(346) 572-1202
Cases Ledger Pricing Blog Hiring guide Decades
EN
Give a gift Open a Case

Decade Files · No. 02 · 2010 to 2019

The 2010s.

Between 2011 and 2019, smartphone owners went from about a third of American adults to four in five. Selfies, streaming, a rover on Mars and the first picture of a black hole. The decade of the feed as a case file: every fact sourced, and what it means for the records your family left behind.

  • 308.7 millionpeople counted in the 2010 U.S. census (308,745,538 on April 1, 2010), up 9.7% from 2000[1]
  • 7 billionworld population, which the UN said was officially reached on October 31, 2011[2]
  • 35% → 81%share of U.S. adults who said they owned a smartphone, 2011 vs 2019[3]
  • 2 billionpeople using Facebook every month, announced June 27, 2017[4]
  • 1.8°Fhow much warmer Earth's surface was in 2019 than the 1951–1980 average; NASA called the 2010s the warmest decade on record[5]

Researched by James Duncan. Every fact links to its source.

Year by year

Ten years, one tap at a time

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

Platform supply vessels fight the blazing remains of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon in April 2010. Several Coast Guard helicopters, planes and cutters responded to rescue the rig's 126-person crew.

2010

  1. January 12, 2010Earthquake devastates Haiti

    A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti and devastated its capital, Port-au-Prince. About 220,000 people were reportedly killed, some 300,000 were injured and 1.5 million were left homeless.[6]

  2. March 23, 2010Affordable Care Act signed

    President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. Its highlights included the Health Insurance Marketplace, coverage of children to age 26 and preventative services with no cost-sharing.[7]

  3. April 20, 2010Deepwater Horizon rig explodes

    The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank in the Gulf, killing 11 workers. Four million barrels of oil flowed from the damaged well over 87 days before it was capped on 15 July 2010, the largest spill in the history of marine oil drilling.[8]

  4. July 11, 2010Spain wins the World Cup in South Africa

    Spain beat the Netherlands 1-0 at Soccer City in Johannesburg to win the World Cup for the first time. Andres Iniesta scored in the 116th minute, with four minutes of extra time left.[9]

  5. October 13, 201033 Chilean miners rescued

    After a cave-in on 5 August and 69 days trapped half a mile underground in Chile's San José copper mine, 33 miners were hauled up one at a time. Engineers named the rescue capsule Fenix 2.[10]

Words of the year
  • austerityMerriam-Webster[11]
  • refudiateOxford (US)[12]
  • changeDictionary.com[13]

No. 1 songTiK ToK · Ke$ha[14]

Top film worldwideToy Story 3[15]

Everyone was talking about
  • The iPad Apple's iPad went on sale on April 3, 2010. Apple said it sold one million in 28 days, less than half the 74 days the iPhone took to reach that mark. Owners had already downloaded over 12 million apps.[16]
  • Angry Birds In 2010, Angry Birds was Apple's best-selling iPhone app. By January 2011 the game had been downloaded more than 50 million times in a year, and Mattel planned a board game version for May.[17]
2011 →
Space shuttle Atlantis touches down for the final time on Runway 15 of the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, July 21, 2011. Main-gear touchdown came at 5:57 a.m. EDT; it was the 26th nighttime landing of the Space Shuttle Program.

2011

  1. February 11, 2011Egypt's Mubarak steps down

    Egypt's President Mubarak stepped down after weeks of peaceful protest. President Obama said: "The people of Egypt have spoken."[18]

  2. March 11, 2011Earthquake and tsunami hit Japan

    A magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck off the northeast coast of Honshu, Japan, and its tsunami reached the coast within 30 minutes, causing a nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi. As of March 2026, Japan's National Police Agency counted 15,901 deaths and 2,519 people missing.[19]

  3. April 29, 2011Prince William marries Catherine Middleton

    Prince William and Catherine Middleton were married at Westminster Abbey. More than 24 million people in the UK and 23 million in the USA watched the service on television.[20]

  4. May 2, 2011Osama bin Laden killed

    President Obama announced that a small team of Americans had killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in an operation at a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. No Americans were harmed.[21]

  5. July 21, 2011Last Space Shuttle flight lands

    Space Shuttle Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center at 5:57 a.m. EDT, ending STS-135, its 33rd and final mission. It closed the 30-year history of space shuttle flights.[22]

Words of the year
  • pragmaticMerriam-Webster[23]
  • squeezed middleOxford[24]
  • tergiversateDictionary.com[25]

No. 1 songRolling In The Deep · Adele[26]

Top film worldwideHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2[27]

Everyone was talking about
  • Planking Planking meant lying rigid and face down in an unusual spot, such as on a washing machine, a sign or a railing, and posting the photo online. A Facebook planking page had more than 180,000 members.[28]
  • The royal wedding Prince William and Catherine Middleton married at Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011. More than 24 million people in the UK watched the service on television, and 23 million in the USA.[20]
← 20102012 →
NASA's Curiosity rover took this self-portrait on October 31, 2012, using its arm camera (MAHLI) to capture 55 high-resolution images that were stitched together. It shows the rover at "Rocknest" in Gale Crater, with four scoop marks in the soil in front of it.

