2011 was quite the year for American Idol, its new judges, and of course Idol contestants and alumni. Read what the media had to say about the year in review.

Steven Tyler on American Idol was Rolling Stone’s #9 of their “20 Best TV Moments of 2011.” They wrote, “Nobody thought it was possible, but the Aerosmith motormouth held his brain together on live TV…”

Yahoo! Music’s 2011 Best New Artists included our Season 10 runner-up, Lauren Alaina, saying, “Alaina arrived…the winsomeness with a hint of an earthy edge was all there in Wildflower, her coming-of-age debut.” In another Yahoo! Music article, “The 40 Best Singles of 2011,” the first American Idol, Kelly Clarkson was included for “I Forgive You.” The author stated, “I can think of a half-dozen tracks from Clarkson's terrific Stronger album that would have made (and still could be) better singles than the one picked. This is one of them: an anthem of unearned, barely given forgiveness that's as blissfully assured in its delivery as it is nervous and tentative in its sentiment.” The website also released their Most Anticipated Albums of 2012, which included Season 8 runner-up Adam Lambert for his upcoming March 20th due date for Trespassing, and Steven Tyler’s Aerosmith for their upcoming album (date TBD). They also included Idol country crooners Bucky Covington, Carrie Underwood, and Kellie Pickler on their 100 additional anticipated albums list.

In Billboard’s Top 20 Music Moments of 2011, they included “Music Reality TV Gets Its Mojo Back,” saying, “2011 brought a refreshing wave of music-based reality television. ‘American Idol’ unfurled a new line-up of judges, swapping Simon Cowell and Kara DioGuardi for Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez…victors and judges were all winners with ‘Idol’ champion Scotty McCreery becoming the first country act to debut at No. 1 with his debut album.”

Billboard.com’s Readers Poll asked fans for their favorites of 2011. Scotty McCreery was #3 in the category of Best Newcomer with 10% of the vote. “Best Comeback” was awarded to Jennifer Lopez with 47% of the vote, while Kelly Clarkson was the runner-up with 17%.

Next, I'll post where our Idols landed on Billboard.com's Year-End Charts.

American Idol returns in 2012! The two-night premiere is January 18 & 19 at 8/7c on FOX. Get the details.