1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was .

Births 
 January 24 – Mischa Barton, English-born American actress
 January 24 – Ricky Ullman, Israeli-born American actor
 February 1 – Johan Vonlanthen, Swiss footballer
 February 19 – Maria Mena, Norwegian singer
 February 21 – Charlotte Church, Welsh soprano
 March 1 – Jonathan Spector, American footballer
 March 9 – Brittany Snow, American actress
 March 14 – Jamie Bell, English actor
 March 16 – Alexandra Daddario, American actress
 March 28 – Lady Gaga, American singer
 April 3 – Amanda Bynes, American actress and variety show host
 April 9 – Leighton Meester, American actress
 May 13 – Robert Pattinson, Actor, Singer & Model
 May 16 – Megan Fox, American actress
 June 3 – Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis player
 June 10 – Joey Zimmerman, American actor
 June 11 – Shia LaBeouf, American actor
 June 13 – Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, American actresses and entrepreneurs
 June 24 – Solange Knowles, American actress and singer
 June 25 – Aya Matsuura, Japanese singer
 June 27 – Drake Bell, American actor
 July 2 – Lindsay Lohan, American actress
 July 4 – Shane Kippel, Canadian actor
 July 17 – Brando Eaton, American actor
 August 16 – Shawn Pyfrom, American actor
 September 9 – Michael J. Sox, German singer
 September 12 – Emmy Rossum, American actress and singer
 October 16 - Inna, Romanian singer and songwriter 
 October 31 – Christie Hayes, Australian actress
 November 1 – Penn Badgley, American actor
 November 2 – Lara Sacher, Australian actress
 November 3 – Jasmine Trias, American singer
 November 5 – BoA, Korean singer
 November 17 – Nani, Portuguese footballer
 November 25 – Amber Hagerman, American murder victim (d. 1996)
 December 28 – Tom Huddlestone, English football player
 December 30 – Ellie Goulding, British singer

Deaths 
 January 1 – Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (b. 1902)
 January 4 - Phil Lynott, Irish bass guitarist (Thin Lizzy) (b. 1949)
 January 8 – Pierre Fournier, French cellist (b. 1906)
 January 14 – Donna Reed, American actress (b. 1921)
 January 24 – L. Ron Hubbard, American fiction writer and founder of Scientology (b. 1911)
 January 24 – Gordon MacRae, American actor, singer (b. 1921)
 January 24 – Vincente Minnelli, American director (b. 1903)
 January 27 – Lilli Palmer, actress (b. 1914)
 January 28 – Crew of Space Shuttle Challenger: Francis R. Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair, Greg Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe.
 February 11 – Frank Herbert, American science fiction writer (b. 1920)
 February 27 – Jacques Plante, Canadian hockey player (b. 1929)
 February 28 – Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1927)
 March 6 – Georgia O'Keeffe, American artist (b. 1887)
 March 10 – Ray Milland, Welsh actor (b. 1907)
 March 30 – James Cagney, American actor (b. 1899)
 April 14 – Simone de Beauvoir, French writer and intellectual (b. 1908)
 April 15 - Tim McIntire, American actor (b. 1944)
 April 24 – Wallis Simpson, wife of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (b. 1896)
 April 26 – Broderick Crawford, American actor (b. 1911)
 May 9 – Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese mountain guide (b. 1914)
 June 14 – Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer (b. 1899)
 August 26 – Ted Knight, American actor (b. 1923)
 August 31 – Urho Kekkonen, President of Finland (b. 1900)
 September 1 – Murray Hamilton, American actor (b. 1923)
 September 24 – Cliff Burton, American bassist and songwriter from Metallica (b. 1962)
 October 14 – Keenan Wynn, American actor (b. 1916)
 October 19 – Samora Machel, President of Mozambique (b. 1933)
 November 2 – Paul Frees, American actor, comedian (b. 1920)
 November 8 – Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet politician (b. 1890)
 November 21 – Jerry Colonna, American comedian (b. 1904)
 November 22 – Scatman Crothers, American actor, musician (b. 1910)
 November 29 – Cary Grant, English actor (b. 1904)
 December 2 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born American actor, bandleader, musician and television producer (b. 1917)
 December 26 – Elsa Lanchester, British-American actress (b. 1902)
 December 28 – Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian movie director (b. 1932)
 December 29 – Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the UK (b. 1894)

Events 
 January 1 – Spain and Portugal enter the European Community
 January 1 – Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands and is separated from the Netherlands Antilles.
 January 9 – After losing a patent battle with Polaroid, Kodak leaves the instant camera business.
 January 12 – Space Shuttle Columbia is launched with the first Hispanic-American astronaut, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz.
 January 20 – The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.
 January 20 – The first federal Martin Luther King Day, honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
 January 24 – Voyager 2 space probe makes first encounter with Uranus
 January 28 – Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven astronauts on board.
 January 29 – Yoweri Kaguta Museveni became President of the Republic of Uganda after leading a successful five-year liberation struggle.
 February 25 – Corazon Aquino becomes President of the Philippines.
 February 28 – Sweden's Prime Minister Olof Palme is assassinated.
 April 20 - NBA player Michael Jordan scores a playoff record 63 points in a game against the Boston Celtics.
 April 21 – Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's vault on live television and finds nothing.
 April 26 – An explosion occurs at a nuclear reactor in Chernobyl.
 August 21 – A leak of volcanic gases at Lake Nyos in Cameroon kills many people nearby as they sleep.
September 24 — Metallica bassist Cliff Burton is killed in a bus crash
 October 11 – Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan hold a meeting in Iceland.
 October 19 – Mozambique's President Samora Machel dies in a plane crash.
 Bubble Bobble is created, a video game popular world-wide