2012

  1. July 4, 2012Higgs boson discovered

    At CERN, the ATLAS and CMS teams announced the discovery of a new particle. By March 2013 physicists had concluded that some kind of Higgs boson had been found, confirming the field that gives elementary particles their mass.[29]

  2. July 27, 2012London Olympics open

    Queen Elizabeth II declared the London Olympics open at a ceremony created by film director Danny Boyle. Roughly 10,500 athletes from 204 nations took part, and for the first time every national team included women.[30]

  3. August 6, 2012Curiosity lands on Mars

    NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Mars at 1:32 a.m. EDT on 6 August (10:32 p.m. PDT on 5 August). It came down inside Gale Crater, near the foot of a mountain three miles tall.[31]

  4. October 29, 2012Superstorm Sandy

    Sandy crossed the New Jersey shore just before 8 p.m., two hours after losing its hurricane status, and pushed a storm surge into New York City that flooded lower Manhattan and the subway system. In total, 233 deaths and more than $75 billion in damage were attributed to Sandy.[32]

  5. December 21, 2012Gangnam Style hits a billion views

    PSY's "Gangnam Style", first posted in July 2012, became the first video of any kind to reach 1 billion views online, with 1,000,382,639 views on YouTube.[33]

  • Mark from Brighton · CC BY 2.0
Words of the year
  • socialism / capitalismMerriam-Webster[34]
  • GIF (verb)Oxford (US)[35]
  • blusterDictionary.com[36]

No. 1 songSomebody That I Used To Know · Gotye Featuring Kimbra[37]

Top film worldwideThe Avengers[38]

Everyone was talking about
  • Gangnam Style On December 21, 2012, PSY's Gangnam Style became the first video ever to reach one billion views on YouTube.[39]
  • The jump from the edge of space On October 14, 2012, the Red Bull Stratos mission took Felix Baumgartner to the edge of space and back. At its peak, more than 8 million live streams of it were running at once on YouTube. His jump from 128,100 feet set the record for the highest jump from a platform.[40]
← 20112013 →
A witness photo of the 2013 Russian meteor event, taken from the Chelyabinsk Drama Theatre on February 15, 2013. Nikita Plekhanov · CC BY-SA 3.0

2013

  1. February 15, 2013Meteor explodes over Russia

    A small asteroid about 17 to 20 meters across entered the atmosphere near Chelyabinsk, Russia, broke apart at high altitude and produced a shower of pieces. NASA scientists called it the most energetic impact event recognized since the 1908 Tunguska blast.[41]

  2. March 13, 2013Pope Francis elected

    After Benedict XVI resigned, the cardinals elected Argentine Jesuit Jorge Mario Bergoglio, aged 76, as the 266th pope. He took the name Francis and was the first pope from the Americas.[42]

  3. April 15, 2013Boston Marathon bombing

    During the 117th Boston Marathon, two brothers set off two bombs seconds apart among spectators on Boylston Street, killing three people and injuring hundreds more. One of the brothers, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was sentenced to death in 2015.[43]

  4. November 8, 2013Typhoon Haiyan strikes the Philippines

    Typhoon Haiyan, called Yolanda in the Philippines, made its first landfall at 4:40 a.m. in Guiuan, Eastern Samar. It killed more than 6,000 people, and 4 million people were left displaced from their homes.[44]

  5. December 5, 2013Nelson Mandela dies

    Nelson Mandela died at his home in Johannesburg. Released from prison in 1990, he was inaugurated in 1994 as South Africa's first democratically elected president.[45]

  • Tenan · CC BY-SA 3.0
Words of the year
  • scienceMerriam-Webster[46]
  • selfieOxford[47]
  • geekCollins[48]
  • privacyDictionary.com[49]

No. 1 songThrift Shop · Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Featuring Wanz[50]

Top film worldwideFrozen[51]

Everyone was talking about
  • The Harlem Shake Baauer's viral hit "Harlem Shake" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 the week YouTube streaming data was added to the chart. It was only the 21st song to debut at No. 1 since the chart began in 1958.[52]
  • Vine On January 24, 2013, Twitter introduced Vine, an app for sharing looping videos of six seconds or less. It launched free on the iPhone and iPod touch.[53]
← 20122014 →
Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, seen by the Rosetta spacecraft's navigation camera from 28.6 km (17.8 miles) away on September 19, 2014. The mosaic combines four images taken over about 20 minutes. ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM · CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

2014

  1. March 8, 2014Flight MH370 disappears

    Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished from radar with 239 people on board. When the search was suspended in January 2017, after crews examined more than 45,000 square miles of the Indian Ocean, nothing had been seen of the plane except pieces of debris.[54]

  2. March 27, 2014UN vote on Russia's annexation of Crimea

    After a 16 March referendum, Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region. The UN General Assembly voted 100 to 11, with 58 abstentions, for a resolution calling on states not to recognize any change in the status of Crimea or Sevastopol.[55]

  3. July 13, 2014Germany wins the World Cup in Brazil

    Germany beat Argentina 1-0 at the Maracanã in Rio to win the World Cup for the fourth time. Mario Götze volleyed the winner in the 113th minute, in extra time.[56]

  4. August 8, 2014WHO declares Ebola an emergency

    The World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Begun in Guinea in December 2013, it had reached Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, with 1,711 cases and 932 deaths reported by 4 August: the largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded.[57]

  5. November 12, 2014A probe lands on a comet

    The European Space Agency's Rosetta mission landed its Philae probe on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, the first time in history this had been done. The signal confirming touchdown reached Earth at 16:03 GMT after a seven-hour descent.[58]

Words of the year
  • cultureMerriam-Webster[59]
  • vapeOxford[60]
  • photobombCollins[61]
  • exposureDictionary.com[62]

No. 1 songHappy · Pharrell Williams[63]

Top film worldwideTransformers: Age of Extinction[64]

Everyone was talking about
  • The Ice Bucket Challenge In the summer of 2014, the Ice Bucket Challenge inspired more than 17 million people around the world to dump ice water on their heads and donate, and it raised $115 million for the ALS Association.[65]
  • The Oscars selfie A group selfie organized by host Ellen DeGeneres at the Oscars became, according to Twitter, the most retweeted tweet ever, with nearly 2.6 million retweets by the next morning. Actor Bradley Cooper took the photo.[66]
← 20132015 →
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry watches as the Embassy Marine Guards raise the American flag for the first time in 54 years at the newly reopened U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, on August 14, 2015.

