1980
RECORD OF THE YEAR Sailing
ALBUM OF THE YEAR Christopher Cross
SONG OF THE YEAR Sailing
BEST NEW ARTIST Christopher Cross
1981
RECORD OF THE YEAR Bette Davis Eyes
ALBUM OF THE YEAR Double Fantasy
SONG OF THE YEAR Bette Davis Eyes
BEST NEW ARTIST Sheena Easton
1982
RECORD OF THE YEAR Rosanna
ALBUM OF THE YEAR Toto IV
SONG OF THE YEAR Always On My Mind
BEST NEW ARTIST Men At Work
1983
RECORD OF THE YEAR Beat It
ALBUM OF THE YEAR Thriller
SONG OF THE YEAR Every Breath You Take
BEST NEW ARTIST Culture Club
1984
RECORD OF THE YEAR What's Love Got To Do With It
ALBUM OF THE YEAR Can't Slow Down
SONG OF THE YEAR What's Love Got To Do With It
BEST NEW ARTIST Cyndi Lauper
1985
RECORD OF THE YEAR We Are The World
ALBUM OF THE YEAR No Jacket Required
SONG OF THE YEAR We Are The World
BEST NEW ARTIST Sade
1986
RECORD OF THE YEAR Higher Love
ALBUM OF THE YEAR Graceland
SONG OF THE YEAR That's What Friends Are For
BEST NEW ARTIST Bruce Hornsby & The Range
1987
RECORD OF THE YEAR Graceland
ALBUM OF THE YEAR The Joshua Tree
SONG OF THE YEAR Somewhere Out There
BEST NEW ARTIST Jody Watley
1988
RECORD OF THE YEAR Don't Worry Be Happy
ALBUM OF THE YEAR Faith
SONG OF THE YEAR Don't Worry Be Happy
BEST NEW ARTIST Tracy Chapman
1989
RECORD OF THE YEAR Wind Beneath My Wings
ALBUM OF THE YEAR Nick Of Time
SONG OF THE YEAR Wind Beneath My Wings
On February 22, 1980, a U.S. hockey team made up of college players and amateurs defeated the perennially favored Soviet Union in the semifinals of the Winter Olympics. Sports Illustrated recognized it as the No. 1 sports moment of the 20th century. The Americans went on to win the gold in front of a home crowd in Lake Placid, New York. (Continue readingfrom CNN)
The Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana
The marriage of Charles and Diana, (later the Prince and Princess of Wales), took place on 29 July 1981, marking a high point in the popularity of the Royal Family. It was seen by a global television audience of 750 million in 74 countries. In Britain, where a public holiday had been declared, 28.4 million watched on BBC and ITV - the majority on the BBC - while 600,000 lined the streets of London. (Continue reading from BBC)
Mariel Boatlift
On April 20, 1980, the Castro regime announces that all Cubans wishing to emigrate to the U.S. are free to board boats at the port of Mariel west of Havana, launching the Mariel Boatlift. The first of 125,000 Cuban refugees from Mariel reached Florida the next day. (Continue readingfrom History.com)
'Pac-Man' fever takes hold
The video game "Pac-Man" -- featuring a hungry protagonist that must evade ghosts on his quest to eat tiny, white dots -- hit American arcades in October 1980 and became almost an instant success. Parent company Bandai Namco Entertainment sold more than 100,000 arcade units within 15 months. Its first name, "Puck-man," came from the Japanese "paku," or "to chomp." (Continue readingfrom CNN)
The death of John Lennon
On December 8, 1980, Beatles singer John Lennon died at 40 after being shot multiple times in the chest by a man named Mark David Chapman. Here, fans gather to mourn the fallen musician outside of his New York City apartment building, where the shooting took place. (Continue readingfrom CNN)
Supreme Court Nomination
Sandra Day O'Connor was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Reagan on August 19, 1981, thus fulfilling his 1980 campaign promise to appoint the first woman to the highest court in the United States. At the time of her nomination, the fifty-one year old O'Connor was a judge in the Arizona Court of Appeals and had a distinguished career to her credit. She had served as Arizona's Assistant Attorney General in the Arizona Senate, where she was the first female state Senate majority leader in the country, and as a judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court. (Continue readingfrom The National Archives)
Debut of Personal Computers
IBM, previously known for manufacturing mainframe computers, debuted its first personal computer, the 5150, in early 1981. Consumers could buy the 5150 at ComputerLand and Sears, with the base model retailing for $1,565 (equivalent to nearly $4,000 today). The machine weighed about 25 pounds, which was considered compact at the time. (Continue readingfrom CNN)
Epcot Opening
Epcot Center, Disney's second theme park based in Florida, opened its doors on October 1, 1982, and launched perhaps its most iconic attraction: the giant, spherical Spaceship Earth ride, which explores the history of human communications. (Continue readingfrom CNN)
First CD Player
The compact-disc player and the first commercial compact disc -- Billy Joel's "52nd Street" -- debuted on October 1, 1982, offering music listeners an alternative to vinyl records and cassette tapes. CD technology resulted from an unprecedented collaboration between Philips and Sony. But mass adoption of the format didn't occur for several years, in part because of its relatively high cost. (Continue readingfrom CNN)
Black Monday
At the time, it seemed almost unimaginable that the Dow Jones Industrial Average could drop 500 points in a single day of trading. And yet that was exactly what happened on October 19, 1987, a day that would become known as Black Monday. The market began falling at the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange, and as panic ensued, the losses accelerated until the closing bell. It was the largest drop since 1914, with the Dow losing 22% of its value. (Continue readingfrom CNN)
Chernobyl Meltdown
On April 26, 1986, a sudden surge of power during a reactor systems test destroyed Unit 4 of the nuclear power station at Chernobyl, Ukraine, in the former Soviet Union. The accident and the fire that followed released massive amounts of radioactive material into the environment.
After the accident, officials closed off the area within 30 kilometers (18 miles) of the plant, except for persons with official business at the plant and those people evaluating and dealing with the consequences of the accident and operating the undamaged reactors. The Soviet (and later on, Russian) government evacuated about 115,000 people from the most heavily contaminated areas in 1986, and another 220,000 people in subsequent years. (Continue reading from U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
Library Research Resources
Interested in seeing what else happened in this decade? Use our resources to find out more!