The 2000s

Tap a year to see its moments, its words of the year, its biggest song and film, and what everyone was doing.

A night view from above of a packed stadium, its floor covered with glowing red, pink and yellow lantern-like sculptures and small figures of performers under blue stadium lighting. — High-angle view down onto the Sydney Olympic Stadium floor as thousands of performers take part in the opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games before an audience of 110,000 on September 15, 2000.

2000

January 1, 2000Y2K: the new year arrives with few problems
As 2000 began, federal agencies reported no major Y2K-related glitches in their computer systems. The government's Y2K czar, John Koskinen, said at a 2 a.m. news briefing that officials had not found any significant Y2K-related incident. The U.S. Naval Observatory's website showed the date as Jan. 1, "19100", and some slot machines at Delaware racetracks stopped working temporarily.[6]
June 26, 2000First survey of the human genome announced
President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced that the international Human Genome Project and Celera Genomics Corporation had both completed an initial sequencing of the human genome, the genetic blueprint for human beings. The Human Genome Project finished its working draft two years ahead of schedule and under budget.[7]
September 15, 2000Sydney Olympics open
The Sydney Olympics opened on 15 September. Aboriginal 400-metre runner Cathy Freeman lit the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony and later won the 400 metres gold medal. Olympedia lists 10,647 participants from 200 countries in 300 medal events.[8]
November 2, 2000First crew arrives at the International Space Station
NASA astronaut William Shepherd and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev reached the International Space Station two days after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. NASA dates its 25 years of continuous human presence aboard the station from this first crew's arrival.[9]
December 12, 2000Supreme Court decides Bush v. Gore
On the evening of the November 7 election, no clear winner of the presidential race had emerged. On December 12 the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a Florida Supreme Court order for a selective manual recount of Florida's ballots, in a 5-4 unsigned decision that effectively awarded Florida's 25 electoral votes to George W. Bush over Al Gore.[10]

Words of the year

chadAmerican Dialect Society[11]

No. 1 songBreathe · Faith Hill[12]

Top film worldwideMission: Impossible II[13]

Everyone was talking about

The Y2K bug The Y2K bug, also called the Millennium Bug, came from programs that stored years as two digits, so computers might read 00 as 1900 instead of 2000. People feared failures in banking, utilities and other systems on January 1, 2000. Businesses and governments worldwide spent an estimated $300 billion to check and fix software, and few major failures occurred.[14]
Dcubillas · CC BY-SA 3.0
Survivor and reality TV CBS began the reality show Survivor in 2000. Sixteen applicants spent about 39 days on an uninhabited island in the South China Sea. By the end of that summer it was the most popular show on television, and its finale reached more than 50 million viewers. Reality shows then spread across network and cable schedules.[15]

2001 →

A gray-toned view from orbit of the New York City area, with a thin plume of smoke rising from the southern tip of Manhattan and drifting off toward the right edge of the frame. — A smoke plume rising from the Manhattan area on September 11, 2001, photographed by an Expedition 3 crew member aboard the International Space Station, which was flying at an altitude of about 250 miles.

2001

September 11, 2001The September 11 attacks
Nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes on the morning of September 11, crashing two into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center and a third into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Passengers on the fourth plane, Flight 93, fought back, and it crashed in a field in western Pennsylvania. The attacks killed 2,977 people from 90 nations.[16]
October 7, 2001U.S. strikes begin in Afghanistan
President George W. Bush announced that the U.S. military had begun strikes against al Qaeda training camps and Taliban military installations in Afghanistan, with Great Britain joining the operation. He said the Taliban had not met demands to close terrorist training camps and hand over al Qaeda leaders.[17]
October 23, 2001Apple introduces the iPod
Apple introduced the iPod, an MP3 music player that stored up to 1,000 songs on a 5 GB hard drive and weighed 6.5 ounces. It went on sale on November 10 for a suggested retail price of $399.[18]
Blake Patterson (Alexandria, VA, USA), via Flickr and Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
November 4, 2001Diamondbacks win the World Series
The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the New York Yankees four games to three, winning Game 7 on a walk-off single by Luis Gonzalez off Mariano Rivera. Postponements after the September 11 attacks pushed the Series to Oct. 27 through Nov. 4, and the Diamondbacks became the fastest expansion team to win a World Series.[19]

