Catastrophic, chaotic, and depressing are all words suitable for describing the start of the new decade. Although many unpleasant events plagued 2020, good things happened too! Covering U.S. politics, COVID-19, global news, environment, entertainment, and much more, below is a long and comprehensive list of things that happened in 2020.
January – May: The Australian bushfires continued to tear through Australia, displacing and killing countless humans and animals.
January 1: During the early hours of the new year, flash floods hit Indonesia, displacing the population, killing 66 people, and causing landslides and other forms of destruction.
January 3: Tensions with Iran mounted after the U.S. killed Iranian military leader Quassem Solemaini in an airstrike.
January 5: A U.S. federal site was hacked by Iranians, who posted pro-Iranian messages, prompting Homeland Security to monitor the situation.
January 8: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped back from their duties as members of the British royal family.
January 12: Taal, one of the Philippines most active volcanoes, erupted, emitting a large amount of ash dust, forcing civilians to evacuate.
January 14: Delta Air Lines Flight 89, on its way to Shanghai, dumped fuel on a school playground near LAX, giving 60 people, including 17 children, skin irritation.
January 15: President Trump and Chinaās Vice Premier Liu He signed the Phase One Trade Deal, a historic and enforceable agreement requiring reforms to Chinaās economic and trade regime.
January 17: Bad Boys for Life, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, came out in theaters.
January 17: Universal came out with Dolittle.
January 20: Over 22,000 Americans attended a gun right rally at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia to protest proposed gun laws.
January 21: The U.S. announced its first case of coronavirus.
January 22: The Oakland Raiders officially relocated to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
January 24: President Trump became the first sitting president to personally attend the annual March for Life, an anti-abortion protest, in Washington D.C..
January 26: Along with seven others, Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi passed away in a tragic helicopter accident.
January 31: Brexit happened: the United Kingdom officially withdrew from the European Union.
February 4: The Iowa caucus was delayed due to technology issues.
February 5: President Trump was acquitted on both articles of impeachment at his trial. One article was the abuse of power and the other was obstruction of Congress.
February 7: Warnerās Bros. released Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey.
February 8: The first American citizen died of the coronavirus in Wuhan. The death was announced two hours after U.S. citizens were evacuated from the city.
February 9: Parasite won the Oscar for Best Film, making it the first non-English film to win the award.
February 14: Paramount premiered Sonic the Hedgehog in theaters.
February 14: Justin Bieber dropped his fifth album, Changes.
February 20 – April 7: The stock markets started crashing due to COVID-19.
February 21: BTS dropped their fourth album, Map of the Soul: 7.
February 21: Star Wars: The Clone Wars came out with Season 7āits last season.
February 21: Featuring Harrison Ford, The Call of the Wind, which is based on Jack Londonās short adventure novel, arrived in theaters.
February 24: Locust continued to swarm into the Horn of Africa, infesting Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia.
February 24: Former American film producer Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of committing sex crimes; his sentencing was scheduled on March 11.
February 28: The Invisible Man released in theaters.
February 29: Leap Day!
March 1: At least 33 Turkish soldiers died after an airstrike attack from Syria, creating more tension between the two countries and causing Turkey to launch a major offensive against the Syrian government.
March 5: U.S. senator Elizabeth Warren dropped out of the Democratic presidential race.
March 6: Two suicide bombers deployed bombs near the U.S. Embassy in Tunisia, injuring four policemen and one civilian. No terrorist group took responsibility for the incident.
March 6: Samsung launched its Galaxy S20 smartphone.
March 6: Lil Uzi Vert dropped his second album, Eternal Atake.
March 11: Coronavirus was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).
March 13: Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by the police in her own home at age 26; later, BLM protests erupted across the country seeking justice for Taylor.
March 13: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates stepped down from the companyās board to focus on philanthropic activities.
March 17: Chad began repaying its $100 million debt to Angola with cattle as over 1,000 cows arrived in Luoda.
March 17: West Virginia confirmed its first coronavirus case, making the virus present in all 50 states in the United States.
