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Her "21," which recently passed the 10 million mark in sales, topped the list even though it was first released in January 2011. It remained popular this year, particularly after she nabbed six Grammy Awards in February.
Coming in second was Taylor Swift's "Red," which wasn't released until October. Rounding out the top five: Mumford & Sons' "Babel," One Direction's "Up All Night" and fun.'s "Some Nights."
Carly Rae Jepsen had the song of the year with "Call Me Maybe" - and so it was also tops on iTunes, followed by Goyte's "Somebody That I Used to Know," fun.'s "We Are Young," Maroon 5's "Payphone" with Wiz Khalifa and Nicki Minaj's "Starships."
In the world of apps, "Angry Birds Space" was king of the top-paid iPhone and iPad apps, while those looking for freebies made YouTube the top iPhone app and Sky pe the most popular iPad app.
The top-selling movie was "The Hunger Games"; the best-selling TV show was an episode of "The Walking Dead" from season three; and the top TV series purchased for a season and a season's pass was "Downton Abbey," season two.
The erotic sensation "Fifty Shades of Grey" was the top-paid fiction book, followed by the rest of the trilogy in the next two slots. The best-selling nonfiction book was Mark Owen and Kevin Maurer's "No Easy Day," about the killing of Osama bin Laden.
The iTunes store is also playing tastemaker once again, determining its own "best of" lists. Frank Ocean was named top artist, while the Grizzly Bear's "Shields" was named best album and fun.'s "We Are Young" was named best song. Other iTunes bests: Action Movie FX was named iPhone app of year, "Breaking Bad" as best TV show and "The Avengers" as the "best blockbuster."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
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- Pink
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- Christina Aguilera
- Nicki Minaj
- Carly Rae Jepsen
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- Gwen Stefani
- Kesha
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