhood development, which some observers found endearing and others found a curious choice given the competition.

2011 Christmas Gifts and First Appearances

The LeapFrog LeapPad and the Amazon Kindle Fire were the dominant holiday gifts of 2011. The Kindle Fire launched at $199 and sold out within days, establishing Amazon as a serious competitor in the tablet market that Apple’s iPad had created the year before.

Broadway in 2011

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark opened on June 14, 2011, at the Foxwoods Theatre, after one of the most complicated pre-opening periods in Broadway history. The production, initially directed by Julie Taymor, with music by Bono and The Edge, cost an estimated $75 million, making it the most expensive Broadway production ever mounted. Multiple cast injuries during aerial sequences drew tabloid coverage before a single paying audience had seen the show. Taymor was eventually replaced. The show ran until January 4, 2014.

Best Film Oscar Winner

The King’s Speech, directed by Tom Hooper and starring Colin Firth as King George VI and Geoffrey Rush as his unconventional speech therapist, won Best Picture at the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27, 2011, for the 2010 film year. Colin Firth won Best Actor. The film had been a modest British production that became a word-of-mouth phenomenon. Helena Bonham Carter was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

2011 Entries to the National Film Registry

Allures (1961)
Bambi (1942)
The Big Heat (1953)
A Computer Animated Hand (1972)
Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963),
El Mariachi (1992),
Faces (1968)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Growing Up Female (1971)
Hester Street (1975)
The Iron Horse (1924)
The Kid (1921)
The Lost Weekend (1945)
The Negro Soldier (1944)
Norma Rae (1979)
Porgy and Bess (1959)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Stand and Deliver (1988)
Twentieth Century (1934)
War of the Worlds (1953)

Top Movies of 2011

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
4. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1
5. Kung Fu Panda 2
6. Fast Five
7. Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol
8. The Hangover Part II
9. The Smurfs
10. Cars 2

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 crossed $1 billion worldwide in its first 11 days, faster than any film in history at the time. Fast Five reinvented the Fast and Furious franchise as an action heist series rather than a street-racing series, setting the template for every subsequent installment and an additional decade of box-office success. Bridesmaids, despite not landing in the top ten by total gross, was arguably the most culturally discussed film of the year.

Most Popular TV Shows of 2011

NBC Sunday Night Football, American Idol, The Voice, Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, The X Factor, 2 Broke Girls, Grey’s Anatomy, and New Girl dominated broadcast viewing in 2011. The Walking Dead completed its second season and was already outpacing most cable television shows in viewership. Game of Thrones debuted to 2.2 million viewers and is growing. Two and a Half Men replaced Charlie Sheen with Ashton Kutcher and, defying most predictions, continued to draw significant audiences.

2011 Billboard Number One Hits

January 1 – January 7: Firework — Katy Perry (carryover from late 2010)
January 8 – January 14: Grenade — Bruno Mars
January 15 – January 21: Firework — Katy Perry
January 22 – January 28: Grenade — Bruno Mars
January 29 – February 4: Hold It Against Me — Britney Spears
February 5 – February 11: Grenade — Bruno Mars
February 19 – February 25: Black and Yellow — Wiz Khalifa
February 26 – April 8: Born This Way — Lady Gaga (6 weeks)
April 9 – April 29: E.T. — Katy Perry featuring Kanye West
April 30 – May 6: S&M — Rihanna featuring Britney Spears
May 7 – May 13: E.T. — Katy Perry featuring Kanye West
May 21 – July 8: Rolling in the Deep — Adele (7 weeks)
July 9 – July 15: Give Me Everything — Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack, and Nayer
July 16 – August 26: Party Rock Anthem — LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock (6 weeks)
August 27 – September 9: Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) — Katy Perry
September 10 – September 16: Moves Like Jagger — Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera
September 17 – September 23: Someone Like You — Adele
September 24 – October 7: Moves Like Jagger — Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera
October 15 – November 11: Someone Like You — Adele (5 weeks)
November 12 – December 31: We Found Love — Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris (8 weeks, continuing into 2012)

Adele dominated 2011 in a way few artists have dominated any single year. Rolling in the Deep was the best-performing single of the year on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100. Someone Like You spent five weeks at number one. Her album 21 outsold every other album worldwide. Lady Gaga’s Born This Way became the 1,000th number-one single in Billboard Hot 100 history. Katy Perry tied Michael Jackson’s record of five number-one singles from a single album.

Sports Champions of 2011

World Series: The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Texas Rangers four games to three in one of the most dramatic World Series in recent memory. Game 6 saw the Cardinals twice within one strike of elimination, rallying to tie the game twice before winning in the 11th inning. David Freese, the Cardinals’ third baseman, drove in the tying runs with a two-out, two-strike triple in the ninth and hit the walk-off home run in the 11th. He was named Series MVP.