2015

  1. April 25, 2015Earthquake devastates Nepal

    A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal, followed 17 days later by a magnitude 7.3 aftershock. With the landslides and avalanches they set off, they caused close to 9,000 deaths, Nepal's worst natural disaster since the 1934 Nepal-Bihar earthquake.[67]

  2. June 26, 2015Same-sex marriage legal nationwide

    In Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to license marriages between two people of the same sex and to recognize such marriages lawfully performed in other states. Justice Kennedy wrote the opinion of the Court, joined by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan.[68]

  3. July 14, 2015New Horizons flies past Pluto

    NASA's New Horizons became the first spacecraft to explore Pluto up close, passing within 7,800 miles (12,500 km) of the dwarf planet. It had launched on 19 January 2006.[69]

  4. July 20, 2015U.S. and Cuba restore relations

    The United States and Cuba resumed diplomatic relations, turning their interests sections into embassies. The U.S. had cut diplomatic ties with Cuba on 3 January 1961.[70]

  5. December 12, 2015Paris climate agreement adopted

    At the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, 195 Parties adopted the Paris Agreement, a legally binding treaty on climate change. Its goal is to hold warming well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.[71]

Words of the year
  • -ismMerriam-Webster[72]
  • 😂 (Face with Tears of Joy emoji)Oxford[73]
  • binge-watchCollins[74]
  • identityDictionary.com[75]

No. 1 songUptown Funk! · Mark Ronson Featuring Bruno Mars[76]

Top film worldwideStar Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens[77]

Everyone was talking about
  • The dress A photo of a dress split the internet over whether it was white and gold or blue and black. It drew more than 20 million views on BuzzFeed and became the No. 1 trend on Twitter. On February 27, 2015, the UK retailer Roman Originals confirmed it was blue and black.[78]
  • Adele's 25 Adele's album 25, released November 20, opened at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 3.38 million copies sold in its first week, according to Nielsen Music. That was the biggest sales week for any album since Nielsen began tracking in 1991, beating 'N Sync's 2.42 million in 2000.[79]
← 20142016 →
A polling station sign for the EU referendum vote in Ham, London, June 23, 2016. Ungry Young Man · CC BY 2.0

2016

  1. February 11, 2016Gravitational waves detected

    Scientists announced the first observation of gravitational waves, ripples in spacetime predicted by Albert Einstein's 1915 general theory of relativity. LIGO's twin detectors in Louisiana and Washington caught them on 14 September 2015, from two black holes that merged 1.3 billion years ago.[80]

  2. June 23, 2016UK votes to leave the EU

    In a referendum, the United Kingdom voted by 51.9% to leave the European Union, on a turnout of 72.2%. England (53.4%) and Wales (52.5%) voted to leave; Scotland's leave vote was 38.0%.[81]

  3. July 6, 2016Pokémon Go launches

    Niantic's Pokémon Go, in which players use GPS to find Pokémon in real-world locations, launched in the USA, Australia and New Zealand. It was downloaded 130 million times in its first month.[82]

  4. November 2, 2016Cubs win the World Series

    The Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in 10 innings in Game 7 to win the World Series. It ended a 108-year championship drought; their last title had come in 1908.[83]

  5. November 8, 2016Trump elected president

    Donald Trump won the presidency through the Electoral College. Hillary Clinton received almost 2.9 million more votes nationwide, 48.2% to his 46.1%, in the certified final results.[84]

  • Spatms · CC BY-SA 4.0
Words of the year
  • surrealMerriam-Webster[85]
  • post-truthOxford[86]
  • BrexitCollins[87]
  • xenophobiaDictionary.com[88]

No. 1 songLove Yourself · Justin Bieber[89]

Top film worldwideCaptain America: Civil War[90]

Everyone was talking about
  • Pokémon Go Pokémon Go launched on July 6, 2016. Players used GPS to catch Pokémon in real-world places. It was downloaded 130 million times in its first month and earned $206.5 million, both Guinness World Records.[82]
  • The Mannequin Challenge People froze in place for about a minute while a camera moved through the scene, usually to Rae Sremmurd's "Black Beatles." Even Paul McCartney took the challenge.[91]
← 20152017 →
An aerial view of the flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas, on August 31, 2017. Harvey formed in the Gulf of Mexico and brought record flooding and destruction to southeastern Texas.

2017

  1. January 20, 2017Trump sworn in

    Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 45th president on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, with the oath given by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. Michael Pence was sworn in as the 48th vice president.[92]

  2. August 21, 2017Total solar eclipse crosses the U.S.

    A total solar eclipse crossed the United States coast to coast for the first time since 1918. NASA predicted that totality would begin near Lincoln City, Oregon, at 10:15 a.m. PDT and end near Charleston, South Carolina, at 2:48 p.m. EDT.[93]

  3. August 25, 2017Hurricane Harvey floods Texas

    Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Port Aransas, Texas, around 10 p.m. as a Category 4 storm. It then slowed and meandered, and up to 56 inches of rain fell in southeast Texas, causing catastrophic flooding near Houston.[94]

  4. September 20, 2017Hurricane Maria hits Puerto Rico

    Hurricane Maria made landfall at Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, at about 6:15 a.m. as a strong Category 4 hurricane with 155 mph winds. Hurricane-force winds and extremely heavy rain spread all over mainland Puerto Rico.[95]