March 20: The Weeknd released his fourth album, After Hours.
March 23: The International Olympics Committee delayed the Tokyo 2020 Olympics by one year.
March 27: Dua Lipa released her second studio album, which is called Future Nostalgia.
March 28: North Korea launched an unidentified projectile off the coast of Japan, making it North Koreaās sixth launch in the last month.
April 6: Death tolls in the U.S. surpassed 10,000.
April 6: The British Menās Golf Championship was cancelled for the first time since WWII due to the pandemic.
April 8: Bernie Sanders dropped out of the Democratic race for U.S. president.
April 9: The Saudi Arabian coalition fighting Yemen rebels ceased-fire for two weeks to stop the spread of coronavirus.
April 9: 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment claims in the last week, bringing the total of unemployment claims in the past three weeks up to 17 million.
April 13: Tenor Andrea Bocelli sang a special Easter concert in a Milan cathedral with the accompaniment of an organist.
April 18: A man dressed as a police committed a shooting in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, killing at least 16 people, making it one of Canadaās deadliest shootings.
April 19: Lady Gagaās One World: Together at Home concert streamed worldwide.
April 19: While practicing social distancing, thousands of angry protestors took to the streets of Israel, protesting Prime Minister Netanyahu and government corruption.
April 20: President Trump temporarily suspended immigration to the United States for 60 days by executive orders.
April 27: Proof of UFOs was released by the U.S. Navy.
April 27: Kim Jong Un was speculated to be dead or gravely ill.
April 28: The United States recorded over one million COVID-19 cases.
May 4: X Ć A-12 was born.
May 4: Originating in Asia, a highly dangerous and invasive hornet species, the āMurder hornets,ā made its way to Washington state.
May 6: A styrene gas leak occurred at the LG Polymers chemical plant in Visakhapatnam, India, killing 11 people and injuring 1000+ others.
May 7: Sweet Tomatoes filed for bankruptcy and closed all 97 of its locations.
May 14: Typhoon Vongfong made landfall in the Philippines.
May 15: Charli XCX dropped her fourth album, How Iām Feeling Now.
May 16: JCPenney, a 118 year-old American department store, filed for bankruptcy.
May 20: Protesters marched with rifles for haircuts.
May 25: George Floyd was murdered during an arrest over a counterfeit $20 bill, sparking national protests against racism.
May 27: Coronavirus deaths in the United States passed 100,000.
May 27: Locust swarmed western and central India after spreading from Pakistan and Iran.
May 29: Lady Gaga dropped her sixth studio album, Chromatica, which was supposed to be released on April 10.
May 30: SpaceX launched two astronauts into space for the first time in a decade on U.S. soil.
June 2: Ebola killed five people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
June 6: President Putin declared a state of emergency in Norilsk, an industrial city located above the Arctic Circle, after 20,000 tons of fuel spilled into a river.
June 8: Former astronaut Kathy Sullivan became the first woman to reach the deepest point of the ocean (Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench). She was also the first woman to spacewalk.
June 9: Since Memorial Day, nine states reported increases in hospitalization due to the coronavirus.
June 10: Amidst the Black Lives Matter protests, many statues of prominent Confederate figures were vandalized or removed.
June 11: The United States exceeded two million confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to a new model suggesting spikes in death toll in September and later months.
June 12: Along with its civil war, Yemen faced three pandemics, resulting in soaring death rates, putting Yemen in a dangerous humanitarian crisis.
June 15: U.S. Supreme Court ruled that gay and transgender workers cannot be discriminated against in the workplace.
June 15: 20 Indian soldiers and an unconfirmed number of Chinese soldiers died in a melee in Aksai Chināa heavily disputed area along the Sino-Indian border.
June 20: The highest-ever temperature was recorded in the Arctic Circle: 38Ā°C (100Ā°F) in Verkhoyansk, Siberia.
June 22: More than 20 public health officials in the United States left their post or have resigned in recent weeks.
June 22: Parts of Antarctica turned green due to climate change and the blooming of algae, reported Grist.
