At A Glance

31 December 1988 at a glance

Day of the week
31 December 1988 was a Saturday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” by Poison.
Top Film of 1988
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1988 was Rain Man.
Bestselling Novel of 1988
“The Cardinal of the Kremlin” by Tom Clancy was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1988.
Top-Rated TV Show
“The Cosby Show” (NBC) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1988–89 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 31 December is Capricorn.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 31 December 1988 fell in the Year of the Dragon.
Birthstone
The birthstone for December is Turquoise.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 31 December 1988 was Last Quarter.

On this day: 31 December

  • 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.
  • 1992 Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.

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 1988 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1988 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • January 1 – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is established, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
  • January 4 – Nick Jr. begins as a block of Nickelodeon programming for younger children.
  • March 9 – Blackstone Financial Management is founded as a global asset management company in New York City by eight co-founders, led by Larry Fink. In 1992, it would change its name to BlackRock.
More events of 1988 →Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Life in the US in 1988

President

Ronald Reagan

Gas (per gallon)

$0.90

Loaf of Bread

$0.70

Average House

$99,700

Weekly Wage

$374

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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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