Summer 2011 may be over, but it was certainly one for the books in the music world. Aside from the countless summer anthems, there were some significant milestones made.

It’s no surprise that Adele’s 21 has been one of the most (if not the most) successful album of year, but it’s also breaking records. Not only has it remained in the top three on Billboard’s album chart for the entire duration of its release, but it has also spent 12 non-consecutive weeks at number one. This makes it the album that has spent the most weeks at the summit since 2000 when Santana spent a dozen weeks at the top with Supernatural. In addition to her album success, her single “Rolling The Deep” went to be one of the summer’s biggest hits.

Outside of Adele, Katy Perry made history of her own when the fifth single from her Teenage Dream album, “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) went to number one. This tied her with Michael Jackson for most number one singles from an album.

Once again, this summer was full of dance anthems perfect for every party. No doubt the song of the summer was LMFAO’s ‘Party Rock Anthem.” Other summer party anthems included Pitbull’s “Give Me Everything” featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer, Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass,” Hot Chelle Rae’s “Tonight, Tonight,” Britney Spears’ “I Wanna Go,” and Cobra Starship’s “You Make Me Feel…” featuring Sabi. We also saw Lady Gaga tone it down a little with “The Edge Of Glory” and Lil Wayne taught us “How To Love.”

Thanks to one of the summer’s most popular shows, The Voice, coaches Adam Levine (and his band Maroon 5) and Christina Aguilera teamed up for the summer’s hottest duet, “Moves Like Jagger.” However, the collaboration of the summer was clearly hip-hop icons Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch The Throne. The album was one of the most anticipated of the year, and it did not disappoint.

On a sad note, this summer also saw the loss of several irreplaceable artists. The first was E-Street saxophonist Clarence Clemons, who was featured on Gaga’s “Edge Of Glory” single at the time of his death. Warrant front man Jani Lane also passed away in addition to legendary songwriters Nick Ashford and Jerry Lieber. However, the summer’s biggest death was undeniably Amy Winehouse, who suddenly passed away in late July. Having been publically battling addition for years, her death was unfortunately far from shocking, but saw a huge outcry from fans and celebrities alike. Her career may have been short lived, but her talent will truly be remembered for years to come.