Apple published its iTunes Rewind review of the most popular content during 2011, which detailed the most popular iPhone and iOS apps during the period. Its assessment differed from market-to-market, leading to some differences in results based on geography.

For the iPhone, the company selected Instagram as its App of the Year, stating that “the year’s definitive photo-sharing app is also one of the world’s fastest-growing social networks.” Also cited (in its UK review) were the Momento journal and sharing app, and the Nike+ GPS fitness application.

For the iPad, music app djay was named as UK App of the Year, with Apple stating that “we love this DJ app, which features a gorgeous turntable interface, automatic beat- and tempo-matching, and multi-touch mixing and scratching.” In the US, top app was imaging software Snapseed. UK runners up were astronomy title Star Walk and Snapseed.

The company also named Tiny Wings as game of the year for the iPhone, with To-Fu 2 and Tiny Tower as runner-ups – in the US, Tiny Tower was game of the year, with Tiny Wings a runner up. Puzzle game Contre Jour HD was top UK game for the iPad, followed by Shadowgun and Gesundheit HD. In the US, the top iPad game was Dead Space HD.

Unsurprisingly, Angry Birds ranked highly, although in the UK at least Tap Zoo Games, Poker by Zinga, Smurfs’ Village and Tap Pet Hotel were higher in the “top grossing” category. While games made up the bulk of the most lucrative titles, TomTom saw two of its navigation apps joining the top ten.

For the US, Tap Zoo was the top grossing title, ahead of Angry Birds.