BeyonceI have bad news for Beyonce fans. This is the first year in which B has failed to crack the top 10 since Destiny's Child exploded in 1998. This stat combines Destiny's Child and solo recordings, as well as featured credits on hits by Jay-Z and Lady Gaga. There are still two weeks left in Nielsen SoundScan's tracking year, but this week corresponds to the Dec. 31 issue of Billboard, so there is no way that Beyonce's name can appear on a top 10 hit in a 2011 issue of Billboard.

Beyonce's best showing of 2011 came in August, when the stinging, kiss-off ballad "Best Thing I Never Had" peaked at #16. Her second best showing of the year came in September, when "Love On Top" debuted and peaked at #20.  Third best came in June when "Run The World (Girls)" peaked at #29. In retrospect, the disappointing showing of that feminist anthem foretold what would be an unexpectedly difficult year for Beyonce on the  Hot 100.

Adele's "Rolling In The Deep" rolled to a record this year. The song sold more copies than any other song has sold in a calendar year in digital history. To find the last song that has sold as many copies in a calendar year you have to go back to the pre-digital era for Elton John's "Candle In The Wind 1997," his tribute to the late Princess Diana.

Here are the stats: "Rolling In The Deep" sold 5,813,000 copies in 2011. The previous calendar-year sales record in the digital era was set two years ago when the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" sold 4,762,000 copies. "Candle In The Wind 1997" sold 8,011,000 physical copies in 1997, though the rush of emotion connected to Diana's death, and the charity aspect of the single (proceeds went to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund), make it an extraordinary case.

Adele's DVD Live At The Royal Albert Hall sold 96,000 copies this week, which is the greatest one-week sales tally for a music video in four years. After just one week, Live At The Royal Albert Hall is the best-selling music video of 2011. It is followed by AC/DC's Live At River Plate (73K), Beyonce's I Am…World Tour (63K) and a 25th anniversary concert presentation of Les Miserables (63K). Adele is now assured of having the year's #1 album (21), #1 song ("Rolling In The Deep") and #1 music video.

No other artist in Nielsen SoundScan history has ever topped all three of these year-end charts. *NSYNC and 50 Cent each had the year's #1 album and #1 music video, but fell short on the list of the year's best-selling singles. The boy band scored in 2000 with the album No Strings Attached and the music video Live At Madison Square Garden. 50 Cent triumphed in 2003 with the album Get Rich Or Die Tryin' and the music video The New Breed.

Rihanna has achieved many milestones on the pop charts in recent years. She has amassed 11 #1 hits, a tally matched by only seven other artists since 1955. But she holds one record that I guarantee you she would like to shed. She has had more #1 hits, by far, than any other artist who has never topped The Billboard 200. It's not like she hasn't come close: Rihanna's last five albums have made the top five. Her highest-charting album, Good Girl Gone Bad, peaked at #2 in 2007. Her new Talk That Talk debuts at #3 this week, matching the peak of her 2010 album, Loud. It's just that she can't quite seem to make it to #1.