At A Glance

31 December 1980 at a glance

Day of the week
31 December 1980 was a Wednesday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “(Just Like) Starting Over” by John Lennon.
Top Film of 1980
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1980 was The Empire Strikes Back.
Bestselling Novel of 1980
“The Covenant” by James A. Michener was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1980.
Top-Rated TV Show
“Dallas” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1980–81 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 31 December is Capricorn.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 31 December 1980 fell in the Year of the Monkey.
Birthstone
The birthstone for December is Turquoise.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 31 December 1980 was Waning Crescent.

On this day: 31 December

  • 1981 A coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann's PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.
  • 1983 The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government.
  • 1983 Benjamin Ward is appointed New York City Police Department's first ever African American police commissioner.
  • 1983 In Nigeria, a coup d'état led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari ends the Second Nigerian Republic.
  • 1991 All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date, five days after the Soviet Union is officially dissolved.

Famous people born on December 31

  • Val Kilmer, American actor (1959–2025)
  • Sophia Laforteza, Filipino-American singer (born 2002)
  • Alex Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager (born 1941)
  • Charles Edward Stuart, Scottish claimant to the throne of England (1720–1788)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Choose your country: the charts, news and leaders change to match.

Events of 1980 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1980 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • January 27 – Canadian Caper: Six United States diplomats, posing as Canadians, manage to escape from Tehran, Iran as they board a flight to Zurich, Switzerland.
  • March 22 – The Georgia Guidestones are erected in Elbert County, Georgia.
  • April 15 – A mass exodus of Cubans to the United States known as the Mariel boatlift begins. It ends on October 31 by agreement between the two countries.
More events of 1980 →Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Life in the US in 1980

President

Jimmy Carter

Gas (per gallon)

$1.19

Loaf of Bread

$0.50

Average House

$64,600

Weekly Wage

$267

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Famous Faces Born in the 1980s

Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.

Hayden Panettiere21 August 1989Actress & singerView their day →Alan Ritchson28 November 1982ActorView their day →Anne Hathaway12 November 1982ActressView their day →Dakota Johnson4 October 1989Actress & modelView their day →Macklemore19 June 1983RapperView their day →Andrew Garfield20 August 1983ActorView their day →Julia Stiles28 March 1981ActressView their day →Taylor Swift13 December 1989Singer-songwriterView their day →

Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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