  5. December 6, 2017#MeToo: the Silence Breakers

    TIME named the "Silence Breakers" its 2017 Person of the Year, for "giving voice to open secrets." After the first Harvey Weinstein story broke, actor Alyssa Milano helped popularize the phrase "Me Too", coined years before by Tarana Burke, and the hashtag #MeToo had been used millions of times in at least 85 countries.[96]

  • NASA/Aubrey Gemignani · CC BY 2.0
Words of the year
  • feminismMerriam-Webster[97]
  • youthquakeOxford[98]
  • fake newsCollins[99]
  • complicitDictionary.com[100]

No. 1 songShape Of You · Ed Sheeran[101]

Top film worldwideStar Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi[102]

Everyone was talking about
  • Fidget spinners Fidget toys such as fidget spinners became a craze. In early May 2017, the top 30 best-selling toys on Amazon were fidget toys, all under $10, and many U.S. school districts banned some of them as a classroom distraction.[103]
← 20162018 →
The Landsat 8 satellite captured the Camp Fire around 10:45 a.m. on November 8, 2018, the morning it broke out 90 miles (140 km) north of Sacramento, California. Officials evacuated several towns, including Paradise.

2018

  1. June 12, 2018Trump and Kim meet in Singapore

    President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un of North Korea (the DPRK) held a first summit, on Sentosa Island in Singapore. Trump committed to provide security guarantees, and Kim reaffirmed his commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.[104]

  2. July 10, 2018Thai cave rescue completed

    Divers brought the last four boys and their coach out of the flooded Tham Luang cave after 17 days underground. The 12 youth soccer players, aged 11 to 16, had been trapped with their coach since 23 June; volunteer diver Saman Kunan, a former Thai Navy SEAL, died during the effort.[105]

  3. July 15, 2018France wins the World Cup

    France beat Croatia 4-2 at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium to win its second World Cup. Croatia's captain, Luka Modric, won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player.[106]

  4. November 8, 2018Camp Fire in California

    The Camp Fire started in Butte County, California, and burned 153,336 acres before it was contained 17 days later. It destroyed 18,804 structures and killed 85 people; CAL FIRE lists the cause as power lines.[107]

  5. November 26, 2018InSight lands on Mars

    NASA's InSight lander touched down on Elysium Planitia, a flat lava plain near Mars' equator, to study the planet's interior. It was NASA's eighth successful landing on Mars.[108]

Words of the year

No. 1 songGod's Plan · Drake[113]

Top film worldwideAvengers: Infinity War[114]

Everyone was talking about
  • Fortnite On June 12, 2018, Epic Games said Fortnite had grown to 125 million players in less than a year. Epic said it would provide $100 million to fund prize pools for the 2018-2019 competitive season.[115]
  • Yanny or Laurel A short audio clip posted on Twitter split people between those who heard "yanny" and those who heard "laurel." Experts told NPR the very poor-quality recording explains why people heard different words.[116]
← 20172019 →
The first direct visual evidence of a supermassive black hole and its shadow, at the centre of the galaxy Messier 87, captured by the Event Horizon Telescope, an array of eight ground-based radio telescopes. The image comes from observations made on April 11, 2017, and was released in April 2019. EHT Collaboration · CC BY 4.0

2019

  1. April 10, 2019First image of a black hole

    The Event Horizon Telescope, an array of eight radio telescopes, revealed the first image of a black hole and its shadow. It lies at the center of the galaxy Messier 87, 55 million light-years from Earth, with a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun.[117]

  2. April 15, 2019Notre-Dame Cathedral burns

    Fire broke out at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris during Holy Week. The spire fell and the roof collapsed, but firefighters saved the main structure and the two towers.[118]

  3. July 7, 2019U.S. women win the World Cup again

    The U.S. women's national team beat the Netherlands 2-0 in Lyon, France, to win the Women's World Cup for a record fourth time and the second time in a row. Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle scored in the second half.[119]

  4. December 18, 2019House impeaches President Trump

    The House of Representatives impeached President Donald J. Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. After a Senate trial from 16 January to 5 February 2020, he was acquitted.[120]

  5. December 31, 2019Pneumonia cluster reported in Wuhan

    The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission in China reported a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, Hubei Province. A novel coronavirus was eventually identified.[121]

  • Guillaume Levrier · CC BY-SA 4.0
Words of the year
  • theyMerriam-Webster[122]
  • climate emergencyOxford[123]
  • climate strikeCollins[124]
  • existentialDictionary.com[125]

No. 1 songOld Town Road · Lil Nas X Featuring Billy Ray Cyrus[126]

Top film worldwideAvengers: Endgame[127]

Everyone was talking about
  • Disney+ Disney's streaming service Disney+ launched in November 2019 at $6.99 a month. The next day, Disney announced it had passed 10 million sign-ups.[128]
← 2018
New

What it brought

Things that arrived or took off in the 2010s. Swipe through them.

  • NewApril 3, 2010The iPad

    Apple said it sold more than 300,000 iPads in the U.S. on the tablet's first day, counting through midnight on Saturday, 3 April 2010. iPad users downloaded more than one million apps and more than 250,000 ebooks that first day.[129]

  • NewOctober 11, 2010Emoji become standard text

    The Unicode Consortium released Unicode 6.0, which added 2,088 characters. Among them were emoji symbols, which it called especially important for mobile phones, mapped from the sets used by Japanese phone companies.[130]

  • New2012CRISPR gene editing

    In a 2012 paper in the journal Science, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier showed that the Cas9 protein could be steered by a single, designed RNA to cut DNA at a chosen spot in any gene of any species. CRISPR-Cas9 lets scientists rewrite DNA in any organism. The two shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.[131]

  • NewApril 9, 2012Instagram

    Facebook announced it had agreed to buy Instagram, a popular photo-sharing app for mobile devices, for about $1 billion in cash and Facebook shares. Facebook said it would keep building Instagram as an independent app.[132]

