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The votes have been cast, the results have been tallied and the death of Osama bin Laden has been named the top news story of 2011 according to AOL’s “11 Days That Shaped 2011″ challenge. Organized in chronological order, Osama bin Laden’s death was sixth option on the site.

The site was created as a way to sum up the year in news based on shares, engagement and impact on the AOL website and its media partners, including The Huffington Post, Engadget and more.

Viewers were asked to vote for which news event they felt was the most important in 2011.

“I wasn’t surprised that the death of Osama bin Laden was voted the top moment of 2011 for a few reasons,” says AOL CMO Maureen Sullivan. “First, the story was several years in the making, stretching back almost a decade to 2001. Second, the event really captured how news coverage is changing in the 21st century. Word of Bin Laden’s death broke on Twitter and was picked up by the mainstream media there, so it also highlights the important relationship between social media and mainstream media. And finally, this event really touched people on global, national and local levels.”

Of course, not all the news stories were as comparably momentous. Charlie Sheen’s public meltdown made the short list but fell far behind the rest of the pack. Voters could also write in their own picks for top story, some of which included Kim Kardashian’s wedding divorce, the transplant of the world’s first artificial organ, the Casey Anthony trial and the death of Muammar Gaddafi.

You can find the full results by scrolling through the 11 Days That Shaped 2011. Each slide provides information, factoids, headlines and context for each of the major events. You can also jump straight to the results by clicking here.

Was Osama bin Laden’s death the biggest story of 2011? What would you vote for? Sound off in the comments.

This Article Originally Written by Zachary Sniderman