Top Songs By Year

January

• 1: Chrysler UK renamed Talbot.
• 1: Comic strip 'The Far Side' by Gary Larson debuts in The San Francisco Chronicle.
• 1: International Decade of Water & Sanitation begins.
• 1: Mob storms Russian embassy in Tehran.
• 1: Premier Adbou Diouf becomes president of Senegal.
• 1: Sweden changes rule of succession from agnatic primogeniture to absolute primogeniture.
• 2: British Steel workers go on a national strike.
• 3: Babrak Karmal defends Soviet-backed coup in first public appearance as President of Afghanistan.
• 3: Gold hits record $634 an ounce.
• 6: Indira Gandhi's Congress Party wins elections in India.
• 7: US President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out Chrysler Corporation.
• 13: Togo's constitution becomes effective.
• 16: Paul McCartney is arrested in Tokyo for marijuana possession.
• 20: US President Jimmy Carter announces US boycott of Olympics in Moscow.
• 22: Dissidents Andrei Sakharov & Jelena Bonner arrested in Moscow.
• 25: Highest ever UK audience for a TV show - 34.6m watch 'Dallas' (Who Shot JR?).
• 26: Israel & Egypt establish diplomatic relations.
• 27: 6 US diplomats who avoided capture embassy in Tehran fly out of Iran.
• 29: 6 Iranian-held US hostages escape with help of Canadians.

February

• 1: Single 'Call Me' released by Blondie.
• 2: FBI releases details of Abscam sting operation targeting 31 elected and public officials.
• 3: Larry Holmes TKOs Lorenzo Holmes in 6 for heavyweight boxing title.
• 6: John Wayne Gacy goes on trial for murder of 33 young men in Cook County, Illinois.
• 7: Pink Floyd premieres live version of 'The Wall' at Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.
• 9: Rick Barry of Houston Rockets is first in NBA history to score eight 3-pointers in a game.
• 13: XIII Winter Olympic Games open in Lake Placid, New York.
• 14: Soviet cross-country skier Nikolay Zimyatov wins first of 3 gold medals at Lake Placid Winter Olympics in 30k event.
• 15: American speed skater Eric Heiden wins 500m in Olympic record 38.03s, first of 5 gold medals at Lake Placid.
• 22: 'Miracle on Ice': US ice hockey team beats Soviet Union 4-3 at Lake Placid, one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history.
• 23: Eric Heiden wins all 5 speed skating gold medals at Lake Placid Olympics.
• 24: XIII Winter Olympic Games close in Lake Placid, New York.
• 24: USA Olympic hockey team defeats Finland, 4-2, to win gold medal.
• 25: Military coup under Desi Bouterse in Suriname ousts Prime Minister Henck Arron.
• 27: Terrorists occupies Dominican embassy in Bogota, Colombia.

March

• 1: Commonwealth Trade Union Council established.
• 1: Snow falls in Florida.
• 1: US enacts Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act as part of compromise over crude oil price decontrol.
• 3: 1st nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus, is decommissioned.
• 3: Pierre Trudeau sworn in for the second time as 17th Prime Minister of Canada.
• 4: Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF comes to power, winning parliamentary election in Zimbabwe, making Mugabe first black prime minister.
• 12: Jury finds John Wayne Gacy guilty of murdering 33 in Chicago.
• 13: John Wayne Gacy receives death sentence in Illinois for murder of 12 people.
• 18: Vostok rocket explodes on launch pad while being refueled, killing 50.
• 27: Mount St. Helens becomes active after 123 years.
• 27: The Norwegian oil platform Alexander L. Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.
• 30: Mark-Medoff's 'Children of a Lesser God' premieres in NYC.

April

• 1: New York City's Transit Worker Union 100 begins an 11-day strike.
• 2: Wayne Gretzky scores for Edmonton in 1-1 tie with Minnesota North Stars, becoming youngest player to reach 50 goals at 19 years and 2 months.
• 3: US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
• 6: Gordie Howe completes a record 26th NHL season.
• 6: Post It Notes introduced.
• 7: US President Jimmy Carter breaks relations with Iran during hostage crisis.
• 12: Canadian one-legged distance runner Terry Fox begins his Marathon of Hope run across Canada.
• 12: US Olympic Committee endorses a boycott of the Moscow Olympic games.
• 13: 55th Academy Awards: 'Gandhi' wins Best Picture.
• 14: 1st official meeting of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) in Los Angeles.
• 17: Rhodesia becomes independent Zimbabwe.
• 21: Howard Stern begins broadcasting on WWWW Detroit Rock Radio.
• 24: US military operation to rescue hostages held in Tehran fails, 8 killed.
• 25: US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance resigns.
• 30: Terrorists seize Iranian Embassy in London.

