1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was .

Events 
 January 3 – Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
 February 14–March 7 – Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" is the #1 song. It would be 1987's Biggest hit song.
 February 22 – The Airbus A320 makes its first flight.
 March 7 – The first five Beatles albums, Please Please Me, With the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Beatles for Sale and Help! are released on Compact disc. Capitol Records decides to release the original UK mixes of the Beatles albums, which means that the first four CDs are released in mono. This marks the first time that many of these mono mixes were available in the US.
 March 4 - Ronald Reagan issues a televised address to apologize to the American people about the Iran-Contra affair.
 March 27 – Inspired by The Beatles' 1969 rooftop concert, U2 shoots a music video for the song "Where the Streets Have No Name" on a rooftop in Los Angeles, California.
 June 12 – Ronald Reagan challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall!" at the Brandenburg Gate.
 October – electronic data gathering completely replaces the old sales diary technique in compiling the UK singles and albums chart.
 October 7 – Independence of Khalistan is legally declared from the Hindu Indians
 October 12 – Twisted Sister breaks up.
 October 19 – Mötley Crüe release the song "You're All I Need" as a single. Its lyrics cause MTV to refuse to play its video. Radio stations never play the song either.
 November 7 – The first MRT section between Yio Chu Kang and Toa Payoh opened.
 December 8 – President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty banning all nuclear weapons.

Births 
 January 1 – Meryl Davis, American ice dancer
 February 16 – Luc Bourdon, Canadian professional ice hockey player (died 2008)
 March 9 – Bow Wow, American rapper, actor
 March 25 – Nobunari Oda, Japanese figure skater
 March 28 – Yui, Japanese musician
 April 19 – Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis player
 May 4 – Cesc Fàbregas, Spanish footballer
 June 2 – Darin Zanyar, Swedish singer
 June 20 - Paweł Rogaliński, Polish journalist
 June 24 – Lionel Messi, Argentine footballer
 August 7 – Sidney Crosby, Canadian ice hockey player
 August 8 – Katie Leung, Scotish actress
 August 25 – Blake Lively, American actress and model
 August 30 – Johanna Braddy, American actress
 September 19 – Danielle Panabaker, American actress
 September 22 – Tom Felton, English actor and singer
 September 28 – Hilary Duff, American actress and singer
 October 3 – Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza, Puerto Rican Miss Universe 2006
 October 18 – Zac Efron, American actor
 October 24 – Charlie White, American ice dancer
 November 3 – Elizabeth Smart, American kidnapping victim
 November 18 – Jake Abel, American actor
 December 3 – Michael Angarano, American actor
 December 7 – Aaron Carter, American pop singer
 December 18 – Miki Ando, Japanese figure skater
 December 18 – Ayaka, Japanese singer and songwriter
 December 29- Katie Blair, actress, model and pageant titleholder
 December 31 – Javaris Crittenton, American basketball player
 Ming Kipa, youngest person to climb Mount Everest
 Alexander von Zweigbergk Väggö, Swedish model

Deaths 
 February 22 – Andy Warhol, American artist (b. 1928)
 March 19 – Louis de Broglie, French physicist (b. 1892)
 March 28 – Patrick Troughton, English actor (b. 1920)
 May 3 – Dalida, French-Italian actress (b. 1933)
 May 14 – Rita Hayworth, American actress (b. 1918)
 June 22 – Fred Astaire, American actor, singer, dancer (b. 1899)
 August 17 – Rudolf Hess, Nazi leader (b. 1894)
 September 11 – Peter Tosh, Jamaican reggae musician (b. 1944)
 September 21 – Jaco Pastorius, American jazz bassist (b. 1951)
 October 20 – Andrey Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician (b. 1903)
 November 1 – René Lévesque, Canadian politician (b. 1922)
 December 4 – Rouben Mamoulian, Armenian-American movie director (b. 1897)

Nobel Prizes 
 Nobel Prize in Physics – J. Georg Bednorz, K. Alexander Müller
 Chemistry Donald J Cram, Jean-Marie Lehn, Charles J. Pedersen
 Medicine – Susumu Tonegawa
 Literature – Joseph Brodsky
 Peace- Oscar Arias Sanchez
 Economics – Robert Solow

Movies released 
 Beverly Hills Cop ll
 Dirty Dancing
 Full Metal Jacket
 Lethal Weapon
 Over the Top
 Predator
 RoboCop
 Three Men and a Baby
 The Running Man
 The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland

Hit songs 
 "Alone" – Heart
 "Beds Are Burning" – Midnight Oil
 "Faith" – George Michael
 "Hazy Shade of Winter" – The Bangles
 "Hot Love" – Twisted Sister
 "I Found Someone" – Cher
 "I Knew You Were Waiting for Me" – Aretha Franklin & George Michael
 "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" – U2
 "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (who loves me)" – Whitney Houston
 "I Want Your Sex" – George Michael
 "Livin' on a Prayer" – Bon Jovi
 "Somewhere Out There" – Linda Ronstadt and J. Ingram
 "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" – Genesis
 "Walk Like An Egyptian" – The Bangles
 "Where the Streets Have No Name" – U2
 "Wild Nights, Hot & Crazy Days" – Judas Priest
 "With or Without You" – U2
 "You Can Call Me Al" – Paul Simon

New books 
Legacy – James A. Michener