Biggest accomplishments: Aldean topped USA TODAY's country airplay chart three times this year: with My Kinda Party, the title track to his latest album; rap-influenced Dirt Road Anthem; and Don't You Wanna Stay, a power ballad with Kelly Clarkson that crossed over to the pop charts. But what really gives Aldean a sense of satisfaction is his headlining tour, which sold out more than 50 arenas and amphitheaters. "This was our first major, major tour, where we jumped in with Tim McGraw and Keith Urban and played the same venues," he says. "Where we were looking at this being our learning-curve year, we went in and blew it up. It wasn't something we expected, but it was good it did."  Crossover effect: The late Waylon Jennings liked to joke that he "couldn't go pop with a mouth full of firecrackers." Aldean felt much the same way until he saw the response to his duet with Clarkson. "It wasn't until I heard it on The River (WRVW, a top 40 station) here in Nashville that I went, 'I'm on pop radio!' " says Aldean, who records for the independent Broken Bow Records label. "They played, like, Rihanna, then they turned around and played us. As an artist, you want people hearing your music. But I don't think there's any doubt this may be the only song I ever have that crosses over."  Trophy time: Before this year, Aldean hadn't received much industry recognition — a top-new-male-vocalist award from the Academy of Country Music five years ago, and little else since then. In November, though, he won album of the year from the Country Music Association, then took home six American Country Awards a few weeks later. What does he think he gave back to country music in 2011? "We branched out a little bit and hopefully brought some new fans into country," he says. "We've shown people that you don't have to be on a major label to go out and make some big noise."  Best seller: Aldean's My Kinda Party sold better than any other country album in 2011 — the only country album that has sold more than 2 million copies this year. Receiving his double-platinum plaque ranks high on his list of proudest accomplishments. "When we were making that first album, I was dying to get just a gold record," he says. "I thought that would be so cool, just to have something to hang on my bare walls. When I'm long gone, that's something that I hope will still be around — my little legacy on a disc, maybe."  Finding family time: Even though 2011 has been Aldean's most successful year in his career, he also found a better balance between his onstage and offstage lives. "I've been wanting to spend more time at home; I've got a pretty young family," he says. "For the first few years on the road, I was gone 200, 250 days a year. This year was fun; we did about 75. I'm used to getting to this point of the year and feeling like I'm dead. So to get to this point and feel good and want to go out and play at the end of January, I won't know what to do."  Looking ahead: Aldean will launch his tour Jan. 20 with support from fellow Georgians Luke Bryan and American Idol runner-up Lauren Alaina, who name-checks Aldean in her new single, Georgia Peaches. "We're in the process of building our new stage and production," he says. "Hopefully, spring or summer, we'll have a new album coming out."  On his fellow artists of the year:  "Kenny, to me, has set the bar for everyone else. He's the guy we all want our careers to be patterned after."  "To see Lady Antebellum go from our opening act to just exploding like they have has been fun to watch. I'm really excited for them and proud of them."  "Brad has taken over that Vince Gill (role), where he's not only a talented entertainer/musician, he's also this personality. He's hosting the CMA Awards show, which Vince did for a long time. It probably ain't something that I could pull off, so having somebody that can is pretty cool."  "Taylor has gone out and brought a whole new fan base to our world. All these teenage girls that might not have listened to country before, she has brought them all into our genre. Nobody else is really doing that."
Jason Aldean will be honored Tuesday as a CMT Artist of the Year. He looks back on a busy 2011.