My Five Most Anticipated Music Releases of 2011

The new year has arrived, which means a flurry of new music from our favorite artists. Here are the five albums that I will be checking for in the coming twelve months.

5. F.A.M.E. - Chris Brown
If you took away some of the more annoying elements (like his whining about the media and his undeserving braggadocio), Graffiti could have been a great album. However, the past is the past and he is raring and ready to drop his newest album, F.A.M.E., which is an acronym for For All My Enemies (commence the eye-rolling). The excellence of "Yeah 3x" definitely has me interested in what he's going to  produce and whether he can reclaim his chart glory.

4. Yet to be titled - Leona Lewis
Despite the flop that it was, Leona's sophomore album Echo was truly amazing, showing the British diva exhibiting some artistic growth. Her third album is due out this year, with a single in the spring, so I am really excited to see what she can come up with. Hopefully, it won't be a dreary Ryan Tedder ballad and will instead be a bit more uptempo ("Outta My Head" was the biggest missed opportunity ever)

3. Yet to be titled - Britney Spears
Britney Spears is an American institution at this point. Anything she does can garner at least a third page headline worldwide. Her upcoming album, with the release of the first single reportedly this month, is itching to return her to the top of the pop heap. After the #1 success of "3", and the excellent reception of her past two albums Blackout and Circus, it isn't crazy to expect the best from pop's inimitable princess.

2. Yet to be titled - Beyoncé
This decade's answer to Whitney took a much deserved break in 2010, which for her meant starring in the year's best music video and touring the world. However, 2011 marks the return of the woman who brought us the iconic "Single Ladies". Speculating about the content would be quite frankly pointless, since everything Beyoncé touches goes multi-platinum anyway. It would just be best to sit back with your iPod headphones in and enjoy.

1. Born This Way - Lady Gaga
Either the hype will elevate her to megastar status, or destroy her already impressive career. Either way, everyone is already talking about Lady Gaga's outrageously-anticipated third album Born This Way. In fact, she even pissed off fans when she revealed they wouldn't be able to hear her self-proclaimed best record until May. MAY!

What album are you looking forward to the most? Do you think any of these releases are going to flop, disappointment, or excel?