Super Bowl XLV: The Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 on February 6, 2011, in Arlington, Texas. Aaron Rodgers was named Super Bowl MVP, throwing for 304 yards and three touchdowns. It was Green Bay’s fourth Super Bowl championship and their first since 1997.

NBA Champions: The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat four games to two, denying LeBron James his first championship in his first season with the Heat. Dirk Nowitzki was named Finals MVP. The Heat had been widely expected to win, and the reaction to their loss — which included footage of James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh appearing to celebrate prematurely during the season — became a significant story in itself.

Stanley Cup: The Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks four games to three. Game 7 was played in Vancouver, and the Bruins won 4-0. A riot broke out in downtown Vancouver following the game, causing millions in damage and resulting in hundreds of arrests. Tim Thomas won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP and posted a .940 save percentage for the playoffs.

U.S. Open Golf: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland won his first major at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, setting the U.S. Open scoring record with a 16-under par total. He was 22 years old. His four-shot victory was the largest margin of victory in the U.S. Open since 2000.

U.S. Open Tennis: Novak Djokovic won the men’s title and Samantha Stosur of Australia won the women’s, defeating Serena Williams in the final. Djokovic’s 2011 season is considered one of the greatest in tennis history: he won three of the four Grand Slams, finished with a 70-6 record, and held the world number one ranking for the first time.

Wimbledon: Novak Djokovic won the men’s title and Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic won the women’s, defeating Maria Sharapova in the final. It was Kvitova’s first Grand Slam title.

NCAA Football: Auburn won the BCS National Championship in January 2011 for the 2010 season. North Dakota State won the FCS National Championship in 2011, its first of what would become an extraordinary dynasty at that level.

NCAA Basketball: The Connecticut Huskies, seeded third in the East Region, won the national championship, defeating Butler 53-41 in the final in Houston. Kemba Walker was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after leading the Huskies through five consecutive games decided by six points or fewer in the Big East tournament beforehand.

Kentucky Derby: Animal Kingdom won in 2:02.04, trained by Graham Motion. It was the longest winning margin in the Derby since 1946. Animal Kingdom had run only twice before the race and was a 20-1 longshot. He never won a major race again, though he was retired soundly.

Frequently Asked Questions About 2011

Q: When was Osama bin Laden killed?
A: U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six killed Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, during a raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. President Obama announced the operation in a late-night address. The raid was conducted without advance notification to Pakistani authorities.

Q: What was the Arab Spring?
A: A wave of popular uprisings that swept the Middle East and North Africa beginning in late 2010. In 2011, protest movements toppled governments in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned after 30 years in power. Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was killed by rebel forces after 42 years. The outcomes across the region varied from democratic transitions to prolonged civil conflicts.

Q: What happened at Fukushima in 2011?
A: A magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Japan on March 11, 2011, triggered a tsunami that killed approximately 15,900 people and caused a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. It was the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. The disaster caused an estimated $235 billion in damage.

Q: Why did Charlie Sheen get fired from Two and a Half Men?
A: Charlie Sheen was fired in January 2011 following a series of public incidents, erratic behavior, and a public feud with the show’s creator, Chuck Lorre. What followed was a months-long media spectacle in which Sheen gave dozens of interviews, launched a live tour, and set a Guinness record for the fastest time to reach one million Twitter followers. Ashton Kutcher replaced him on the show.

Q: What record did Katy Perry break in 2011?
A: When Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) reached number one, it became the fifth number-one single from her album Teenage Dream, tying Michael Jackson’s record of five number-one singles from a single album, set with Bad in 1987.

Q: How did Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 perform?
A: It was the highest-grossing film of 2011, earning $1.34 billion worldwide. It crossed the billion-dollar threshold faster than any film in history at the time. The eight-film franchise grossed over $7.7 billion, making it the highest-grossing film series in history at the time.

Q: What was the Penn State scandal?
A: In November 2011, former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was charged with 52 counts of sexual abuse of minors spanning 15 years. Head coach Joe Paterno was fired by the university’s board of trustees amid questions about institutional knowledge of the abuse. Paterno died of lung cancer in January 2012. The case prompted widespread examination of how institutions protect powerful figures at the expense of victims.

In a year that killed the world’s most wanted man, ended the Space Shuttle program, closed the book on Harry Potter, and put Charlie Sheen on the cover of everything, 2011 was consistently surprising from January through December. Adele spent most of it at number one. The Rabbit, according to the Chinese zodiac, was supposed to bring elegance and diplomacy. Both were in shorter supply than advertised.