I managed to come up with 2 lists, plus some honorable mentions.  One’s music-related and the other is podcast related, so enjoy!

My 5 Favorite Songs From 2011:

1. Lights by Ellie Goulding.  I love this song.  It’s catchy and indie, pop and electronic all at the same time!
2. Lily’s Theme from the Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part 2 Soundtrack.  It’s haunting, yet hopeful.  And the scene at the very beginning of the movie, with Snape looking over the school, with the dementors around the school?  Lily’s Theme fits it so well.  Come to think of it, a lot of the songs have a lot of the same elements…
3. Heartbeat by The Fray.  I love The Fray!  And for some reason, I love this song.  It makes me feel happy.
4. Safe And Sound by Taylor Swift, with The Civil Wars.  This song is HAUNTING.  It’s from the Hunger Games soundtrack, and the song fits it so well.
5. Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People.  I always want to sing along to it, and it’s such a good song!

An honorable mention goes to the rest of the HP and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 soundtrack.  Courtyard Apocalypse, Snape’s Demise, Severus and Lily, Harry Surrenders, and Procession are some of my other favorites from that soundtrack.

My 5 Favorite Podcasts:

1. Greetings From Nowhere.  This was one of the first podcasts I listened to, and it’s fun listening to Christina and Nicole talk about their lives in Nowhere.  It makes me laugh and I keep finding that I jump right into the conversation.
2. Tudor Talk: This was another podcast that introduced me to the lovely world of podcasting, and I love that it’s about the Tudors.  Tudor England is one of my favorite periods, so I get to hear about different movies, the t.v. show and books that are related to Tudor England.
3. The History Chicks is another favorite podcast.  Every episode is about a real or fictional woman from history, and the hosts (Susan and Beckett) do the research and condense everything into an hour-long episode.
4. Game Night Guys.  This is hosted by 2 guys who like board games.  They play a different game each week, explaining the rules and then making up their own.  One of them left, though, but another board-game loving friend joined the show as a co-host.  It’s still fun to listen to.
5. The Gilmore Girls Re-watch Podcast is another favorite.  Every week recaps an episode of Gilmore Girls, and it’s fun to watch the episode right before listening.

Honorable mentions for favorite podcasts go to Cocktails and Creampuffs, Accio-Potter Wizard Radio, Hello Nessa, the Joy The Baker podcast and Kevin and Ursula Eat Cheap.