1989

1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was . A wave of counter revolutions ended the Eastern Bloc and the Cold War during the year.
Events
January 7 - Akihito becomes Emperor of Japan following the death of Hirohito. The Heisei period begins.
January 8 - the Kegworth Air Disaster - A British Midland Boeing 737 crashes on approach to East Midlands Airport - 44 dead
January 10 - Cuban troops begin withdrawing from Angola
January 10 - Assistant Australian Federal Police commissioner Colin Winchester is shot dead in the driveway of his Canberra home.
January 17 - A gunman kills 5 children, wounds 30 and then shoots himself in Stockton, California.
January 20 - George Herbert Walker Bush succeeds Ronald Wilson Reagan as President of the United States of America
January 24 - Serial killer Ted Bundy is executed in Florida's electric chair
January 30 - American Olympic medalist Bruce Kimball is sentenced to 17 years in prison for killing two teenagers in a drunk driving accident.
February 3 - Paraguayan leader Alfredo Stroessner is removed from office.
February 14 - Iran issues a fatwa (death warrant) against the writer Salman Rushdie for his novel, The Satanic Verses.
March 24 - The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurs at Prince William Sound in southern Alaska. Until 2010 it is the worst oil spill in United States history.
May - Tornadoes hit Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
June 4 - Protests at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, are brutally crushed. An image of a lone protestor defying a tank is shown worldwide.
August - First sighting of the Aurora, a supposed hypersonic aircraft
September - Hurricane Hugo strikes the Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, South Carolina and North Carolina. The hurricane causes $8 billion in damage in the United States, about $10 billion in total. Many people die from this hurricane.
October 17 - A major earthquake strikes San Francisco, California.
October 18 - East Germany's leader Erich Honecker resigns.
November 2 - Bad Religion releases No Control, which is considered one of the band's best known works in the history of punk music, along with its predecessor Suffer, which came out in the previous year.
November 17 - The Berlin Wall in Germany starts to come down.
December 22 - The main crossing from East into West Berlin is officially reopened.
December 22 - In Romania, Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu is removed from office.
December 25 - Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena are executed by a firing squad.
Births
January 9 - Nina Dobrev, Canadian actress
January 23 - April Pearson, British actress
February 3 - Vania King, American tennis player
February 9 - Shunta Takahashi, Japanese footballer
February 18 - Zhang Li Yin, Chinese singer
February 21 - Corbin Bleu, American actor
March 12 - Holger Badstuber, German footballer
March 13 - Marko Marin, German footballer
March 14 - Ryohei Yamazaki, Japanese footballer
March 16 - Theo Walcott, English footballer
March 19 - James Richman, Latvian-born investor
March 20 - Keisuke Endo, Japanese footballer
March 28 - David Goodwillie, Scottish footballer
April 8 - Koki Otani, Japanese footballer
April 23 - Nicole Vaidisova, German tennis player
May 5 - Chris Brown, American singer
May 11 - Giovani dos Santos, Mexican footballer
May 17 - Tessa Virtue, Canadian ice dancer
June 2 - Freddy Adu, American footballer
June 10 - Alexandra Stan, Romanian singer and songwriter
June 11 - Shia LaBeouf, American actor
July 16 - Gareth Bale, Welsh footballer
June 28 - Markiplier, American YouTube personality
July 23 - Daniel Radcliffe, British actor
August 15 - Joe Jonas, American singer and actor
August 21 - Hayden Panettiere, American actress
August 30 - Bebe Rexha, American singer and songwriter
September 1 - Bill & Tom Kaulitz, German singers
September 10 - Sanjaya Malakar, American singer
September 13 - Thomas Mueller, German footballer
September 21 - Jason Derulo, American singer
September 21 - Emma Watkins, Australian musician (The Wiggles)
September 23 - Brandon Jennings, American basketball player
October 4 - Kimmie Meissner, American ice skater
October 5 - Alex Beznea, Romanian guitarist (Timpuri Grele)
October 13 - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, American politician and activist
October 24 - Pewdiepie, Swedish YouTube personality
October 30 - Seth Adkins, American actor
October 30 - Nastia Liukin, American gymnast
November 11 - Patrick Starrr, American YouTube personality
December 13 - Taylor Swift, American singer who has an album titled 1989
December 22 - Jordin Sparks, American singer
December 28 - Mackenzie Rosman, American actress
Deaths
January
January 7 - Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (b. 1901)
January 23 - Salvador Dali, Spanish painter (b. 1904)
January 24 - Ted Bundy, American serial killer (b. 1946)
February
February 6 - Chris Gueffroy, last person to be shot at the Berlin Wall (b. 1968)
February 17 - Lefty Gomez, American baseball player (b. 1908)
