Books, podcasts also feature strongly

(Updated with note on regional differences) Apple has posted the 2011 edition of iTunes Rewind, its annual promotion of what it considers top picks at the iTunes Store, the App Store and the iBookstore. The content is divided into music, movies, TV shows, apps, books, and podcasts, and from there further broken up into subcategories. Under music Apple has chosen Adele as the artist of the year, for instance, and the Foo Fighters' Wasting Light as the album of the year.

The top iPhone pick is the photo sharing tool Instagram, while the top iPad app is the photo editor Snapseed. Some examples of movie and TV show winners are The Tree of Life for best indie film, and Breaking Bad for best TV drama.

TEDTalks has taken best video podcast, and the best audio podcast is NPR's Fresh Air. At the iBookstore, Téa Obreht's The Tiger's Wife has been selected as the top novel, with Michael Lewis' Boomerang coming in for best nonfiction. A special "best enhanced book" spot has been given to Caroline Kennedy's Jacqueline Kennedy, which integrates historic audio, photos, and video of the former First Lady, as well as interview transcripts.

Apple's lists do not necessarily align with bestsellers. The top-selling iPhone app was Angry Birds for example, and the leading book was Kathryn Stockett's The Help.

Update: Apple's picks vary outside of the US. One example is in the UK, where the iPad app of the year is Djay.

by MacNN Staff