What happened in 1968

“Hey Jude”

The Beatles · 9 weeks at #1 in 1968

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1. Jan 6Hello GoodbyeThe Beatles2 wks
2. Jan 20Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)John Fred And The Playboys2 wks
3. Feb 3Green TambourineThe Lemon Pipers1 wk
4. Feb 10Love Is Blue (L'amour Est Bleu)Paul Mauriat And His Orchestra5 wks
5. Mar 16(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The BayOtis Redding4 wks
6. Apr 13HoneyBobby Goldsboro5 wks
7. May 18Tighten UpArchie Bell & The Drells2 wks
8. Jun 1Mrs. RobinsonSimon & Garfunkel3 wks
9. Jun 22This Guy's In Love With YouHerb Alpert4 wks
10. Jul 20Grazing In The GrassHugh Masekela2 wks
11. Aug 3Hello, I Love YouThe Doors2 wks
12. Aug 17People Got To Be FreeThe Rascals5 wks
13. Sep 21Harper Valley P.T.A.Jeannie C. Riley1 wk
14. Sep 28Hey JudeThe Beatles9 wks
15. Nov 30Love ChildDiana Ross & The Supremes2 wks
16. Dec 14I Heard It Through The GrapevineMarvin Gaye3 wks

Dates are the first chart week at #1 in 1968; weeks count only those in 1968.Find the #1 song on your birthday →

1. Jan 13American singer Johnny Cash recorded his landmark album At Folsom Prison live at Folsom State Prison in California.
2. Mar 12Mauritius gains independence from the United Kingdom.
3. Apr 4American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
4. Apr 23Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.
5. Jun 3American radical feminist Valerie Solanas shot and wounded visual artist Andy Warhol and two others at Warhol's New York City studio, the Factory.
6. Jun 5U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy was fatally shot by Palestinian immigrant Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
7. Jun 8James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested at London Heathrow Airport.
8. Jul 20The first games of the Special Olympics, for athletes with intellectual disabilities, were held at Soldier Field in Chicago.
9. Oct 12Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain.
10. Nov 5Richard Nixon is elected as 37th President of the United States.
11. Dec 3American singer Elvis Presley's first television special and first live performance in seven years, Singer Presents ... Elvis, was broadcast by NBC.
12. Dec 20The Zodiac Killer murders his first two officially confirmed victims, David Arthur Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, on Lake Herman Road in Benicia, California, United States.
13. Dec 21Apollo 8 launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a trajectory to the Moon; its crew became the first humans to visit another celestial body.
14. Dec 24Piloted by Jim Lovell, Apollo 8 became the first human spaceflight to reach and orbit the Moon.

Event summaries from Wikipedia’s “On this day”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Each links to its article.

• U.S. President

  Lyndon B. Johnson

• UK Prime Minister

  Harold Wilson

• Prime Minister of Canada

  Lester B. Pearson → Pierre Trudeau

• President of France

  Charles de Gaulle

• German Chancellor

  Kurt Georg Kiesinger

• Prime Minister of Japan

  Eisaku Satō

• Soviet leader

  Leonid Brezhnev

Everyone who held the office at some point in 1968, from Wikidata.

A selection of the best-documented titles on Wikidata, by first release year; not a box-office ranking.

• Cuba GoodingJr., American actor and producer · Jan 2
• LL Cool JAmerican rapper and actor · Jan 14
• Guy FieriAmerican chef, author, and television host · Jan 22
• Lisa Marie PresleyAmerican singer-songwriter and actress (died 2023) · Feb 1
• Gary ColemanAmerican actor (died 2010) · Feb 8
• Josh BrolinAmerican actor · Feb 12
• Chynna PhillipsAmerican singer and actress · Feb 12
• Molly RingwaldAmerican actress · Feb 18
• Tammy DuckworthThai-American colonel, pilot, and politician · Mar 12
• Aaron EckhartAmerican actor and producer · Mar 12

From Wikipedia’s “On this day”, CC BY-SA 4.0.