February 26 - Roy Eldridge, American jazz musician (b. 1911)
February 27 - Konrad Lorenz, German scientist (b. 1903)
March
April
April 12 - Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (b. 1921)
April 22 - Emilio G. Segre, Italian-American physicist (b. 1905)
April 26 - Lucille Ball, American actress (b. 1911)
April 30 - Sergio Leone, movie director (b. 1929)
May
May 20 - Gilda Radner, American comedian and actress (b. 1946)
June
June 3 - Ayatollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader of Iran (b. 1900)
June 30 - Hilmar Baunsgaard, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1920)
July
July 2 - Andrei Gromyko, Soviet politician (b. 1909)
July 10 - Mel Blanc, American actor (b. 1908)
July 11 - Laurence Olivier, British actor (b. 1907)
July 16 - Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (b. 1908)
August
August 12 - William Shockley, American physicist (b. 1910)
September
September 4 - Georges Simenon, Belgian writer (b. 1903)
September 8 - Barry Sadler, American musician (b. 1940)
September 22 - Irving Berlin, Russian-born composer (b. 1888)
September 28 - Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines (b. 1917)
October
October 4 - Graham Chapman, English comedian (b. 1941)
October 6 - Bette Davis, American actress (b. 1908)
November
November 5 - Vladimir Horowitz, Russian-born pianist (b. 1903)
November 30 - Ahmadou Ahidjo, 1st President of Cameroon (b. 1924)
December
December 14 - Andrei Sakharov, Soviet physicist and activist (b. 1921)
December 22 - Samuel Beckett, Irish playwright (b. 1906)
December 25 - Nicolae Ceausescu, President of Romania (b. 1918)
December 25 - Elena Ceausescu, Deputy Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1916)
Nobel Prizes
Nobel Prize in Physics won by Norman F. Ramsey, and shared by Hans G. Dehmelt and Wolfgang Paul
Nobel Prize in Chemistry shared by Sidney Altman and Thomas R. Cech
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine shared by J. Michael Bishop and Harold E. Varmus
Nobel Prize in Literature won by Camilo Jose Cela, Spanish novelist
Nobel Peace Prize won by Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences won by Trygve Haavelmo
Movies released
Batman
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
Born on the Fourth of July, nominated for eight Academy Awards
Dead Poets Society, winner of the BAFTA Award for Best Film
Do The Right Thing
Driving Miss Daisy, nominated for nine Academy Awards
Ghostbusters II
Great Balls of Fire! Honey, I Shrunk The KidsIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the highest-grossing movie of 1989
Kickboxer Kiki's Delivery Service, an animated movie
Lethal Weapon II Tango & Cash The Little Mermaid, made by Walt Disney Pictures
Lock Up Look Who's Talking Next of Kin National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Road House Roger & Me, directed by Michael Moore
Steel Magnolias, winning a Golden Globe Award for Julia Roberts
Turner & Hooch UHF Uncle Buck, directed by John Hughes
Hit songs
"All She Wants Is" - Duran Duran
"My Brave Face" - Paul McCartney
"Another Day in Paradise" - Phil Collins
"Batdance" - Prince
"Bat Attack '89 - Crime Fighters Inc
"Beds Are Burning" - Midnight Oil
"Blame It on the Rain" - Milli Vanilli
"Buffalo Stance" - Neneh Cherry
"Cartoon" - Soul Asylum
"Compulsory Hero - 1927
"Chained To The Wheel - Black Sorrows
"Cry In Shame Johnny Diesel + The Injectors
"Crying In The Chapel" - Peter Blakley
"Do You Believe In Shame?" - Duran Duran
"Dr. Feelgood" - Motley Crue
"Eternal Flame" - The Bangles
"Eyes Of A Stranger" - Queensryche
"Hangin' Tough" - New Kids On The Block
"Heavy Metal" - Judas Priest
"I Drove All Night - Cyndi Lauper
"I Feel The Earth Move - Martika
"If I Could" - 1927
"If I Could Turn Back Time" - Cher
"If Tomorrow Never Comes" - Garth Brooks
"Kickstart My Heart" - Motley Crue
"Killin' Time" - Clint Black
"Leave A Light On For Me - Belinda Carlisle
"Like a Prayer" - Madonna
"Listen To Your Heart" - Roxette
"Lost in Your Eyes" - Debbie Gibson
"Love Shack"- The B-52's
"Miss You Much" - Janet Jackson
"Monsters Of Rock" - Judas Priest
"Open Letter (To A Landlord)" - Living Colour
"Orange Crush" - R.E.M.
"Rendez-vous chaque soir" - Dalida (inedit)
"Right Here Waiting" - Richard Marx
"Ring My Bell - Collette
"She Drives Me Crazy" - Fine Young Cannibals
"She Has To Be Loved" - Jenny Morris
"Sometime To Return" - Soul Asylum
"Soul Revival" - Johnny Disel + The Injectors
"Stand" - R.E.M.
"Stop - Sam Brown
"Straight Up" - Paula Abdul
"Talk It Over" - Grayson Hugh
"The Crack-Up" - The Black Sorrows
"The Dance" - Garth Brooks
"The Look" - Roxette
"The World Seems Difficult" - Mentals
"Tucker's Daughter - Ian Moss
"Un soir qu'on oublie pas" - Dalida (inedit)
"Veronica" - Elvis Costello
"When I See You Smile" - Bad English
"We Didn't Start The Fire" - Billy Joel
"Wild Thing" - Tone Loc
"You Got It" - Roy Orbison
"You Got It (The Right Stuff)" - New Kids On The Block
"Young Years" - Dragon
"You'll Never Know" - 1927
New Books
Geek Love - Katherine Dunn
The Cardinal of the Kremlin - Tom Clancy
Chronicle of the French Revolution - Jean Favier et al.