May

• 4: Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav communist leader, dies at 87 in Ljubljana.
• 5: Siege at Iranian Embassy in London ends as British SAS and police storm the building.
• 9: 35 motorists die as a Liberian freighter rams Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida, collapsing a section of the bridge.
• 17: Major race riot in Miami Florida - 16 killed, 300 injured.
• 18: Mount St Helens erupts in Washington state, causing the largest landslide in history, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
• 21: 'Empire Strikes Back' (Star Wars Episode V) directed by Irvin Kershner and starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher premieres.
• 22: Namco releases arcade game Pac-Man.
• 24: Stanley Cup Final, Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY: NY Islanders beat Philadelphia Flyers, 5-4 in OT for a 4-2 series win.
• 26: Dietmar Wittmann obtains patent for prosthesis device.
• 28: 2 Oakland A's steal home in 1st inning.

June

• 1: CNN, the first 24-hour news channel launches.
• 3: Crew of Soyuz 36 returns to Earth aboard Soyuz 35.
• 3: ESPN begins televising college world series games.
• 3: New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority releases a new map that returns the subway to a geographic depiction of New York.
• 6: Bjorn Borg wins his 5th French Open singles title, defeating Vitas Gerulaitis of the US 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.
• 10: UN Security Council calls for South Africa's withdrawal from Namibia.
• 22: UEFA European Championship Final, Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy: Horst Hrubesch scores a double as Germany beats Belgium, 2-1.
• 23: South African Prime Minister P. W. Botha warns the country could easily drift towards the position of Zimbabwe.
• 27: Italian Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 crashes between Bologna & Palermo, kills 81.
• 30: West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt visits Moscow.

July

• 9: 7 die in a stampede to see Pope John Paul II in Brazil.
• 16: Ronald Reagan nominated for US President by Republicans in Detroit.
• 19: XXII Summer Olympic Games open in Moscow; US leads 66-nation Western boycott of Games in protest against Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
• 25: Train crash at Winsum, Netherlands, 9 die.
• 25: AC/DC release Back In Black, their first album with Brian Johnson as lead singer.
• 27: Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, last Shah of Iran, dies in Cairo at 60.
• 30: Vanuatu (New Hebrides) gains independence from Britain & France.
• 31: Soyuz 37 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Vietnamese) into space.

August

• 1: Vigdís Finnbogadóttir elected President of Iceland - 1st female elected president in the world.
• 2: Fascist bomb attack on Bologna Italy train station, 86 killed.
• 3: Closing ceremonies for Moscow Summer Olympics held in Lenin Central Stadium.
• 14: Polish workers begin general strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, led by Lech Wałęsa.
• 17: Azaria Chamberlain disappears, likely taken by a dingo, leading to what was called 'Australia's trial of the century'.
• 19: 301 die when Saudia (Saudi Airlines) Lockheed L-1011 TriStar stalls after in-flight fire, lands at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
• 23: Charlie Finley sells MLB Oakland A's for $12.7m to Walter Haas Jr. (Levi Strauss & Co).
• 31: Polish government signs accord with Gdansk shipyard workers allowing for establishment of the trade union Solidarity.

September

• 1: Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope ends near Thunder Bay, Ontario.
• 5: World's longest road tunnel, St Gotthard in Swiss Alps, opens (16.32 km).
• 12: Military coup under General Kenan Evren in Turkey.
• 17: Iraq under Saddam Hussein signs accord with Algeria.
• 17: Solidarnosc labor union in Poland forms.
• 22: Iraq invades Iran in an attempt to control the Shatt al-Arab waterway.
• 26: Cuban refugee boatlift finally ends.

October

• 2: Michael Myers (D-Pennsylvania), is 1st rep expelled in over 100 years (ABSCAM).
• 10: 4,500 die when a pair of earthquakes strikes NW Algeria.
• 10: Very Large Array radio telescope network dedicated in New Mexico.
• 14: Phalangist Pierre Gemayel becomes President of Lebanon.
• 15: James Callaghan resigns as leader of the UK Labour Party.
• 20: Greece joins the European Community.
• 25: Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction conclude at The Hague.
• 27: Dave Gryllis sets world bicycle speed record of 94.37 kph.
• 30: Honduras and El Salvador sign a peace treaty ending the 'Football War'.
• 31: Polish government recognizes Solidarity trade union.

November

• 4: Ronald Reagan (R) defeats incumbent US President Jimmy Carter (D) by a landslide.
• 12: NASA space probe Voyager I approaches 77,000-mi (124,000 km) of Saturn.
• 20: Steve Ptacek in solar-powered aircraft, completes 1st air crossing of English Channel.
• 21: Gene Michael named 25th New York Yankees manager, replacing Dick Howser, who resigns.
• 21: Fire at MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas kills 84.
• 23: 4,800 die in series of earthquakes that devastate southern Italy.
• 27: Soyuz T-3 carries 3 cosmonauts to Salyut 6 space station, launched.

December

• 2: 4 American Maryknoll nuns killed by death squads in El Salvador.
• 4: Two-month drought ends - it rained in Seattle.
• 7: Military coup in Suriname under colonel Desi Bouterse, president Ramdat Misier flees.
• 8: Former Beatle John Lennon shot dead by Mark David Chapman outside The Dakota apartments in New York City.
• 11: CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act or Superfund) signed into law by US President Jimmy Carter.
• 14: USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.
• 16: Harland Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, dies at 90.
• 24: Americans remembered Iran hostages by shining lights for 417 seconds.