It’s official. This year Black Friday shoppers spent more money than last year. Retailers like Wal-Mart and Best Buy also opened their doors earlier (think 10 PM on Thanksgiving night) to accommodate shoppers who wanted to get a little Christmas shopping done even before Black Friday came.

According to ShopperTrack, which measures store and shopping mall foot traffic daily, foot traffic rose 5.1 percent from that figure in 2010. Sales on Friday went up 6.6 percent from last year — an $11.4 billion rise in purchases. The weekend as a whole, from Thanksgiving through Sunday the 27thbrought in $52.4 billion. Last year that total was down at $45 billion, according to figures from a report done by The National Retail Federation.

This is one of the largest gains in a weekend for retailers in recent years, proving that even in a sluggish economy purchasing power still exists among American consumers. This year it seems as though the media and advertising has played an even larger role in helping the nation achieve such high dollar figures in purchases to start off the holiday season. All the major retailers from Sears to Target to Toys R’ Us and everywhere in between, had deals and ad campaigns to match them. On top of the increased ad spending, every major mainstream news network and print medium has been reporting for weeks on the day that has been deemed “Black Friday”, and waiting with baited breath to see the outcome of one of the single most hyped shopping days all year.

Seems like this year, the retailers and media won. It’s a long way from perfect, but it’s certainly not a bad start.

You can read a full listing of stats on Black Friday Weekend from the International Council of Shopping Centers here.