Our Best Rock Albums of 2011 list presents a year highlighted by the release of the best Tom Waits album of new songs in years. The brilliant Bad For Me album made many Tom Waits fans happy as it was a blend of all his previous styles augmented by a fresh sound that one could not stop listening to. Also on board in 2011 were new albums by the great Paul Simon, the mesmerizing Stevie Nicks, and the first new Cars albums in what seemed a hundred years. One of our favorite records was the release of the second Chickenfoot album titled Chickenfoot III for some reason. Sammy Hagar never disappoints. A big surprise was the release of Alice Cooper’s Welcome To My Nightmare 2. That was one we were not expecting.
The younger artists continued to release great records as Joss Stone issued her LP1 album that continued her exhilarating mix of soul, rock, and r&b. The stunning band Florence + The Machine also returned with a new record and rock fans got to enjoy a great new album by Soundgarden lead vocalist Chris Cornell.
# 50 – What Did You Expect from the Vaccines? – The Vaccines
# 49 – Codes and Keys – Death Cab for Cutie
# 48 – The Whole Love – Wilco
# 47 – Biophilia – Björk
# 46 -The King is Dead – The Decemberists
# 45 – Helplessness Blues – Fleet Foxes
# 44 – Goodbye Lullaby – Avril Lavigne
# 43 – Into the Wild – Uriah Heep
# 42 – Fly from Here – Yes
# 41 – Unconditional – Ana Popović
# 40 – Forevermore – Whitesnake
# 39 – Break the Spell – Daughtry
# 38 – In Waves – Trivium
# 37 –From Chaos to Eternity – Rhapsody of Fire
# 36 – Making Mirrors – Gotye
# 35 – Time of My Life – 3 Doors Down
# 34 – A Dramatic Turn of Events – Dream Theater
# 33 – Bon Iver – Bon Iver
# 32 – Torches – Foster the People
# 31 – The Path of Totality – Korn
# 30 – SuperHeavy – SuperHeavy
# 29 – Fallen Empires – Snow Patrol
# 28 – Collapse into Now – R.E.M.
# 27 – Panic of Girls – Blondie
# 26 – Night of Hunters – Tori Amos
# 25 – Welcome 2 My Nightmare – Alice Cooper
# 24 – Ukulele Songs – Eddie Vedder
# 23 – Eclipse – Journey
# 22 – Something to Die For – The Sounds
# 21 – Angles – The Strokes
# 20 – Going Out in Style – Dropkick Murphys
# 19 – Arabia Mountain – Black Lips
# 18 – Let England Shake – PJ Harvey
# 17 – Grace for Drowning – Steven Wilson
# 16 – Rough & Tumble – John Waite
# 15 – 50 Words for Snow – Kate Bush
# 14 – Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes – Social Distortion
# 13 – Hot Sauce Committee Part Two – Beastie Boys
# 12 -Mylo Xyloto – Coldplay
# 11 – Ceremonials – Florence + The Machine
# 10 – Wasting Light – Foo Fighters
# 9 – LP1 – Joss Stone
# 8 – So Beautiful or So What – Paul Simon
# 7 – Songbook – Chris Cornell
# 6 – The King of Limbs – Radiohead
# 5 – I’m with You – Red Hot Chili Peppers
# 4 – Move Like This – The Cars
# 3 – In Your Dreams – Stevie Nicks
# 2 – Chickenfoot III – Chickenfoot
# 1 – Bad as Me – Tom Waits
Best Rock Albums Of 2011 article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2022
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