  • NewOctober 1, 2013Health Insurance Marketplace opens

    The first open enrollment period for the Health Insurance Marketplace ran from 1 October 2013 to 31 March 2014. More than 8 million people selected a plan through the state and federal marketplaces.[133]

  • Daniel.Cardenas · CC BY-SA 4.0
    NewNovember 6, 2014Smart speakers

    Amazon introduced the Echo, a voice-activated speaker connected to its web services that answers to the word "Alexa." It cost $199, or $99 for Amazon Prime members, and was at first available by invitation only.[134]

  • NewDecember 21, 2015A rocket lands itself

    SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying 11 ORBCOMM satellites, then landed its first stage vertically at a prepared landing zone. It was the first time such a feat had been achieved, a step toward reusable rockets meant to lower the cost of space travel.[135]

  • New2016Streaming takes over music

    In 2016, for the first time, streaming brought in more than half of U.S. recorded-music revenue: 51%, up from 9% five years earlier. Streaming earned $3.9 billion, and total U.S. retail sales of recorded music rose 11.4% to $7.7 billion, the RIAA said.[136]

  • New2018Ride-hailing apps

    In a fall 2018 Pew Research Center survey, 36% of U.S. adults said they had ever used a ride-hailing service such as Uber or Lyft, up from 15% in late 2015. About half of adults aged 18 to 29 (51%) had used one, compared with 24% of those 50 and older.[137]

Gone

What went away

Things the 2010s ended. Swipe through them.

  • GoneJuly 21, 2011The Space Shuttle

    Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility on the morning of 21 July 2011, ending its 33rd and final mission, STS-135. NASA said the landing brought the space shuttle era to a close after 30 years of flights.[22]

  • GoneJanuary 1, 2012Paper savings bonds at the bank

    Paper U.S. savings bonds were no longer sold at financial institutions. Electronic Series EE and I bonds stayed on sale through TreasuryDirect, and people could still cash in paper bonds at financial institutions.[138]

  • GoneMarch 13, 2012The printed Encyclopaedia Britannica

    Encyclopaedia Britannica said it would stop publishing its print edition, 244 years after the first set was printed in 1768. Of the 12,000 copies of the last set, 4,000 were still in stock, priced at $1,400. A digital version continued.[139]

  • GoneOctober 24, 2012Analogue TV in the UK

    The last of the UK's analogue television signals were switched off overnight in Northern Ireland. Former Olympic champion Dame Mary Peters carried out the final switch-off. A help scheme had assisted more than 1.3 million viewers with the change.[140]

  • GoneFebruary 4, 2013Canada's penny

    The Royal Canadian Mint stopped distributing pennies. Each one cost 1.6 cents to make, and the change was expected to save $11 million a year. Pennies keep their value and can still be used with businesses that accept them, and cash payments are rounded.[141]

  • GoneJuly 1, 2013Google Reader

    Google retired Google Reader, which it launched in 2005, saying usage had declined over the years. Users could export their data, including subscriptions, through Google Takeout.[142]

  • Dwight Burdette · CC BY 3.0
    GoneNovember 6, 2013Blockbuster stores

    Dish, Blockbuster's parent company, said it would close the roughly 300 remaining company-owned U.S. Blockbuster stores by early January 2014 and end Blockbuster By Mail in mid-December. Its chief executive said consumer demand was clearly moving to digital distribution of video.[143]

  • GoneApril 8, 2014Windows XP support

    Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP. From that day, XP users no longer received security updates for the operating system.[144]

  • GoneOctober 27, 2016Vine

    Vine, the app known for looping 6-second clips, announced it would soon shut down. People could still access and download Vines on the website but could no longer upload new ones. Twitter had bought Vine in 2012 for $30 million, six months before it launched.[145]

  • GoneMay 21, 2017Ringling Bros. circus

    Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus gave its last performance at the Nassau County Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, after 146 years. Owner Feld Entertainment had cited declining attendance and high operating costs.[146]

  • GoneDecember 15, 2017AOL Instant Messenger

    AOL discontinued AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) after 20 years of service, and users could no longer sign in. AIM had claimed more than 100 million registered users in 2001.[147]

  • GoneJuly 10, 2019The Volkswagen Beetle

    Volkswagen stopped making the Beetle at its plant in Puebla, Mexico, after 81 years, with ceremonies there on 10 July to mark the end of production. The last of 5,961 Final Edition cars was headed for a museum.[148]

In memory

Who we lost

Public figures who died in the 2010s, in date order. Tap a photo to see it full size.

  • J.D. Salinger1919–2010

    Writer, author of The Catcher in the Rye

    Died January 27, 2010[149]
  • John Wooden1910–2010

    UCLA basketball coach, 10 NCAA championships

    Died June 4, 2010[150]
  • Elizabeth Taylor1932–2011

    Film actress, two-time Academy Award winner

    Died March 23, 2011[151]
  • Steve Jobs1955–2011

    Cofounder of Apple

    Died October 5, 2011[152]Matthew Yohe at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
  • Whitney Houston1963–2012

    Singer and actress

    Died February 11, 2012[153]Asterio Tecson · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Neil Armstrong1930–2012

    Astronaut, first person to set foot on the Moon

    Died August 25, 2012[154]
  • Margaret Thatcher1925–2013

    British prime minister, 1979-90

    Died April 8, 2013[155]
  • Nelson Mandela1918–2013

    First Black president of South Africa

    Died December 5, 2013[156]
Show 17 more
  • Gabriel García Márquez1927–2014

    Colombian novelist, 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature

    Died April 17, 2014[157]Gorup de Besanez · CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Maya Angelou1928–2014

