Apple Names Instagram iPhone App of the Year

Apple on Wednesday released its iTunes and App Store Rewinds for 2011, and it named the iPhone app of the year.

The lists showcase the best-selling apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, and podcasts for the year, as well as favorites selected by the Apple staff.

In choosing Instagram as iPhone app of the year, Apple noted that that it was the "definitive photo-sharing app" of 2011. "The beautiful filtered effects, including tilt-shift, make it near-impossible to take a bad shot," Apple said.

Even without the "best app" distinction, though, Instagram has had a fantastic year. Launched on the iPhone last October, it's already added more than 50 million users, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom said this week at the LeWeb conference in Paris. It's about to expand beyond the iOS ecosystem; an .

"We have two people working on Android now," Systrom said during his LeWeb appearance. "I'm excited to be able to see our numbers today nearly double."

Apple also selected VidRhythm ($1.99) and Band of the Day (free) as runners-up for iPhone app of the year.

Tiny Tower, meanwhile, was selected as the iPhone game of the year. "This addictive app taps our inner Donald Trump, as we grow an economic empire by building towers and populating them with businesses and bitizens," Apple said. "We find its marriage of time management and social gameplay irresistible."

Tiny Wings ($0.99) and Touchgrind BMX ($4.99) were selected as runners-up.

Image editing app Snapseed ($4.99) was declared the iPad app of the year, while Dead Space ($4.99) was dubbed iPad game of the year.

In terms of top sellers, Angry Birds was the number-one paid app on the iPhone and iPad. It's been a big year for Rovio game, too. By the beginning of November, the app had , making it the most downloaded game in the history of gaming, Rovio said. Players are spending a lot of time with the game too. Rovio said users average 300 million minutes of playing time daily, meaning they've played a total of about 200,000 years of Angry Birds.

Rounding out the top five best-selling paid iPhone apps were Fruit Ninja, Angry Birds Seasons, Cut the Rope, and Tiny Wings. The top five free apps were , Pandora Radio, Words With Friends Free, Angry Birds Free, and .

On the iPad, the top five paid apps also included Pages, Angry Birds Seasons HD, , and Angry Birds Rio HD. The top five free iPad apps were Angry Birds HD Free, The Weather Channel, , CNN, and Angry Birds Rio HD Free.

Last year, Hipstamatic as iPhone app of the year and Plants vs. Zombies as iPhone game of the year. Flipboard, which just released an , was the iPad app of the year while Osmos for iPad was Apple's favorite iPad game.

You can check out Apple's full list on iTunes.