At A Glance

31 December 1986 at a glance

Day of the week
31 December 1986 was a Wednesday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Walk Like an Egyptian” by The Bangles.
Top Film of 1986
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1986 was Top Gun.
Bestselling Novel of 1986
“It” by Stephen King was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1986.
Top-Rated TV Show
“The Cosby Show” (NBC) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1986–87 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 31 December is Capricorn.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 31 December 1986 fell in the Year of the Tiger.
Birthstone
The birthstone for December is Turquoise.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 31 December 1986 was New Moon.

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 1986 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1986 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • January 12 – STS-61-C: Space Shuttle Columbia is launched with the first Hispanic-American astronaut, Dr. Franklin Chang Díaz.
  • January 20 – The first federal Martin Luther King Jr. Day, honoring Martin Luther King Jr., is observed.
  • February 25 – People Power Revolution: President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines goes into exile in Hawaii after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president, first as an interim president. Salvador Laurel becomes her vice president.
More events of 1986 →Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Life in the US in 1986

President

Ronald Reagan

Gas (per gallon)

$0.86

Loaf of Bread

$0.66

Average House

$88,000

Weekly Wage

$346

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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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