    Poet, author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

    Died May 28, 2014[158]
  • Robin Williams1951–2014

    Comedian and Academy Award-winning actor

    Died August 11, 2014[159]
  • Leonard Nimoy1931–2015

    Actor, Mr. Spock in Star Trek

    Died February 27, 2015[160]Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 3.0
  • B.B. King1925–2015

    Blues guitarist and singer

    Died May 14, 2015[161]Werner100359 · CC BY-SA 3.0
  • David Bowie1947–2016

    British singer, songwriter and actor

    Died January 10, 2016[162]
  • Prince1958–2016

    Singer, guitarist, songwriter and producer

    Died April 21, 2016[163]Scott Penner · CC BY-SA 3.0
  • Muhammad Ali1942–2016

    Heavyweight boxing champion and social activist

    Died June 3, 2016[164]
  • John Glenn1921–2016

    First U.S. astronaut to orbit Earth

    Died December 8, 2016[165]
  • Chuck Berry1926–2017

    Rock-and-roll singer, songwriter and guitarist

    Died March 18, 2017[166]
  • Stephen Hawking1942–2018

    Theoretical physicist

    Died March 14, 2018[167]
  • Aretha Franklin1942–2018

    Soul singer

    Died August 16, 2018[168]
  • John McCain1936–2018

    U.S. senator, 2008 Republican presidential nominee

    Died August 25, 2018[169]
  • Stan Lee1922–2018

    Marvel Comics writer, co-creator of Spider-Man and the X-Men

    Died November 12, 2018[170]Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 3.0
  • George H.W. Bush1924–2018

    41st president of the United States

    Died November 30, 2018[171]
  • I.M. Pei1917–2019

    Architect of the Louvre glass pyramid

    Died May 16, 2019[172]
  • Toni Morrison1931–2019

    Novelist, 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature

    Died August 5, 2019[173]
Prices

What it cost

U.S. prices at the end of the decade, and how far they moved from the start of it.

  • Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 3.0
    A gallon of regular gas[174]
    $2.56▼ 6%
    Dec 2019 · was $2.72 (Jan 2010)

    Peaked at $3.91 in May 2011.

  • A dozen eggs[175]
    $1.54▼ 14%
    Dec 2019 · was $1.79 (Jan 2010)

    Peaked at $2.97 in September 2015.

  • A pound of white bread[176]
    $1.36No change
    Dec 2019 · was $1.36 (Jan 2010)

    Peaked at $1.51 in July 2011.

  • A new house (median sale price)[177]
    $321,500▲ 45%
    2019 · was $221,800 (2010)

    The decade's high was $326,400 in 2018.

  • The federal minimum wage[178]
    $7.25No change
    Dec 2019 · was $7.25 (Jan 2010)

    Unchanged since July 24, 2009.

  • A first-class stamp[179]
    55¢▲ 25%
    Dec 2019 · was 44¢ (Jan 2010)

    Seven rate changes in between, including a cut to 47¢ in April 2016.

  • Median asking rent (monthly)[180]
    $1,005▲ 47%
    late 2019 · was $685 (early 2010)
  • Electricity, per kilowatt-hour[181]
    13.3¢▲ 7%
    Dec 2019 · was 12.4¢ (Jan 2010)
By the numbers

The 2010s in numbers

Big numbers from the decade of the smartphone.

  • 1 billion+People using Facebook actively each month, announced October 4, 2012[182]
  • 1 billioniPhones sold, announced by Apple on July 27, 2016[183]
  • 1 billion hoursOf YouTube watched every day, a milestone reached in 2016 and announced February 27, 2017[184]
  • 1 billionPeople in Instagram's global community, announced June 20, 2018[185]
  • 26 million+People who had added their DNA to the four leading consumer ancestry and health databases by the start of 2019 (MIT Technology Review estimate)[186]

Words the decade gave us

  • selfieA photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam, and uploaded to a social media website. Oxford added it to OxfordDictionaries.com in August 2013 and traced its first known use to an Australian online forum in 2002.[47]
  • binge-watchTo watch multiple episodes of a television programme in rapid succession. Added to OxfordDictionaries.com in August 2014; its use rose fourfold in February 2014, around the Netflix release of House of Cards, Season Two.[187]
  • YOLOYou only live once, expressing the view that one should make the most of the present moment. Added to OxfordDictionaries.com in August 2014.[187]
  • humblebragTo make an ostensibly modest or self-deprecating statement whose actual purpose is to draw attention to something of which one is proud. Added to OxfordDictionaries.com in August 2014.[187]
  • hangryBad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger. Added to OxfordDictionaries.com on 27 August 2015.[188]
  • mic dropAn instance of deliberately dropping or tossing aside one's microphone at the end of a performance or speech one considers to have been particularly impressive. Added to OxfordDictionaries.com on 27 August 2015.[188]
Your records

The paper trail of the 2010s

What changed for family history this decade.