Words of the year

9-11American Dialect Society[11]

No. 1 songHanging by a Moment · Lifehouse[12]

Top film worldwideHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone[20]

Everyone was talking about

The iPod Apple introduced the iPod on October 23, 2001. The MP3 player had a 5 GB hard drive that held up to 1,000 songs, weighed 6.5 ounces and fit in a pocket. Its suggested retail price was $399 in the United States.[18]
Napster Napster, the music file-sharing service created by college student Shawn Fanning in 1999, had as many as 1.5 million people sharing files at once at its peak in 2001. It was shut down in 2001 after the Recording Industry Association of America won a court injunction.[21]

← 2000 2002 →

An aerial view of a large oval stadium with a silver roof, blue seats with large red lettering reading Nissan Stadium, a running track and pitch, and surrounding roads and a river. — Aerial view of International Stadium Yokohama (Nissan Stadium), Japan, the venue of the 2002 World Cup final. The photograph was taken many years after the match and uploaded in January 2020. Arne Müseler / arne-mueseler.com · CC BY-SA 3.0

2002

January 1, 2002Euro notes and coins arrive
On 1 January, euro banknotes and coins were introduced in 12 countries with a total population of 308 million. The European Central Bank calls it the world's largest ever monetary changeover.[22]
Jpp / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
February 8, 2002Winter Olympics open in Salt Lake City
The 19th Winter Olympics opened in Salt Lake City, Utah, with the entire 1980 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team, led by captain Mike Eruzione, lighting the cauldron. More than 52,000 people filled Rice-Eccles Stadium, the largest opening-ceremony crowd in Winter Olympics history, and athletes from 77 nations took part.[23]
June 30, 2002Brazil wins the World Cup
Brazil beat Germany 2-0 in the World Cup final in Yokohama, Japan, for its fifth title. Ronaldo, 25, scored both goals, completing a comeback after two years of injuries. It was the first time the two most successful nations had met in the tournament's 72-year history.[24]
July 28, 2002Nine miners rescued at Quecreek
On July 24, 2002, nine miners became trapped underground for nearly 77 hours at the Quecreek No. 1 Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, when water from an adjoining abandoned mine breached the section where they were working. They were rescued on July 28.[25]
Tyrol5, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
November 25, 2002Homeland Security Act creates a new department
The Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296), dated November 25, 2002, created the Department of Homeland Security as a stand-alone, Cabinet-level department. It opened its doors on March 1, 2003.[26]

Words of the year

weapons of mass destruction (WMD)American Dialect Society[11]

No. 1 songHow You Remind Me · Nickelback[12]

Top film worldwideThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers[27]

Everyone was talking about

Alan Light · CC BY 2.0
American Idol American Idol premiered in 2002, using a format imported from Britain's Pop Idol, and quickly became a pop culture phenomenon in the United States. Kelly Clarkson won the first season and released her first single, A Moment Like This, two weeks after her win.[28]
ArcCan · CC BY-SA 3.0
Euro cash arrives On January 1, 2002, euro banknotes and coins were introduced in 12 countries with a total population of 308 million. The European Central Bank calls it the world's largest monetary changeover. The euro became the only legal tender in the euro area on March 1, 2002.[22]

← 2001 2003 →

A space shuttle with its orange external tank and white boosters climbs on a column of flame from a launch tower, with billowing clouds on both sides above a tree line under a blue sky. — Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off from Launch Pad 39A on mission STS-107 on January 16, 2003. Columbia was lost during re-entry at the end of this mission, on February 1, 2003.

