The Pop Culture Junkie podcast is running a special series of episodes looking back at the past decade, chronicling the highs and lows, at least from a pop culture standpoint. Each episode deals with two years (2010/2011 and 2012/2013 are out as of this writing) so we had to leave some stuff out. A year is a long time! So as a companion piece, here is a more in-depth look at each year in pop culture.

2011 HAD US ASKING…

• Is there anyone who didn’t love Adele?
• Why didn’t Kim Kardashian’s marriage (not that one, the first one) last?
• Were you a ghoster or a ghostee?

THE FILMS

Top films by the numbers: In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 we said goodbye to Harry, Ron and Hermione (at least, the film versions) for a long time. Breaking one book into two movies continued with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part 1, and the fourth film in the Mission Impossible franchise, Ghost Protocol was a top draw, and we also got a fourth entry in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, On Stranger Tides. Kung Fu Panda 2 was a kick and Cars 2 kept the motor running on the Pixar vehicle. Fast Five furiously throttled the competition, and The Hangover II proved that there is probably no limit to how much the public wants to see Cooper, Galifinakis and Helms et al instigate a little pre-wedding pandemonium. Marvel fleshed out the Avengers corps by giving us both Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, and we also got the quasi-Marvel movies X-Men: First Class and Ghost Rider II, and DC’s superhero entry for the year, Green Lantern, was more of a cautionary tale. Ryan Reynolds can’t be blamed for jumping ship to the Marvel family after this one. Cabin in the Woods added a twist to the horror movie template, while Contagion was and remains all too familiar. Another film that showed the end of the world was the aptly named Melancholia, and there was girl power galore in the raunch-com Bridesmaids and the fantasy-adventure Sucker Punch.

THE TUNES

Adele happened in 2011, and there was no one to stop her from having the number one hit of the year with ‘Rolling in the Deep’ and ‘Someone Like You’ and ‘Set Fire to the Rain’ also charted on Billboard‘s Hot 100. Acronymically-named LMFAO scored with their ‘Party Rock Anthem’ and Katy Perry continued to dominate with ‘Firework’ and ‘E.T.’ Pitbull charted with ‘Give Me Everything’ and Bruno Mars scored a direct hit with ‘Grenade’. Maroon 5’s Adam Levine and Christina Aguilera, his co-host on The Voice collaborated on the charts as well, scoring big with ‘Moves Like Jagger’. The Black Eyed Peas showed their staying power ‘On the Floor’ and the song with the most tragic backstory, ‘Pumped Up Kicks,’ brought Foster the People to the forefront. YouTuber Rebecca Black had a flash-in-the-pan hit with her ode to everyone’s favorite day of the workweek, ‘Friday.’ And Beyoncé gave us the female power anthem ‘Run the World (Girls)’ of Queen Bey’s monster hit album 4.

THE TELEVISION

The biggest show (in both scope, budget, and successfulness) to debut in 2011 was Game of Thrones, from the Song of Ice and Fire book series by George R.R. Martin. 2011 also was the year several long-running series kicked off, like Suits, Homeland, American Horror Story, Once Upon a Time, and New Girl. Black Mirror on Netflix aired the first of its twisted tales of tech gone wrong, and genre shows like Teen Wolf, Grimm, Terra Nova and Falling Skies premiered to varying success. On the comedy front, traditional sitcom Two Broke Girls and animated Bob’s Burgers were two different takes on working in restaurants, and Impractical Jokers pranked us all, but in a good way. Speaking of sitcoms, Charlie Sheen had to go bye-bye on Two and a Half Men, and he was replaced by the more stable Ashton Kutcher. The Voice was the feel-good alternative to it’s snarkier competition show cousin American Idol. And remakes of BBC shows for audiences on this side of the pond were just the thing: Skins, Shameless and Being Human all got remade (and recast) for North American audiences. But not always for the better.