June 23: Saudi Arabia planned to cancel Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, for the first time in modern history, due to coronavirus.
June 30: Protests in Hong Kong escalated after China implemented a national security law, which gave China more control over Hong Kong.
June 30: FC Barcelona’s Argentine soccer superstar, Lionel Messi, scored his 700th goal.
July 2: The FBI arrested Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and an accomplice to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
July 3: The United States reported over 55,000 new coronavirus casesāa new daily global record.
July 4: Kanye West announced his candidacy in the 2020 presidential election.
July 6: CNN reported that there was a suspected case of the bubonic plague in Inner Mongoliaāan autonomous region of northern Chinaāforcing the city Bayannur to impose Level 3 plague prevention until the end of the year.
July 7: President Trump officially notified Congress and the United Nations of the U.S.’ withdrawal from WHO.
July 8: Glee actress, Naya Rivera, lost her life after saving her 4-year old son from drowning.
July 11: After being taken by gunmen, five people were killed and six more were injured during a hostage crisis at a South African church.
July 18: A fire broke out in Franceās Nantes Cathedral, although the fire was not as devastating as that of Notre Dame.
July 19: British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton took victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
July 21: The United States accused China of hacking COVID-19 vaccine research trials.
July 24: Taylor Swift dropped her eighth albumāFolklore.
July 25: Attacks in northern Nigeria have left dozens dead with the Nigerian government claiming that the attacks were carried out by militant groups.
July 27: Google committed to allowing their employees work from home until July 2021.
July 31: Beyonceās film, Black is King, came out on Disney+ as an exclusive.
August 1: Egypt informed SpaceX CEO Elon Musk its pyramids were not built by aliens, after Musk tweeted in support of a conspiracy it did. Afterward, Egypt also invited Musk to visit the pyramids to see for himself.
August 3: In Wyoming, at least 12 people were injured after a hot air balloon crashed due to unexpected wind patterns.
August 4: A giant explosion in Beirut, Lebanon killed 135 people, injured 5000, and displaced 300,000. The next day, it was revealed the blast might have been caused by stored ammonium nitrate.
August 7: Cardi B released “WAP,” featuring Megan Thee Stallion.
August 9: Simon Cowell broke his back in a bicycle accident.
August 11: President Putin, in a propaganda stunt, announced Russia had become the first country to grant regulatory approval to a coronavirus vaccine, despite having no scientific data published or phase 3 initiative.
August 12: Joe Biden announced Kamala Harris as his running mate.
August 16: Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store after the developers of Epic Games implemented its own in-app payment system, which bypassed Appleās standard 30% fee.
August 17: Protests erupted in Bangkok as citizens called for government reform.
August 18: Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency as fires burned across California.
August 24: President Trumpās senior advisorāKellyane Conwayāannounced her resignation. Conway shared the decision was made so she could spend more time with her family.
August 28: Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman passed away from colon cancer.
August 28: Blackpink released āIce Cream,ā featuring Selena Gomez.
September 3: Warner Bros. premiered Tenet, which features a secret agent embarking on a dangerous mission to prevent the start of World War III.
September 4: Disney released the live-action Mulan on Disney+ with a premier access charge of $30.
September 5: BTSā āDynamiteā reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first K-Pop song to do so.
September 6: Temperatures of 121 degrees Fahrenheit were recorded in Los Angeles, the highest they have ever been.
September 7: At least five boats sank during a Trump boat parade in Texas.
September 10: Two million acres of land have burnt from the record-breaking Californian fires, causing the sky to turn orange.
September 12: At the U.S. Open Womenās Single, Japanās Naomi Osaka won her second U.S. title, beating Belarusā Victoria Azarenka.
September 17: Barbados, an independent British commonwealth nation in the Caribbean, announced its intention to remove Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and form a republic.
September 18: Ruth Bader Ginsberg, a prominent feminist, womenās rights activist, and Supreme Court Justice, died from cancer.
September 22: During the 2020 United Nations General Assembly, President Xi announced that China will aim to hit peak emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.
September 24: PCGamer talked about the popularity of Among Us and how it went from an indie game to a global phenomenon.