  • April 2, 20121940 U.S. census opens online

    The National Archives opened the 1940 census at a 9 a.m. ceremony, the first official census it released online: 3.9 million images, free on a website hosted by Archives.com. A name index was still being built with partners, including FamilySearch volunteers. The 1940 census was the first to ask where people lived five years earlier (1 April 1935) and the first to ask about wages and salary.[189]

  • May 3, 2012AncestryDNA launches

    Ancestry.com launched AncestryDNA, which reads a person's DNA at more than 700,000 marker locations to estimate ethnic origins and help find distant relatives. It cost $99, at first by invitation only to Ancestry.com subscribers, with the general public expected later that year.[190]

  • November 2, 20151939 Register goes online

    The 1939 Register for England and Wales, taken at the outbreak of war in September 1939 and holding the details of 41 million people, went online at Findmypast on 2 November 2015. The 1931 census was destroyed in the Second World War and no 1941 census could be taken, so it is the only surviving record of the population between 1921 and 1951.[191]

  • June 20, 2016Freedmen's Bureau records indexed

    The Freedmen's Bureau Project began on Juneteenth 2015 and was completed on 20 June 2016 with the help of more than 25,000 volunteers. The names of nearly 1.8 million men, women and children are now searchable online. The Bureau helped people move from slavery to citizenship, and for the first time in U.S. history their names were systematically recorded. Partners included FamilySearch, the National Archives and the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.[192]

  • September 2016Irish civil records free online

    Ireland's government-run website irishgenealogy.ie added 12.5 million records of births, marriages and deaths, in 2.5 million images going back to 1864, all free to view. Minister Heather Humphreys spoke at the launch.[193]

  • September 7, 2017FamilySearch ends microfilm loans

    FamilySearch, which began microfilming historic records in 1938, ended its microfilm circulation service on 7 September 2017, closing an 80-year era, and moved to digital access. Most of its 2.4 million rolls of microfilm have since been digitized and put online.[194]

  • May 25, 2018Europe's GDPR takes effect

    The EU's General Data Protection Regulation took effect on Friday 25 May 2018. Processing personal data needs clear, affirmative consent, and people can ask for their data to be deleted. The rules apply to all companies operating in the EU, even those based outside it, and fines can reach 4% of a company's worldwide annual turnover.[195]

  • May 18, 2019GEDmatch makes police searches opt-in

    In April 2018 California authorities revealed they had used a new DNA technique to arrest a man they called the Golden State Killer, and the free public genealogy site GEDmatch was at the center of the method. On 18 May 2019, after a backlash over a Utah assault case, GEDmatch removed all members from law-enforcement searches and let them opt in. Profiles open to police fell overnight from more than 1 million to zero.[196]

How your family will be found in 100 years
  • April 1, 2010What the 2010 U.S. census asked

    Census Day was 1 April 2010. The census asked just 10 questions: how many people lived or stayed in the home, whether anyone else was staying there, whether the home was owned or rented, and a phone number; then each person's name, sex, age and date of birth, Hispanic origin, race, and whether they sometimes lived somewhere else. One form replaced the long and short forms used from 1940 to 2000, and the long-form questions moved to the annual American Community Survey.[197]

  • January 20, 2017The Archives keeps a president's social media

    The Obama administration was the first whose social media feeds the National Archives preserved. NARA archived the accounts under new handles, such as @POTUS44 for @POTUS on Twitter, and turned off commenting on them as of 20 January 2017. Archived Twitter, Facebook and Vine files can be downloaded, and the official website files are kept in NARA's Electronic Records Archives.[198]

  • December 26, 2017Library of Congress narrows its Twitter archive

    In 2010 the Library of Congress announced a gift from Twitter of its entire archive of public tweet text. It now holds the text of tweets from Twitter's first 12 years (2006 to 2017). From 1 January 2018 it collects tweets only selectively, and the archive stays embargoed until access issues can be resolved.[199]

  • March 2019Myspace loses years of uploads

    Myspace said that, because of a server migration project, files uploaded more than three years earlier might no longer be available. Music uploaded between 2003 and 2015 was lost: by some accounts, more than 50 million songs from 14 million artists.[200]

  • 20822010 census returns should open around 2082

    Under the 72-year rule (Public Law 95-416, 5 October 1978), the U.S. government does not release personal information from a census until 72 years after it was collected. For the 2010 census that points to about 2082, although no official opening date has been announced. The 1950 census was released on 1 April 2022.[201]

Ask your family

Questions to ask while you can

Ask someone who lived it, and write the answers down. That’s how a family history starts.

Skeleton Files → your family

  1. Who was living in your home on 1 April 2010, Census Day, and do you remember filling in the census form?
  2. What was the first smartphone or tablet in the family, and what did you use it for most: photos, games, or video calls with relatives?
  3. Which family wedding, birth, move or graduation in the 2010s do you remember most, and where are the photos from that day now?
  4. What from the 2010s is already gone that you miss, like a store, a show or an app, and what do you remember about it?
Start your family’s file

Get the free guide to hiring a genealogist, or open a case and let us trace your family back through the decades.

Get the free guideOpen a case
Sources

Every source on this page

Numbered in the order they first appear.

