UK, 
US, 
Australia & 
IrelandAt A Glance
5 January 2012 at a glance
- Day of the week
- 5 January 2012 was a Thursday.
- Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
- The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “We Found Love” by Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris.
- Top Film of 2012
- The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 2012 was The Avengers.
- Bestselling Novel of 2012
- “Fifty Shades of Grey” by E. L. James was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 2012.
- Top-Rated TV Show
- “NCIS” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 2012–13 season.
- Star sign
- The star sign for 5 January is Capricorn.
- Chinese zodiac
- In the Chinese zodiac, 5 January 2012 fell in the Year of the Rabbit.
- Birthstone
- The birthstone for January is Garnet.
- Moon phase
- The moon phase on 5 January 2012 was Waxing Gibbous.
On this day: 5 January
- 1993 The oil tanker MV Braer runs aground on the coast of the Shetland Islands, spilling 84,700 tons of crude oil.
- 2005 The dwarf planet Eris is discovered by Palomar Observatory-based astronomers, later motivating the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to define the term planet for the first time.
- 2014 A launch of the communication satellite GSAT-14 aboard the GSLV MK.II D5 marks the first successful flight of an Indian cryogenic engine.
- 2022 Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev dismisses Prime Minister Asqar Mamin and declares state of emergency over the 2022 Kazakh unrest.
- 2023 The 2023 Sinaloa unrest begins.
Famous people born on January 5
- Suki Waterhouse, English actress, singer-songwriter, and model (born 1992)
- Vinnie Jones, British footballer and actor (born 1965)
- Diane Keaton, American actress, director, and businesswoman (1946–2025)
- Bradley Cooper, American actor and producer (born 1975)
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Choose your country: the charts, news and leaders change to match.
Events of 2012 in the United States
A selection from Wikipedia's '2012 in the United States'. Not a complete list.
- March 2 – Dr. Seuss' The Lorax is released in theaters.
- March 20 – John Carter records one of the biggest losses in cinema history, forcing Disney to take a $200 million writedown and chairman Rich Ross to resign.
- May 4 – The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon, is released by Marvel Studios as the sixth film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the final film in its "Phase One" slate.
Life in the US in 2012
President
Barack Obama
Gas (per gallon)
$3.68
Loaf of Bread
$1.84
Average House
$256,900
Weekly Wage
$757
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