2003

February 1, 2003Space Shuttle Columbia is lost
Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry on its 16-day STS-107 science mission. Mission Control lost contact while it was flying over Texas, 16 minutes from its scheduled landing at Kennedy Space Center, and the seven astronauts aboard died.[29]
March 20, 2003The Iraq war begins
A coalition of countries led by U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq on March 20 and seized Baghdad on April 9. On May 12 the United States established the Coalition Provisional Authority, under L. Paul Bremer III, as the interim civil authority in Iraq.[30]
April 28, 2003The iTunes Music Store opens
Apple launched the iTunes Music Store, where customers could buy and download music for 99 cents per song without subscription fees. It offered more than 200,000 songs from BMG, EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal and Warner.[31]
Łukasz Ryba, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
August 14, 2003Blackout hits the Northeast
The northeastern U.S. and southern Canada lost power on August 14 and 15. The blackout stretched from New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey west to Michigan, and from Ohio north to Toronto and Ottawa, affecting approximately 50 million customers.[32]
October 24, 2003Concorde's last flights
Three Concordes touched down at London's Heathrow Airport in a choreographed finale to supersonic passenger travel. The flights, from Edinburgh, around the Bay of Biscay and New York, landed at two-minute intervals; Concorde had made its first commercial flight in January 1976.[33]
Don Gilham / Geograph Britain and Ireland, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0

Words of the year

metrosexualAmerican Dialect Society[11]
democracyMerriam-Webster[34]

No. 1 songIn Da Club · 50 Cent[12]

Top film worldwideThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King[35]

Everyone was talking about

The iTunes Music Store On May 5, 2003, Apple said its iTunes Music Store had sold over one million songs in its first week. Over half were bought as albums, and over half of the 200,000 songs on offer had been bought at least once.[36]
Photo: Andrew Gray · CC BY-SA 2.0
Myspace Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe, who worked at the internet marketing company eUniverse, created Myspace in 2003. Users built profiles with photos and interests and linked to other people's profiles. It became the most popular social network from 2005 to 2008.[37]

← 2002 2004 →

An aerial view of a coastal valley backed by green hills, with scattered houses among floodwater, mud and debris where the tsunami struck. — An aerial view of a village near the coast of Sumatra lying in ruins after the tsunami, photographed on 2 January 2005 during U.S. Navy humanitarian operations. The Navy's caption places the scene in the south-west suburbs of Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

2004

January 3, 2004Spirit lands on Mars
NASA's Spirit rover hit the surface of Mars at 20:35 PST on 3 January, bouncing 28 times before rolling to a stop inside Gusev Crater. The landing site was named Columbia Memorial Station to honor the seven astronauts killed when the space shuttle Columbia broke apart in 2003.[38]
August 13, 2004Olympics return to Athens
The Olympic Games returned to Athens, host of the first modern Games, with the opening ceremony on 13 August. Olympedia lists 10,557 participants from 201 countries in 301 medal events; American swimmer Michael Phelps won eight medals, six of them gold.[39]
Alterego, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
October 27, 2004Red Sox win the World Series
The Boston Red Sox won the World Series for the first time since 1918, sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in four games.[40]
Bernard Gagnon, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
December 26, 2004Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
A magnitude 9.1 earthquake off the west coast of northern Sumatra was followed by a tsunami. In total, 227,898 people were killed or missing and presumed dead, and about 1.7 million were displaced, in 14 countries in South Asia and East Africa.[41]

Words of the year

red/blue/purple statesAmerican Dialect Society[11]
blogMerriam-Webster[42]

No. 1 songYeah! · Usher feat. Lil Jon & Ludacris[12]

Top film worldwideShrek 2[43]

Everyone was talking about

Photo: Coolcaesar · CC BY-SA 3.0
Facebook Facebook launched on February 4, 2004, started by Mark Zuckerberg with co-founders Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Eduardo Saverin. Facebook's own timeline lists 1 million people active on Facebook on December 1, 2004.[44]
Livestrong wristbands By October 14, 2004, a spokesman for the Lance Armstrong Foundation said it had sold more than 17 million of its yellow Live Strong wristbands. NPR reported that the bands had become a trendy fashion accessory, and some wondered whether the fad would overshadow their message of hope for cancer survivors.[45]
Photo: Gga2015 · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Friends finale The NBC sitcom Friends aired from 1994 to 2004. Its finale was watched by more than 52 million people.[46]

← 2003 2005 →

A satellite view of the northern Gulf of Mexico coast with the white spiral cloud mass of Hurricane Katrina and its small eye close to the shoreline, with green land to the north and dark Gulf waters to the south. — A GOES-12 visible-light satellite image of Hurricane Katrina shortly after landfall on August 29, 2005, at 1415 UTC. NOAA/NASA GOES Project, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, via Flickr and Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

