Adele's '21' tops list of best CDs of 2011

Adele deservedly takes top billing on my list of best CDs released this year, but the other story line is 2011 was a very good year for rock. Five of my top 10 CDs rocked convincingly. And thats not counting Radiohead, the Tedeschi-Trucks Band or Wilco, which would also be considered rock bands, albeit with a slightly lighter touch. Here are the CDs that rocked me in 2011.

1. Adele: 21 (Columbia Records)

The competition for album of the year ended in the spring this year when 21 arrived. Headlined by Rolling In The Deep, an emphatic soul-flavored thumper with a powerhouse vocal, 21 shows that Adele has only grown more dynamic as a songwriter and performer since her auspicious 2009 debut, 19.

The remaining top 10

2. Wild Flag: Wild Flag (Merge)

3. Radiohead: The King of Limbs (self-released)

4. R.E.M.: Collapse Into Now (Warner Bros.)

5. The Roots: undun (Island/Def Jam)

6. The Black Keys: El Camino (Nonesuch)

7. The Strokes: Angles (RCA)

8. Tedeshi Trucks Band: Revelator (Sony Masterworks)

9. Wilco: The Whole Love (dBm/Anti-)

10. Foo Fighters: Wasting Light (Roswell/RCA)

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang: Sing It Loud (Nonesuch)

St. Vincent: Strange Mercy (Merge)

The Decemberists: The King Is Dead (Capitol)

Willie Nile: The Innocent Ones (River House Records)

Dawes: Nothing Is Wrong (ATO)