We ♥ the '80s

1980

1985

• Ronald Reagan elected 40th U.S. President
• John Lennon assassinated in New York City
• Mount St. Helen erupts
• U.S. Hockey team wins Olympic Gold over Soviet Union
• 1% of American homes have a personal computer
• #1 Movie: The Empire Strikes Back
• Top 5 TV Shows in the U.S.:     
  (1) Dallas, (2) The Dukes of Hazard (3) 60 Minutes (4) M*A*S*H (5) The Love Boat
• #1 Song: Blondie - "Call Me"

• Live Aid concerts in Philadelphia & London raise 50 million+ for famine relief
• New Coke is introduced
• Michael Jordan named as the NBA's "Rookie of the Year"
• Comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes” makes its debut
• Microsoft Corporation releases the first version of Windows
• #1 Movie: Back to the Future
• Top 5 TV Shows in the U.S.:
  (1) The Cosby Show (2) Family Ties (3) Murder, She Wrote (4) 60 Minutes (5) Cheers
• #1 Song: George Michael/Wham! - "Careless Whisper"

1981

1986

• Prince Charles weds Lady Diana Spencer
• President Ronald Reagan is shot in Washington D.C.
• MTV Debuts
• NASA launches the first Space Shuttle mission
• The first high speed train service in Europe begins
• #1 Movie: Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Top 5 TV Shows in the U.S.:
  (1) Dallas (2) 60 Minutes (3) The  Jeffersons (4) Three's Company (5) Alice
• #1 Song: Kim Carnes - "Bette Davis Eyes"

• Soviet Nuclear reactor at Chernobyl explodes
• The Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launching
• The Oprah Winfrey Show debuts nationally
• The Soviet Union launches the Mir space station
• In the U.S., smoking is banned on all public transport
• #1 Movie: Top Gun
• Top 5 TV Shows in the U.S.:
  (1) The Cosby Show (2) Family Ties (3) Cheers (4) Murder, She Wrote (5) The Golden Girls
• #1 Song: Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, Elton John & Stevie Wonder - "That's What Friends Are For"

1982

1987

• Michael Jackson's "Thriller" is released
• Disney's Futuristic Park EPCOT opens
• The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC is dedicated 
• First CD player sold in Japan
• Average Cost of a new house in the U.S.: $82,200
• #1 Movie: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 
• Top 5 TV Shows in the U.S.:
  (1) 60 Minutes (2) Dallas (3) M*A*S*H (4) Magnum, P.I. (5) Dynasty
• #1 Song: Olivia Newton-John - "Physical"

• "The Simpsons" seen on TV for the first time
• Square releases the first "Final Fantasy" video game for the NES in Japan
• A West German citizen flies a small Cessna airplane into Moscow, landing in Red Square
• Televangelist Jim Bakker Sex Scandal
• NFL players' strike begins in the US, replacement players are used a result of the strike
• #1 Movie: Beverly Hills Cops II
• Top 5 TV Shows in the U.S.:
  (1) The Cosby Show (2) A Different World (3) Cheers (4) The Golden Girls (5) Growing Pains
• #1 Song: The Bangles - "Walk Like an Egyptian"

1983

1988

• Mario Bros. was first released as a Nintendo arcade game in Japan 
• Cabbage Patch Dolls craze
• The first mobile phones, are introduced to the public
• "Fraggle Rock" debuts on HBO
• Swatch introduce their first watches
• #1 Movie: Return of the Jedi
• Top 5 TV Shows in the U.S.:
  (1) Dallas (2) 60 Minutes (3) Dynasty (4) The A-Team (5) Simon & Simon
• #1 Song: The Police - "Every Breath You Take"

• Stephen Hawking Publishes "A Brief History Of Time"
• Soviet Red Army withdraws from Afghanistan
• Archaeologists uncover the original Globe Theatre in London
• The first major computer virus infects computers connected to the Internet
• Suspected Libyan terrorist bomb explodes on Pan Am jet over Lockerbie in Scotland
• #1 Movie: Rain Man
• Top 5 TV Shows in the U.S.:
  (1) The Cosby Show (2) Rosanne (3) A Different World (4) Cheers (5) 60 Minutes
• #1 Song: George Michael - "Faith"

1984

1989

• Indian Prime minister Indira Gandhi assassinated
• The Soviet Union and several other countries boycott the Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles
• The UK and China agree Hong Kong will revert to China in 1997
• The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale
• "Miami Vice" debuts on NBC
• Average cost of a movie ticket in the U.S.: $2.50
• #1 Movie: Ghostbusters
• Top 5 TV Shows in the U.S.:
  (1) Dynasty (2) Dallas (3) The Cosby Show (4) 60 Minutes (5) Family Ties
• #1 Song: Prince - "When Doves Cry"

• The Berlin Wall comes down
• The Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (11 million gallons) of oil after running aground in Alaska
• About 100,000 students gather at Beijing's Tiananmen Square in China
• In Egypt, a 4,400-year-old mummy is found in the Great Pyramid of Giza
• The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System is placed into orbit
• #1 Movie: Batman
• Top 5 TV Shows in the U.S.:
  (1 tie) The Cosby Show (1 tie) Rosanne (3) Cheers (4) A Different World (5) America's Funniest Home Videos
• #1 Song: Chicago - "Look Away"