2005

February 14, 2005YouTube goes online
Three former PayPal employees, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim, launched the YouTube.com domain, first thinking it would host a dating website. When they could not get anyone to use it, they made the first YouTube video themselves: a 19-second clip titled "Me At The Zoo".[47]
Nabukodinosaure / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
April 2, 2005Pope John Paul II dies
Pope John Paul II, history's most well-traveled pope and the first non-Italian pope since the 16th century, died at his home in the Vatican. Six days later, 2 million people packed Vatican City for his funeral.[48]
Wuhazet-Henryk Żychowski, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0
July 26, 2005Shuttle flights resume
Space Shuttle Discovery launched on STS-114, the first Return to Flight mission since the loss of Columbia on Feb. 1, 2003. NASA spent two and a half years on safety improvements, including closer examination of the wing-edge panels and new foam applications on the external tanks; Discovery landed on Aug. 9.[49]
August 29, 2005Hurricane Katrina
Katrina made landfall near Buras, Louisiana, as a Category 3 hurricane, then came ashore again near the Louisiana/Mississippi border. The National Hurricane Center's updated report counts 1,392 deaths (520 of them direct) and $125 billion in damage in 2005 dollars, and ranks it the third deadliest U.S. hurricane since 1900.[50]
October 26, 2005White Sox win the World Series
The Chicago White Sox won their first World Series in 88 years, beating the Houston Astros 1-0 in the final game and sweeping the series in four games. Jermaine Dye, who drove in the only run of that game, was named series MVP.[51]

Words of the year

truthinessAmerican Dialect Society[11]
integrityMerriam-Webster[52]
podcastOxford (US)[53]

No. 1 songWe Belong Together · Mariah Carey[12]

Top film worldwideHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire[54]

Everyone was talking about

Photo: Coolcaesar at the English-language Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
YouTube YouTube was registered on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim, three former PayPal employees. It began in Hurley's garage in California as a video-based dating website and at first struggled to attract users.[55]
Photo: © BrokenSphere / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince The sixth Harry Potter book went on sale in the United States at 12:01 a.m. on July 16, 2005. Scholastic estimated it sold 6.9 million copies in its first 24 hours, a publishing record, after a first printing of 10.8 million. More than 5,000 midnight parties were held at retailers.[56]

← 2004 2006 →

A white Atlas V rocket rising on a column of flame and billowing smoke from its launch pad between tall lattice towers, under a blue sky with scattered clouds. — NASA's New Horizons spacecraft roars off the launch pad aboard an Atlas V rocket from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Liftoff was at 2 p.m. EST on January 19, 2006.

2006

January 19, 2006New Horizons launches toward Pluto
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft launched on Jan. 19, 2006, bound for a Pluto flyby and a Kuiper Belt object. It became the first spacecraft to explore Pluto up close, flying by the dwarf planet and its moons on July 14, 2015.[57]
July 9, 2006Italy wins the World Cup
Italy beat France on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the final at Berlin's Olympic Stadium to win a fourth World Cup, and it was the Italians' first win in a penalty shoot-out at the tournament. France's Zinedine Zidane was shown a red card for headbutting Marco Materazzi.[58]
August 24, 2006Pluto is reclassified
Members of the International Astronomical Union, meeting in Prague, agreed that a planet orbits the Sun, is nearly round and has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, which leaves the Solar System with eight planets. Pluto became one of the first three members of a new class of dwarf planets, with Ceres and an object then called 2003 UB313.[59]
IAU/Robert Hurt (SSC), via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
October 17, 2006U.S. population clock reaches 300 million
The Census Bureau's population clock reached 300 million, and Census Bureau director Charles L. Kincannon spoke to the media. The clock is not a real-time count but a statistical model based on monthly national population estimates.[60]

Words of the year

to be plutoed / to plutoAmerican Dialect Society[11]
truthinessMerriam-Webster[61]
bovveredOxford (UK)[62]
carbon neutralOxford (US)[63]

No. 1 songBad Day · Daniel Powter[12]

