The price of 1 bitcoin peaked at $31.91 USD on June 8, 2011, during the first major speculative bubble before crashing over 93% to approximately $2 by November. Fueled by a Gawker article about Silk Road and early media attention, BTC had rallied from $1 to $31 in just four months. The crash that followed produced the first wave of "Bitcoin is dead" articles. It would take over two years for Bitcoin to reclaim its 2011 high -- the first of many boom-bust cycles that would define its path to global adoption.
Wikipedia: History of Bitcoin