What happened in 1980

“Call Me”

Blondie · 6 weeks at #1 in 1980

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1. Jan 5Please Don't GoKC And The Sunshine Band1 wk
2. Jan 12Escape (The Pina Colada Song)Rupert Holmes1 wk
3. Jan 19Rock With YouMichael Jackson4 wks
4. Feb 16Do That To Me One More TimeCaptain & Tennille1 wk
5. Feb 23Crazy Little Thing Called LoveQueen4 wks
6. Mar 22Another Brick In The Wall (Part II)Pink Floyd4 wks
7. Apr 19Call MeBlondie6 wks
8. May 31FunkytownLipps, Inc.4 wks
9. Jun 28Coming Up (Live At Glasgow)Paul McCartney And Wings3 wks
10. Jul 19It's Still Rock And Roll To MeBilly Joel2 wks
11. Aug 2MagicOlivia Newton-John4 wks
12. Aug 30SailingChristopher Cross1 wk
13. Sep 6Upside DownDiana Ross4 wks
14. Oct 4Another One Bites The DustQueen3 wks
15. Oct 25Woman In LoveBarbra Streisand3 wks
16. Nov 15LadyKenny Rogers6 wks
17. Dec 27(Just Like) Starting OverJohn Lennon1 wk

Dates are the first chart week at #1 in 1980; weeks count only those in 1980.Find the #1 song on your birthday →

1. Jan 27Six American diplomats who had evaded capture in the Iran hostage crisis escaped with the help of Canadian government officials to Zürich, Switzerland.
2. Feb 22At the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, the United States ice hockey team defeated the Soviet team in an unlikely victory that became known as the Miracle on Ice.
3. Feb 23Iran hostage crisis: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
4. Mar 21The American soap opera Dallas aired the episode "A House Divided", which led to eight months of international speculation on "Who shot J.R.?"
5. May 8The World Health Organization confirms the eradication of smallpox.
6. May 9Part of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida collapsed after a pier was struck by MV Summit Venture, killing 35 people.
7. May 18Mount St. Helens explosively erupted, killing approximately 57 people in southern Washington state, reducing hundreds of square miles to wasteland, and causing more than US$1 billion in damage.
8. May 23The Shining, the psychological horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, premiered on 10 screens in New York City and Los Angeles.
9. Jun 1Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting.
10. Jul 30Vanuatu gains independence.
11. Aug 25Zimbabwe joins the United Nations.
12. Oct 9Pope John Paul II greets the Dalai Lama during a private audience in Vatican City.
13. Nov 4Ronald Reagan is elected as the 40th President of the United States, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter.
14. Dec 8English musician John Lennon was murdered at the entrance of the Dakota, where he resided in New York City.

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

• U.S. President

  Jimmy Carter

• UK Prime Minister

  Margaret Thatcher

• Prime Minister of Canada

  Joe Clark → Pierre Trudeau

• President of France

  Valéry Giscard d'Estaing

• German Chancellor

  Helmut Schmidt

• Prime Minister of Japan

  Masayoshi Ōhira → Masayoshi Ito → Zenkō Suzuki

• Soviet leader

  Leonid Brezhnev

Everyone who held the office at some point in 1980, from Wikidata.

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

• Sarah ShahiAmerican actress · Jan 10
• Lin-Manuel MirandaAmerican actor, playwright, and composer · Jan 16
• Zooey DeschanelAmerican singer-songwriter and actress · Jan 17
• Jason SegelAmerican actor and screenwriter · Jan 18
• Michelle McCoolAmerican wrestler · Jan 25
• Wilmer ValderramaAmerican actor and producer · Jan 30
• Lee ZeldinAmerican politician and 17th Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. · Jan 30
• Margarita LevievaRussian-American actress · Feb 9
• Matthew LawrenceAmerican actor and singer · Feb 11
• Christina RicciAmerican actress and producer · Feb 12

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