If you’ve scrolled through your newsfeed on Twitter or Facebook in the past 12 months, you’ve undoubtedly seen the same names popping up time after time. MOVE has compiled a list of five of the stars who really made a name for themselves — good or bad — in 2011.
**Rebecca Black**
Happy Friday, everyone! Classes are finally over for the semester and now we all are just looking forward to the weekend. And who do we have to thank for that? None other than Miss Black herself.
The 14-year-old became a household name in March when her music video for “Friday” went viral. She acquired millions of views on YouTube within a short week — mostly to overwhelmingly negative reviews and even death threats.
But Black stayed strong. Through Funny or Die, The Tonight Show and Katy Perry’s music video for “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” Black proved that she has more backbone than your everyday freshman in high school. She has since released her next music video, “Person of Interest,” but you probably didn’t watch it.
**Naya Rivera**
Props to being the sole soul worth watching on “Glee” nowadays. With the steamy combination of Rivera’s sexy voice and lesbian side story, Santana is carrying “Glee” in its lackluster third season.
AfterEllen, a website targeting LGBTQ women, placed her in the top spot of its “Hot 100” list, and she climbed about 20 spots in Maxim’s same list. She won the American Latino Media Arts Award for favorite female music artist and hosted GLAAD’s Media Awards. And she snagged a solo record deal with Columbia Records in May.
Suffice it to say, she isn’t just a hottie — she has talent to back it up.
**Charlie Sheen**
#TIGERBLOOD HAHA #WINNING LMFAO.
Charlie Sheen jokes became the annoyance of the earlier half of the year after he went unarguably insane in an interview in which he publicly made defamatory comments about “Two and a Half Men” creator Chuck Lorre. In what might seem like a bad move for increasing fame, he was banned from the Warner Bros. production lot. Instantly, he was propelled into stardom.
He reached 1,000,000 Twitter followers faster than anyone, and his Comedy Central roast was watched by almost 6.5 million people. By now, though, he has mostly fallen out of the public eye. (Thank the lord).
**Emma Stone**
Her road to fame began in late 2010, but I think it’s safe to say she became a star in 2011. “Easy A” put her on the map, and she appeared in what seemed like every single movie for the rest of the year. Leading roles in “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” and “The Help” and a spot in “Friends with Benefits” helped make Stone quite easily the most recognizable new actress.
Next up on her agenda? “The Amazing Spider-Man” as Peter Parker’s love interest Gwen Stacy. She will also appear alongside Halle Berry, Uma Thurman, Hugh Jackman and every other famous person in the upcoming comedy “Movie 43.”
Long live the Stone.
**Beyoncé’s yet-to-be-born child**
The entire country sighed one simultaneous “aww” when Queen Beyoncé dropped her mic and rubbed her stomach to reveal her pregnancy at the end of the 2011 Video Music Awards performance of “Love on Top.”
Beyoncé is pregnant! The Second Coming of Christ has arrived!
She broke the record for Twitter’s most tweets-per-second (coming in at 9,000 per second immediately after the announcement), and she’s the child of two of the biggest names in the entertainment industry.
This child had BETTER be talented.