September 24: A court decision regarding Breonna Taylor was released, renouncing all officers involved in the shooting aside from one. Afterward, BLM protests escalated due to the decision.
September 25: President Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to take RBGās spot in the Supreme Court.
September 29: President Trump and presidential candidate Joe Biden had their first debate, covering issues like the pandemic, voting fraud, and climate change.
October 2: President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19.
October 2: South Korean girl group Blackpink dropped The Album.
October 3: Kuwaiti emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Sabah, who was widely respected because of his dedication to peace, died at age 91.
October 10: Azerbaijan and Armenia both accused each other of breaking the ceasefire, which was temporarily agreed upon one day earlier, escalating tensions between the two countries.
October 11: LA Lakers beat Miami Heat in Game 6, winning its 17th NBA championship title. LeBron James was also the first to win the title with three different teams.
October 14: A copy of William Shakespeareās First Folio sold for a record of $9.8 million at an auction in New York.
October 20: Vietnam faced the worst flooding in a decade; over 100 people died from the incident.
October 23: President Trump announced that both Sudan and Israel agreed to normalize relations, ending turbulence between the two nations.
October 23: Apple officially launched the iPhone 12.
October 26: Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice.
October 26: A missile strike in the Azeri town Barda killed around 21 citizens and injured many more. Azerbaijan accused Armenia of the attack due to the escalating tensions, but Armenia denied the claims.
October 30: The Mandalorian Season 2 came out on Disney+.
October 30: Louis Vuitton became the first luxury fashion house to release protective face masks, starting at around $961.
October 30: Ariana Grande dropped Positions, her sixth studio album.
October 30: The United States surpassed 9 million COVID-19 cases.
November 2: “Baby Shark” surpassed “Despacito” and became the most watched video on YouTube, earning over 7 billion views.
November 2: At least 10 students were killed after gunmen infiltrated and attacked Kabul University. The Taliban said they were not responsible for the attack.
November 2: A 20-year old man who tried to join ISIS, opened fire in Vienna, Austria, killing four innocents and injuring 22 others.
November 3: Election Day!
November 7: Joe Biden was projected to be the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
November 8: After former president Evo Morales was ousted by angry protestors, Luis Arce was inaugurated as the new president of Bolivia, returning power back to the socialists.
November 8: Alex Trebekāgame host of Jeopardy!āpassed away at age 80.
November 10: “Lockdown” was declared to be the word of the year.
November 12: Sony released the Playstation 5. Two days prior, Microsoft launched the Xbox Series X.
November 13: Activision published Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
November 16: Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were proven to be more than 90 percent effective.
November 16: CNN reported that there were over 92,700 claims against the Boy Scouts of America. More cases arose after the scouting organization filed for bankruptcy on February 18.
November 22: BTS won the American Music Awards 2020 for Favorite Social Artist and Favorite Duo or Group
November 24: Vogueās December 2020 issue, featuring Harry Styles, became available on newsstands.
November 27: Miley Cyrus released her seventh album, Plastic Hearts.
December 7: Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to ever break the sound barrier, passed away at age 97.
December 8: FireEye, a top American cybersecurity firm, said hackersāmost likely Russianāstole its digital tools, giving thieves a larger range of ideas for attacks.
December 8: Upset with California’s environment regulations, Elon Musk moved to Texas.
December 8: Apple introduced its new AirPods Max, starting at $549.
December 9: A Chinese coronavirus vaccine is 86% effective in its early analysis stages, shared the United Arab Emirates.
December 9: 48 states and federal regulator claims that Facebook illegally crushed competition by buying rival companies.
December 11: After more than 50 years, the Zodiac Killer cipher had finally been deciphered.
December 11: Taylor Swift released her ninth album, Evermore.
December 14: The Electoral College affirmed Joe Biden as the next president of the United States.
December 18: Jeremy Lin finalized a deal with the Golden State Warriors’ G League team.
December 25: Wonder Woman 1984 released in theaters.
Page Editors: Austin Lin & Sherry Zhang