THE TRENDS, TOYS AND TECH

The news in 2011 was good and bad. The Arab Spring brought liberation in the Middle East, while Occupy Wall Street didn’t really change much here. Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan by Seal Team Six, but sitting senator Gabby Giffords from Arizona was shot in the head by a gunman who opened fire on a constituent meeting in Tucson. Six people were killed in the attack, a child and a federal District Court judge. Giffords’ injury forced her to retire, but in 2020 her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly would be elected to her seat. In less stressful news, Congressman Anthony Weiner’s…um, weiner got him in a jam, and a computer called Watson beat human contestants on Jeopardy. President Obama roasted Donald Trump at the White House Correspondent’s dinner, which in retropect we now see had a lot of unpleasant consequences. Princess Diana’s eldest son Prince William got hitched to Kate, and while they are still married, Kim Kardashian’s marriage to some guy name Kris (same name as her mom, lol) lasted a scant 72 days. Beyoncé showed off her baby bump at the Video Music Awards; she and hubby Jay-Z welcomed baby Blue Ivy Carter the following January. Author E. L. James converted Twilight fanfiction into some steamy bondage novels with the three-book 50 Shades of Grey series and we were forced to acknowledge that there were quite a few moms who were inexplicably way into S&M. Laying down became a competitive sport when planking became popular enough to be featured in The Office. And speaking of fads, the first (but not last) death attributed to the taking of selfies was recorded this year when three teens were killed trying to get the perfect angle next to an oncoming train. Sigh.

In tech, Netflix screwed up big time by trying to separate its traditional DVD mailing service with its streaming service, which was really starting to take off. They wanted to force everyone who still wanted hard copies of movies to create a new account with Qwikster, and whether it was the dumb name or the extra steps, the public took a pass and Netflix was forced to admit defeat, which considering how much longer DVDs would be a thing, wasn’t a huge loss. In other misbegotten decisions, Google decided to come for Facebook by creating Google+, which was a swing and a miss for them too, though the site would cling to life till almost the end of the decade. In more successful news, the Kindle Fire took Amazon’s entry into the tablet market to the next level with color graphics and apps. Nintendo released the handheld gaming device 3DS to a public that wanted to upgrade from Game Boys. And finally, in 2011 Funko Pop began selling their collectible big-headed vinyl figures to great popularity; there are nearly 20,000 different figures available today.

THE MEMES AND CATCHPHRASES

Memes make the world go around, and nothing brings back the feeling of a year like a meme, viral video or the phrase that everyone, even your mom, was saying. While it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when one of these begins, it can be noted when something viral reaches critical mass, before becoming overused. Here’s a quick list of everything that had us talking in 2011.

• The cute little 8-bit Nyan Cat will forever wear a Pop Tart and fart rainbows, or whatever is happening in that gif
• Boys – men, really – expressed their love for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic by dubbing themselves Bronies
• Tebowing – kneeling down on one knee, fist to forehead and elbow to knee, named after the one-time Denver Bronco
• Charlie Sheen coined at least two catchphrases, by claiming in an unhinged television interview that he was “winning” (he wasn’t) and that he had “tiger blood” (he didn’t.)
• Speaking of tigers, the concept of “tiger moms,” which were highly motivated and maybe even manipulative parents became the thing to be (or avoid.)
• Thanks to Drake, we now say #YOLO – you only live once – when we are about to do something that might dramatically shorten the span of that life.
• The year gave us earworms, humblebrags, thirst traps and other strange ailments
• Poof! He (or she – I don’t know your preference) disappeared from the dating app/blocked you on Facebook/left you on read just as you had a good thing going, or so you thought. Congratulations. You have been ghosted!

SAYING GOODBYE

In 2011 we said goodbye to celebrities like Amy Winehouse, Elizabeth Taylor, Apple founder Steve Jobs, Macho Man Randy Savage, Heavy D, Columbo himself, Peter Falk, “Dr. Death” Jack Kevorkian, Doctor Who‘s Sarah Jane, Elisabeth Sladen, Nate Dogg and Bubba Smith. The Oprah Winfrey Show signed off for the last time, as did fellow chat show Larry King Live. In scripted television, we lost Friday Night Lights, Entourage, Hannah Montana, Big Love, Brothers and Sisters, Medium, and Supernanny. Soaps All My Children and One Life to Live drew to a close, and Katy Perry’s marriage to weaselly Russell Brand ended. Who could have seen that coming?

And that’s a bigger, better look at the year in pop culture, circa 2011.