Swan and his Magpies team-mate Scott Pendlebury also broke the record for most combined votes by two players from the same team with 58 between them, while Hawthorn’s Sam Mitchell - who finished outright second - polled 30 votes which was the most ever by an ineligible player.
But for the Lions, the Brownlow bragging rights were shared between perennial vote-getter Simon Black and relative newcomer Tom Rockliff who each took home nine votes from the evening.
Black polled votes in seven games, including a best-on-ground performance against the Gold Coast SUNS in QClash 2 which also earned him the Marcus Ashcroft Medal.
The 32 year-old’s impressive career Brownlow Medal vote tally now sits at 173, which was enough to move him ahead of Essendon great Bill Hutchison (172 votes) and North Melbourne champion Keith Greig (165 votes) into 9th position on the all-time leaderboard.
However, Black was overtaken by Carlton Captain Chris Judd (185 votes) who rocketed up to fourth overall with a commanding 23-vote effort last night.
Meanwhile, Lions Club Champion Tom Rockliff also caught the umpires’ eye with nine votes - which were also the first of his young career.
Rockliff polled three votes against Port Adelaide (Round 15), two against both Adelaide (Round 20) and West Coast (Round 23) and single votes against both Fremantle (Round 1) and Collingwood (Round 22).
It was the first time since 2005 that a player other than Black or Jonathan Brown has led the Lions’ vote tally.
Full-back Daniel Merrett also enjoyed a career-best night, picking up six votes from his 10 matches, bettering his four-vote effort from back in 2005.
The Lions Vice-Captain picked up three votes in a losing side against St Kilda (Round 5), two votes against Fremantle (Round 1) and a single vote against Port Adelaide (Round 15).
Lions Captain Jonathan Brown received his only three votes from the umpires for his performance against North Melbourne in Round 9 - his first game back after spending eight weeks on the sidelines with multiple facial fractures.
Brown celebrated his name being read out by Andrew Demetriou for the only time during the evening with a trademark fist-pump.
Mitch Clark also secured three votes for his best-on-ground effort against Adelaide in Round 10 at AAMI Stadium.
Of the remaining Lions vote-getters, Todd Banfield (2 votes) and Jack Redden (1 vote) received their maiden Brownlow Medal votes, while Luke Power (2 votes), Matthew Leuenberger (2 votes) and Ash McGrath (1 vote) added to their tallies.
The full list of Lions vote-getters in the 2011 Brownlow Medal are listed below, along with up-to-date records of the Medal’s history.
2011 Brownlow Medal Leaderboard
34 Dane Swan (Collingwood)
30 Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn)*
28 Nick Dal Santo (St Kilda)
24 Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood)
24 Matthew Boyd (Western Bulldogs)
23 Chris Judd (Carlton)
23 Gary Ablett (Gold Coast)
* ineligible
2011 Brownlow Medal Leaderboard (Lions)
9 Tom Rockliff
9 Simon Black
6 Daniel Merrett
3 Jonathan Brown
3 Mitch Clark
2 Matthew Leuenberger
2 Todd Banfield
2 Luke Power
1 Ash McGrath
1 Jack Redden*
* ineligible
Most Brownlow Medal Votes (AFL/VFL history)
246 Gary Dempsey (Foots/NM)
215 Robert Harvey (StK)
202 Leigh Matthews (Haw)
185 Chris Judd (WCE/Carl)
180 Bob Skilton (SM)
178 Nathan Buckley (BB/Coll)
178 Kevin Murray (Fitz)
175 Scott West (WB)
173 Simon Black (BL)
172 Bill Hutchison (Ess)
165 Keith Greig (NM)
161 Garry Wilson (Fitz)
160 Kevin Bartlett (Rich)
160 Shane Crawford (Haw)
156 Adam Goodes (Syd)
155 Brent Harvey (NM)
154 Dick Reynolds (Ess)
154 Greg Williams (Geel/Syd/Carl)
151 Len Thompson (Coll/SM/Fitz)
150 Robert Flower (Mel)
150 Michael Voss (BB/BL)
148 Ben Cousins (WCE/Rich)
Most Brownlow Medal Votes (Club history)
178 Kevin Murray
173 Simon Black
161 Garry Wilson
150 Michael Voss
122 Haydn Bunton
106 Jonathan Brown
100 Wilfred ‘Chicken’ Smallhorn
98 Paul Roos*
97 John Murphy*
97 Alan Ruthven
93 Nigel Lappin
91 Jason Akermanis*
83 Luke Power
62 Bernie Quinlan*
59 Bill Stephen
51 Ron Alexander
50 Fred Hughson
48 Denis ‘Dinny’ Ryan
44 Richard Osborne*
42 Matthew Armstrong*
*Also received Brownlow Medal votes for other clubs (not counted in above total)
Most Brownlow Medal Votes (2011 Lions players)
173 Simon Black
106 Jonathan Brown
83 Luke Power
12 Daniel Merrett
12 Mitch Clark
10 Ashley McGrath
9 Tom Rockliff
8 Jed Adcock
8 Daniel Rich
5 Joel Patfull
3 Matthew Leuenberger
3 Josh Drummond
2 Todd Banfield
1 Brent Staker
1 Jack Redden
