A Year in Music

If you could listen to music from only one specific year, what year would it be?

2020s

2024

A rolling playlist of the year

2023

Artificial intelligence, the Israel-Gaza war, and Barbenheimer…

2022

Russia invading Ukraine, the Queen’s death, and a controversial World Cup in Qatar…

2021

COP26, more COVID, and an attempted coup in the US…

2020

Covid-19, bushfires, and Black Lives Matter…

2010s

2019

School strikes, Avengers, and climate anxiety…

2018

Fake news, a Russian World Cup, and the continuing weakening of the West…

2017

Moonlight for Best Picture, North Korea’s Little Rocket Man, and #MeToo…

2016

Bowie's death, Brexit, and Trump v. Clinton…

2015

Terror in France, a huge refugee crisis, and a big scandal at FIFA…

2014

Ebola, a Brazilian World Cup, and Scotland voting to remain…

2013

The Boston Marathon bombing, a typhoon in the Philippines, and a new pope…

2012

Putin becoming president, the Rover Curiosity on Mars, and London hosting the Olympics…

2011

Earthquakes in Japan, Osama bin Laden being killed, and riots in London…

2010

Julian Assange’s arrest, Chilean miners, and Eyjafjallajökull’s eruption…

2000s

2009

Swine Flu, bushfires, and the death of Michal Jackson...

2008

A global recession, Obama’s election, and shutter shades…

2007

More troops in Iraq, Harry Potter ending and the first iPhones arriving…

2006

Google buying YouTube, WikiLeaks launching, and a World Cup in Germany…

2005

Live 8, Hurricane Katrina, and the London bombings…

2004

Bird flu, wardrobe malfunctions, and an Olympics in Greece…

2003

SARS, shock and awe, and the OC…

2002

The euro, Michael Jackson on a Berlin balcony, and the Axis of Evil…

2001

Bush, 9/11, and foot and mouth disease…

2000

Bush v. Gore, the Tate Modern, and the launch of Big Brother…

1990s

1999

The Phantom Menace, Clinton’s impeachment trial, and preparations for the millennium bug…

1998

The Good Friday Agreement, the Omagh bombing, and the Seinfeld finale…

1997

The death of Diana, Titanic, and Ireland’s first divorce…

1996

Trainspotting, mad cow disease, and the Nintendo 64…

1995

Oklahoma City bombing, Toy Story, and Hugh Grant on the Sunset Strip…

1994

Pulp Fiction, Friends, and trains through the Channel Tunnel…

1993

Clinton, Jurassic Park, and the World Trade Center bombing…

1992

The Maastricht Treaty, Sinéad O’Connor on SNL, and China’s first McDonalds…

1991

Terminator 2, the end of the Gulf War, and freedom for the Birmingham Six…

1990

Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, the Hubble Space Telescope, and Italia 90…

1980s

1989

The Satanic Verses, Tiananmen Square, and the fall of the Berlin Wall…

1988

The Red Army withdraws from Afghanistan, World AIDS Day, and A Brief History of Time…

1987

Micro Machines, the First Intifada, and the debut of The Simpsons…

1986

Hands Across America, Oprah Winfrey, and Chernobyl…

1985

Gorbachev, Live Aid, and Back to the Future…

1984

Famine, the IRA, and the launch of the Macintosh computer…

1983

Scarface, Mario Bros., and the launch of Microsoft Word…

1982

The Falklands war, ET, and the first CD album…

1981

MTV, Bobby Sands, and a royal wedding…

1980

The Iran-Iraq war, John Lennon’s death, and the birth of the Rubik’s Cube…

1970s

1979

Thatcher’s election, China’s one child policy, and the first Sony Walkman…

1978

Grease, Superman and the first test tube baby…

1977

Star Wars, Space Shuttle Enterprise, and the death of Elvis…

1976

Concordes, junk food and the birth of punk…

1975

Jaws, VHS, and the end of the Vietnam War…

1974

IRA bombings, Portugal’s Carnation Revolution, and the Rumble in the Jungle…

1973

The oil crisis, The Exorcist, and the opening of the Sydney Opera House…

1972

Bloody Sunday, the Munich massacre, and the Watergate scandal…

1971

Space-stations, Disneyland and the world’s first microprocessor…

1970

Apollo 13, the US invasion of Cambodia, and the Beatles splitting up…

1960s

1969

Woodstock, the Stonewall riots, and the first man on the Moon…

1968

May 68, Nixon’s election, and Martin Luther King’s assassination…

1967

Sgt. Pepper, Summer of Love, and first Super Bowl…

1966

Miniskirts, Miranda rights, and the debut of Star Trek…

1965

US combat troops in Vietnam, Ali v. Liston, and the birth of the hippie…

1964

The Civil Rights Act, the Boston Strangler, and the New York World’s Fair…

1963

Vatican II, JFK’s assassination, and The Great Escape…

1962

Cuban missile crisis, Marilyn Monroe's death, and the first James Bond film…

1961

Kennedy as president, the Bay of Pigs invasion, and Gagarin in space…

1960

The first televised US presidential debate, Elvis leaving the army, and the birth of the pill…