If you love '80s movies as much as we do, we're sure you love the decade as much as we do! Here are some memorable moments from the greatest decade of the 20th Century!
1980
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1985
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- 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"
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- 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"
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1981
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1986
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- 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"
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- 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"
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1982
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1987
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- 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"
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- "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"
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1983
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1988
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- 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"
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- 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"
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1984
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1989
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- 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"
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- 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"
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