Top film worldwidePirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest[64]

Everyone was talking about

The Nintendo Wii Nintendo's Wii went on sale in the Americas on November 19, 2006, at $250, half the price of the cheapest PlayStation 3. Nintendo said it sold 600,000 units in the first eight days, and Wii-related revenue reached $190 million.[65]
Photo: Fletcher6 · CC BY-SA 3.0
TIME's Person of the Year: You TIME named You its Person of the Year for 2006. Writer Lev Grossman said the year's larger story was community and collaboration on an unprecedented scale, citing Wikipedia, YouTube and MySpace.[66]

← 2005 2007 →

Nancy Pelosi in a red jacket and a beaded necklace, smiling and gesturing with one raised hand while speaking at a dark wooden podium with a microphone. — Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, speaking at a podium in 2007, in a photo from her official House photo gallery.

2007

January 4, 2007First woman Speaker of the House
On January 4, Nancy Pelosi of California became the first woman to serve as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.[67]
April 16, 2007Shooting at Virginia Tech
On April 16, an active shooter at Virginia Tech killed 32 professors and students and injured dozens of others. The university holds remembrance ceremonies for the victims, and a government review examined the university's actions during the event.[68]
User B at Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
June 29, 2007The iPhone goes on sale
Apple's iPhone went on sale in the U.S. on June 29 at 6:00 p.m. local time. Apple described it as a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod and the Internet in your pocket in one device, priced at $499 for a 4GB model and $599 for an 8GB model.[69]
Andrew from London, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0
July 21, 2007Final Harry Potter book is published
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling's seventh and final Harry Potter book, reached U.S. bookstores at 12:01 a.m. on July 21. Its U.S. publisher, Scholastic, said early reports estimated sales of 8.3 million copies in the first 24 hours, a publishing record.[70]
© BrokenSphere / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

Words of the year

subprimeAmerican Dialect Society[11]
w00tMerriam-Webster[71]
locavoreOxford (US)[72]
carbon footprintOxford (UK)[73]

No. 1 songIrreplaceable · Beyoncé[12]

Top film worldwidePirates of the Caribbean: At World's End[74]

Everyone was talking about

Photo: Eli Duke · CC BY-SA 2.0
The iPhone Apple's iPhone was introduced on June 29, 2007. Apple said it sold its one millionth iPhone on September 9, just 74 days later.[75]
Photo: Zack Sheppard · CC BY-SA 2.0
The last Harry Potter book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book, went on sale in the United States at 12:01 a.m. on July 21, 2007. Scholastic estimated it sold 8.3 million copies in its first 24 hours, a publishing record, after a first printing of 12 million.[70]
Photo: Jon 'ShakataGaNai' Davis · CC BY 3.0
The Kindle Amazon released the first Kindle in 2007. The e-reader had a 6-inch screen, could store over 200 e-books, and loaded new content over a free wireless connection. Kindles became the most popular e-readers.[76]

← 2006 2008 →

Inside the Beijing National Stadium at night: fireworks burst above the open roof ring, a glowing globe stands on the field, and performers and spectators fill the stands. — The opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics at the National Stadium in Beijing on August 8, 2008, with fireworks seen above the stadium's open roof. U.S. Army (Tim Hipps, FMWRC Public Affairs) · CC BY 2.0

2008

July 14, 2008App Store passes 10 million downloads
Apple announced that iPhone and iPod touch users had downloaded more than 10 million applications from the new App Store since its launch late the previous week. More than 800 applications were available, over 200 of them free and more than 90 percent priced under $10.[77]
Dan Taylor from London, UK · CC BY 2.0
August 8, 2008Beijing Olympics open
The Beijing Olympics opened on 8 August. American swimmer Michael Phelps won eight gold medals in eight events, passing the seven golds Mark Spitz won in 1972. Olympedia lists 10,899 participants from 204 countries in 302 medal events.[78]
September 10, 2008The Large Hadron Collider starts up
At CERN in Geneva, the first beam in the Large Hadron Collider was steered around the full 27 kilometres of the accelerator at 10:28 a.m. CERN called it a key moment in the move from more than two decades of preparation to a new era of scientific discovery.[79]
Maximilien Brice (CERN) · CC BY-SA 3.0
September 15, 2008Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy
Over the preceding weekend, the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Treasury and the Securities and Exchange Commission brought together leaders of the major financial firms to seek a private-sector solution for Lehman Brothers. They were unsuccessful, and Lehman, an investment bank, filed for bankruptcy early on Monday, September 15; the next day AIG received support from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.[80]
David Shankbone · CC BY-SA 3.0
November 4, 2008Barack Obama elected president
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois defeated Senator John McCain of Arizona to become the 44th U.S. president and the first African American elected to the White House. He won 365 electoral votes and nearly 53 percent of the popular vote, to McCain's 173 electoral votes and more than 45 percent.[81]
Obama-Biden Transition Project · CC BY 3.0

