2010 was not a good year for everyone. In fact, for some, it was an absolute disaster and they are probably counting down the days to 2011. With that mind, for the next in my Looking Back at... 2010 series, here are the biggest epic fails of 2010.
5. Cheryl Cole - Last year, she was the nation's sweetheart who could do no wrong. This year, British pop singer and X Factor judge Cheryl Cole saw her world turned upside down in virtually every way, throwing her infallibility into doubt. First, it was revealed that her husband Ashley Cole cheated on her again, leading to their divorce. She started work on her second album, which was derailed by a nearly life-ending bout with malaria. She recovered, but she faced unbelievable backlash when, during the judge's house round of X Factor, she decided to not put fan favorite Gamu to the finals round. The outrage became worse when Gamu revealed that she faced deportation back to Africa because of Cheryl's decision. The Gamu incident would taint Cheryl's validity as a judge, along with criticism of her partly-mimed performance of her #1 single "Promise This" and her contestants Rebecca and Cher failing to win this season. It's been a traumatic year for Cheryl, but it's doubtful that she won't bounce right back.
4. Lindsay Lohan - It's hard to believe that the charming, sexy lead from Mean Girls devolved into the tragedy that was Lindsay Lohan this year. 2010 proved to be her worst year yet, and that's saying something. After violating the probationary terms of her DUI arrest in order to go to the Cannes Film Festival, Lindsay was sentenced to 90 days in jail on July 6th. The image of her sobbing at the verdict were splashed across newspapers worldwide, with little sympathy. Luckily for her, LA jails are overcrowded, so she was released after two weeks. Even after jail and mandatory rehab, she failed a drug test and was sent back to jail. She is currently cooling her heels in rehab until next year, probably thinking about how she got it so terribly wrong.
3. Microsoft - Last week, Facebook and Microsoft did a joint news conference. During that conference, Facebook CEO and movie subject Mark Zuckerberg referred to Microsoft as the underdog. Hmmm, that doesn't sound right. And yet, it's incredibly accurate. Once the computer company of the world, Microsoft has lost in nearly every category in the field. It lost the mobile computing war to Apple, the web search war to Google, the browser war to Firefox, and now it's in danger of losing ground in the OS war, thanks to the success of the Mac and the future release of Google's Chrome OS. While some argue that the Vista debacle caused irreparable damage to the behemoth, it's really a lack of innovation that derailed the house that Bill Gates built.
2. T.I. - Before heading to prison, he released Paper Trail and ruled the charts with hits like "Live Your Life". Leaving prison, the reaction has been lukewarm. Every single he's released has been a flop, and his album No Mercy entered the charts at #4 with 154,000 copies, a little more than a 1/5 of the first week sales of Paper Trail. If his sales weren't bad enough, then his stupidity should do the trick. The rapper and his wife were arrested for drug possession, and T.I. went back to jail for another year for violating his probation. Maybe 2012 will be a better year?
1. Christina Aguilera - Oh, Christina, what a year it's been, eh? The big-voiced diva had arguably the worst career era of the year, with many declaring her career over. It started with the release of her new single "Not Myself Tonight", which was met with terribly lukewarm reception. The song peaked at #23 on the US chart. The video didn't help matters at all, being criticized for it's similarities to Lady Gaga. Her album Bionic suffered from the single's flopping, debuting at #3 in the US with sales of 110,000, a third of her last studio effort, 2006's Back to Basics. In the UK, the album debuted at #1, with the lowest first-week sales for a #1 album in history. It then plummeted down to #29, the biggest drop from #1 in history. The bright spot of her year was Burlesque, which was met with mixed to poor reviews and middling box office success. Despite being one of the most talented vocalists of the past fifteen years, Aguilera's place in pop culture wasn't as secure as everyone thought. It makes you bring up the irony of her disparaging comments towards the pop juggernaut that is Lady Gaga.
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