Best Music Album of 2011 - Harris Jayaraj

The first half of 2011 was dominated by Harris Jayaraj with his Engeyum Kadhal. Engeyum Kadhal became one of his best all round Hit albums in his career. 'Ennamo Edho' from KO instantly reached #1 on the charts and stayed there for more than 150 days. A record not seen for any song in the recent history. Much criticized 7aum Arivu songs had its share of high points as well. Harris Jayaraj cranks out melody songs that stay in people's minds for a long time; 2011 was no exception.

Best Background Score of 2011 - Yuvan Shankar Raja

Yuvan Shankar Raja propped up movies with his excellent background score. Aaranya Kaandam and Mankatha are two movies which set the mood and tempo for the movie with his masterful background score. The timing of Yuvan Shankar Raja music releases could have been better. Movies like Mankatha, Vaanam and Rajapattai had less than 3 weeks between audio release and movie release, which impacted the popularity of the songs.

Other Notable Mentions

GV Prakash delivered heart-touching background score in Deivathirumagal and Mayakkam Enna. GV experimented the native touch in Aadukalam songs. The songs were crucial to the success of the movie. Thaman and Vijay Antony belted out chart topping mass numbers in Osthe and Velayutham respectively. Also, this year saw a number of debut music directors making a strong impression. Ghibran's Vaagai Sooda Vaa was very original and well appreciated. Since the movie failed at the box office, the songs went somewhat unnoticed among common people. C.Sathya's Engeyum Eppodhum songs caught on like wild fire after the movie gathered good report. Vijay Ebenezer's Kandaen and Joshua Sridhar's Veppam were impressive. 

Note: Only the music albums of movies released in 2011 were considered for the selections.