What happened in 1984

“Jump”

Van Halen · 5 weeks at #1 in 1984

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Spotify ↗Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

1. Jan 7Say Say SayPaul McCartney And Michael Jackson2 wks
2. Jan 21Owner Of A Lonely HeartYes2 wks
3. Feb 4Karma ChameleonCulture Club3 wks
4. Feb 25JumpVan Halen5 wks
5. Mar 31FootlooseKenny Loggins3 wks
6. Apr 21Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)Phil Collins3 wks
7. May 12HelloLionel Richie2 wks
8. May 26Let's Hear It For The BoyDeniece Williams2 wks
9. Jun 9Time After TimeCyndi Lauper2 wks
10. Jun 23The ReflexDuran Duran2 wks
11. Jul 7When Doves CryPrince5 wks
12. Aug 11GhostbustersRay Parker Jr.3 wks
13. Sep 1What's Love Got To Do With ItTina Turner3 wks
14. Sep 22Missing YouJohn Waite1 wk
15. Sep 29Let's Go CrazyPrince And The Revolution2 wks
16. Oct 13I Just Called To Say I Love YouStevie Wonder3 wks
17. Nov 3Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)Billy Ocean2 wks
18. Nov 17Wake Me Up Before You Go-GoWham!3 wks
19. Dec 8Out Of TouchDaryl Hall John Oates2 wks
20. Dec 22Like A VirginMadonna2 wks

Dates are the first chart week at #1 in 1984; weeks count only those in 1984.Find the #1 song on your birthday →

1. Jan 1Brunei becomes independent of the United Kingdom.
2. Jan 7Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
3. Feb 13Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
4. Feb 29Pierre Trudeau announces his retirement as Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister of Canada.
5. Mar 22Teachers at a preschool in Manhattan Beach, California, were falsely charged with the sexual abuse of schoolchildren, leading to the longest and costliest criminal trial in United States history.
6. May 8The Soviet Union announced the boycott of the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, citing security concerns.
7. Jun 5Operation Blue Star: Under orders from India's prime minister, Indira Gandhi, the Indian Army begins an invasion of the Golden Temple, the holiest site of the Sikh religion.
8. Jul 18A gunman massacred 21 people and injured 15 others at a McDonald's restaurant in the district of San Ysidro of San Diego, California.
9. Jul 23Vanessa Williams, the first African-American Miss America, was forced to resign after the magazine Penthouse published nude photos of her without consent.
10. Aug 30Discovery, the third orbiter of NASA's Space Shuttle program, lifted off on its maiden voyage from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
11. Sep 21Brunei joins the United Nations.
12. Oct 31Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her own Sikh bodyguards, sparking riots that killed thousands of Sikhs.
13. Nov 2Velma Barfield, a convicted serial killer, became the first woman to be executed in the United States since 1962.
14. Dec 22While riding a New York City Subway train, Bernhard Goetz shot four African-American youths who had attempted to rob him, sparking a nationwide debate on vigilantism, racism, and the legal limits of self-defense.

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

• U.S. President

  Ronald Reagan

• UK Prime Minister

  Margaret Thatcher

• Prime Minister of Canada

  Pierre Trudeau → John Turner → Brian Mulroney

• President of France

  François Mitterrand

• German Chancellor

  Helmut Kohl

• Prime Minister of Japan

  Yasuhiro Nakasone

• Soviet leader

  Yuri Andropov → Konstantin Chernenko

Everyone who held the office at some point in 1984, from Wikidata.

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

• Eric TrumpAmerican businessman · Jan 6
• Kate McKinnonAmerican actress and comedian · Jan 6
• Nick MangoldAmerican football player (died 2025) · Jan 13
• Ben ShapiroAmerican author and commentator · Jan 15
• Luke GrimesAmerican actor · Jan 21
• Justin BaldoniAmerican actor, director, and producer · Jan 24
• Kid CudiAmerican entertainer · Jan 30
• Elizabeth HolmesAmerican fraudster, founder of Theranos · Feb 3
• Aubrey O'DayAmerican singer and reality television personality · Feb 11
• Wilson BethelAmerican actor · Feb 24

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