Movies released 
 Little Shop of Horrors
 Top Gun
 Ferris Bueller's Day Off
 Stand by Me
 Back to School
 Aliens
 The Delta Force
 Three Amigos!
 Cobra
 Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation
 Club Paradise
 Ruthless People
 The Hitcher
 Heartbreak Ridge
 The Great Mouse Detective
 My Little Pony: The Movie
 Maximum Overdrive
 16 Candles
 An American Tail

Hit songs 
 "Stimulation – Wa Wa Nee
 "You're The Voice" – John Farnham #1
 "No Lies" – Noiseworks
 "Funkytown" – Psudeo Echo #1
 "Throw Your Arms Around Me" – Hunters + Collectors
 "(There's Gonna Be) A Showdown – The Johnnys
 "Walk Like an Egyptian" – The Bangles
 "Livin' on a Prayer" – Bon Jovi
 "The Final Countdown" – Europe
 "French Kissin' In The USA" – Debbie Harry
 "True Colors" – Cyndi Lauper
 "Hip To Be Square" – Huey Lewis and the News
 "Real Wild Child (Wild One)" – Iggy Pop
 "Hymn To Her" – The Pretenders
 "War" – Bruce Springsteen
 "Breakout" – Swing Out Sister
 "I Want To Wake Up With You" – Boris Gardiner
 "Two Of Hearts" – Stacey Q
 "Whole Of The Moon" – Waterboys
 "Take My Breath Away" – Berlin
 "Glory Of Love" – Peter Cetera
 "The Next Time I Fall" – Peter Cetera
 "You Give Love A Bad Name" – Bon Jovi
 "Move Away" – Culture Club
 "That's What Friends Are For" – Dionne Warwick
 "Hey, You!" – Divine
 "Little Baby" – Divine
 "Sara" – Starship
 "Parce que je ne t'aime plus" – Dalida
 "Le sixième jour" – Dalida
 "Addicted To Love" – Robert Palmer
 "Stuck With You" – Huey Lewis & the News
 "How Will I Know" – Whitney Houston
 "When I Think of You" – Janet Jackson
 "West End Girls" – Pet Shop Boys
 "Live to Tell" – Madonna
 "Holding Back The Years" – Simply Red
 "Stay For Awhile" – Amy Grant
 "Papa Don't Preach" – Madonna
 "Rock Me Amadeus" – Falco
 "On My Own" – Patti Labelle & Michael McDonald
 "Notorious" – Duran Duran
 "Sometimes" – Erasure
 "Kyrie" – Mr. Mister
 "That Was Then, This Is Now" – The Monkees
 "Kiss" – Prince
 "The Greatest Love of All" – Whitney Houston
 "Manic Monday" – The Bangles
 "Locked In" – Judas Priest
 "Turbo Lover" – Judas Priest
 "Love Walks In" – Van Halen
 "La Isla Bonita" – Madonna
 "Sledgehammer" – Peter Gabriel
 "Invisible Touch" – Genesis
 "Living In America" – James Brown
 "Lady In Red" – Chris de Burgh
 "Holding Out For A Hero" – Bonnie Tyler
 "My Hometown" – Bruce Springsteen
 "Venus" – Bananarama

New books 
 Extinction – Thomas Bernhard
 The Bourne Supremacy – Robert Ludlum
 The Bridge – Iain Banks
 Cadillac Desert – Marc Reisner
 The Fence Post Chronicles – W.P. Kinsella
 The Fisher King – Anthony Powell
 Ghost – Piers Anthony
 The Golden Cup – Belva Plain
 Hollywood Husbands – Jackie Collins
 I'll Take Manhattan – Judith Krantz
 In the Hollow of His Hand – James Purdy
 It – Stephen King
 Kara Kush – Idries Shah
 Kate Vaiden – Reynolds Price
 Last of the Breed – Louis L'Amour
 Leo Africanus – Amin Maalouf
 The Light Fantastic – Terry Pratchett
 Love You Forever – Robert Munsch
 A Matter of Honour – Jeffrey Archer
 The Moronic Inferno and Other Visits to America – Martin Amis
 Nobody Lives For Ever – John Gardner
 The Old Devils – Kingsley Amis
 A Perfect Spy – John le Carré
 The Prince of Tides – Pat Conroy
 Red Storm Rising – Tom Clancy
 Speaker for the Dead – Orson Scott Card
 Sportswriter – Richard Ford
 Tourist Season – Carl Hiaasen
 Wanderlust – Danielle Steel
 Whirlwind – James Clavell
 The Wizards and the Warriors – Hugh Cook