The 20 biggest flops of 2011

The bombs, busts and epic fails of 2011, from Metallica, Joe Jonas, T-Pain and 17 other underachievers

For the first time in a decade, the music industry actually has cause to pop the champagne corks at year’s end. Album sales rose slightly in 2011, ending a sharp decline that began in 2001. So what if 2011’s tiny (1.3 percent!) boost in album sales was entirely attributable to a single record, Adele’s “21”? Albums are back, baby!

Unfortunately, for many artists, 2011 will not be remembered in such rosy terms. It was an especially brutal year for well-established rock acts (unless your name was Foo Fighters or Coldplay), veteran artists trying to stage comebacks (who says Stevie Nicks and Limp Bizkit have nothing in common?), Auto-Tuned R&B stars, and anyone who collaborated with Lou Reed. Here, based on Metromix’s highly unscientific crunching of the Billboard and Nielsen Soundscan sales figures, are 2011’s 20 biggest commercial disappointments.—Andy Hermann, Metromix

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