Words of the year

bailoutAmerican Dialect Society[11]
bailoutMerriam-Webster[82]
credit crunchOxford (UK)[83]
hypermilingOxford (US)[84]

No. 1 songLow · Flo Rida feat. T-Pain[12]

Top film worldwideThe Dark Knight[85]

Everyone was talking about

Photo by Feureau, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
The App Store On July 14, 2008, Apple said iPhone and iPod touch users had downloaded more than 10 million applications from the new App Store since its launch late the previous week. More than 800 native applications were available, and more than 200 of them were free.[77]
Photo: Bryan Allison · CC BY-SA 2.0
Michael Phelps in Beijing At the 2008 Games in Beijing, American swimmer Michael Phelps became the first athlete to win eight gold medals at a single Olympics.[86]

← 2007 2009 →

Barack Obama smiling with his right hand raised, facing Chief Justice Roberts, who is seen from behind, with Michelle Obama in a yellow-green coat beside him and onlookers behind. — Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2009.

2009

January 15, 2009Flight 1549 lands on the Hudson River
US Airways flight 1549 lost almost all thrust in both engines after encountering a flock of birds shortly after leaving LaGuardia Airport and was ditched on the Hudson River. The 150 passengers and 5 crew members evacuated through the forward and overwing exits; one flight attendant and four passengers were seriously injured.[87]
RadioFan at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
January 20, 2009Obama sworn in
Barack H. Obama was sworn in as the 44th President on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, with the oath given by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.; Joseph R. Biden was sworn in as the 47th Vice President. The inaugural committee lists it as the largest attendance of any presidential inauguration in U.S. history and the first time an African American took the office of President.[88]
June 11, 2009WHO declares an H1N1 pandemic
The World Health Organization raised its pandemic alert level from phase 5 to phase 6, saying the world was at the start of the 2009 influenza pandemic. It reported nearly 30,000 confirmed cases in 74 countries of a new H1N1 virus that spread easily from person to person.[89]
June 25, 2009Michael Jackson dies
Michael Jackson died in Los Angeles at age 50 after going into cardiac arrest. His album Thriller topped the charts for 37 weeks.[90]
Taty2007 · CC BY 3.0
August 16, 2009Usain Bolt runs 9.58
Usain Bolt of Jamaica ran the 100 metres in 9.58 seconds at the World Championships in Berlin, a new world record. It cut 0.11 seconds from his own record of 9.69 set at the Beijing Olympics a year earlier, and Tyson Gay of the U.S. was second in 9.71, a national record.[91]
Tobi 87 · CC BY 3.0

Words of the year

tweetAmerican Dialect Society[11]
admonishMerriam-Webster[92]
unfriendOxford (US)[93]

No. 1 songBoom Boom Pow · The Black Eyed Peas[12]

Top film worldwideAvatar[94]

Everyone was talking about

Twitter Nielsen reported in March 2009 that U.S. unique visitors to Twitter.com grew 1,382 percent in a year, from 475,000 in February 2008 to 7 million in February 2009. The largest age group on the site was 35 to 49.[95]
Photo by J. Miers (Wikivoyage user Jtesla16), via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Susan Boyle Susan Boyle, a 47-year-old from West Lothian, Scotland, sang I Dreamed a Dream at her Britain's Got Talent audition in April 2009. CBS News reported on April 21 that the YouTube video of the performance had passed 100 million views.[96]