Show all 201 sources
  1. [1] U.S. Census Bureau: U.S. Census Bureau Announces 2010 Census Population Counts (Dec. 21, 2010)
  2. [2] UN Meetings Coverage: Press Conference to Mark World Reaching a 7 Billion Population (31 October 2011)
  3. [3] Pew Research Center: Mobile Technology and Home Broadband 2019 (June 13, 2019)
  4. [4] Meta Newsroom: Two Billion People Coming Together on Facebook (June 27, 2017)
  5. [5] NASA: NASA, NOAA Analyses Reveal 2019 Second Warmest Year on Record
  6. [6] UN News: UN committed to helping Haiti build better future, says Guterres, marking 10-year anniversary of devastating earthquake (12 January 2020)
  7. [7] U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Changes in Health Coverage FAQs, Affordable Care Act Overview
  8. [8] U.S. EPA: Deepwater Horizon – BP Gulf of America Oil Spill
  9. [9] Sky Sports: Netherlands 0-1 Spain match report, World domination for Spain (12 July 2010)
  10. [10] Smithsonian Magazine: The Capsule That Saved the Chilean Miners (January 2012)
  11. [11] Merriam-Webster press release: Merriam-Webster Announces "Austerity" as 2010 Word of the Year (Dec 20, 2010)
  12. [12] OUPblog: OUP USA 2010 Word of the Year: Refudiate (Nov 15, 2010; archived)
  13. [13] Dictionary.com: Learn Why "Change" Was Our 2010 Word Of The Year (Nov 22, 2010)
  14. [14] Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Songs 2010
  15. [15] Box Office Mojo: 2010 Worldwide Box Office
  16. [16] Apple Newsroom: Apple Sells One Million iPads (May 3, 2010)
  17. [17] NPR: 'Angry Birds' Flies Toward The Game Board (Jan 25, 2011)
  18. [18] The White House (Obama archive): Remarks by the President on Egypt (February 11, 2011)
  19. [19] NOAA NCEI: On This Day: 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami
  20. [20] Westminster Abbey: Prince William of Wales & Catherine
  21. [21] The White House (Obama archive): Remarks by the President on Osama Bin Laden (May 2, 2011)
  22. [22] NASA: STS-135
  23. [23] Merriam-Webster press release: Merriam-Webster Announces "Pragmatic" as 2011 Word of the Year (Dec 15, 2011)
  24. [24] OUPblog: Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2011: squeezed middle (Nov 23, 2011; archived)
  25. [25] Dictionary.com: Why "Tergiversate" Was Our 2011 Word Of The Year (Nov 30, 2011)
  26. [26] Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Songs 2011
  27. [27] Box Office Mojo: 2011 Worldwide Box Office
  28. [28] CNN: 'Planking' puts spotlight on bizarre Web craze (May 18, 2011)
  29. [29] CERN: The Higgs boson
  30. [30] Associated Press via NBC4 Washington: The Games Begin! Stunning Start in London (July 27, 2012)
  31. [31] NASA JPL: NASA Lands Car-Size Rover Beside Martian Mountain (Aug. 5, 2012)
  32. [32] NOAA AOML: 5th Anniversary of Hurricane Sandy
  33. [33] Guinness World Records: First video to receive one billion views on YouTube
  34. [34] Merriam-Webster press release: Merriam-Webster Announces "Socialism/Capitalism" as 2012 Word of the Year (Dec 5, 2012)
  35. [35] Oxford Dictionaries USA Word of the Year 2012 (Nov 13, 2012; archived)
  36. [36] Dictionary.com: Why "Bluster" Was Dictionary.com's 2012 Word Of The Year (Nov 19, 2012)
  37. [37] Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Songs 2012
  38. [38] Box Office Mojo: 2012 Worldwide Box Office
  39. [39] YouTube Blog: Gangnam Style Makes YouTube History: First Video to Hit 1 Billion Views (Dec 21, 2012)
  40. [40] YouTube Blog: Mission complete: Red Bull Stratos lands safely back on Earth (Oct 14, 2012)
  41. [41] NASA JPL Center for NEO Studies: Additional Details on the Large Fireball Event over Russia on Feb. 15, 2013 (Mar 1, 2013)
  42. [42] The Holy See: Biography of the Holy Father Francis
  43. [43] U.S. Department of Justice: Judge Imposes Death Sentence for Boston Marathon Bomber (June 26, 2015)
  44. [44] ReliefWeb (UN OCHA): Typhoon Haiyan - Nov 2013
  45. [45] Nelson Mandela Foundation: Biography of Nelson Mandela
  46. [46] Merriam-Webster press release: Merriam-Webster Announces "Science" as 2013 Word of the Year (Dec 3, 2013)
  47. [47] Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2013 press release (Nov 19, 2013; archived)
  48. [48] Collins Language Blog: Collins Word of the Year 2013 is... (Dec 12, 2013)
  49. [49] Dictionary.com: Why "Privacy" Was Our 2013 Word Of The Year (Dec 17, 2013)
  50. [50] Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Songs 2013
  51. [51] Box Office Mojo: 2013 Worldwide Box Office
  52. [52] Billboard: Baauer's 'Harlem Shake' Debuts Atop Revamped Hot 100 (Feb 20, 2013)
  53. [53] Twitter Blog: Vine: A new way to share video (Jan 24, 2013)
  54. [54] NPR via GBH News: Search For Missing Flight MH370 Suspended After Almost 3 Years (January 17, 2017)
  55. [55] UN Meetings Coverage GA/11493: General Assembly Adopts Resolution Calling upon States Not to Recognize Changes in Status of Crimea Region (27 March 2014)
  56. [56] Sky Sports: World Cup final: Mario Gotze scores in extra-time as Germany beat Argentina 1-0 (14 July 2014)
  57. [57] WHO: Statement on the 1st meeting of the IHR Emergency Committee on the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa (8 August 2014)
  58. [58] ESA: Touchdown! Rosetta's Philae probe lands on comet (12 November 2014)
  59. [59] Merriam-Webster press release: Merriam-Webster Announces "Culture" as 2014 Word of the Year (Dec 15, 2014)
  60. [60] Oxford Dictionaries: VAPE is named Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2014 (Nov 18, 2014; archived)
  61. [61] Collins Language Blog: The year that was... Lucy Mangan looks at the Collins Word of the Year shortlist (Nov 5, 2014)
  62. [62] Dictionary.com: Why "Exposure" Was Our 2014 Word Of The Year (Nov 19, 2014)
  63. [63] Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Songs 2014
  64. [64] Box Office Mojo: 2014 Worldwide Box Office
  65. [65] The ALS Association: The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
  66. [66] NPR: Here's Ellen's Star-Stuffed Oscar Selfie That Broke Twitter (Mar 3, 2014)
  67. [67] USGS: Introduction to the special issue on the 25 April 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha (Nepal) earthquake
  68. [68] Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School): Obergefell v. Hodges, Supreme Court opinion (decided June 26, 2015)
  69. [69] NASA Science: New Horizons
  70. [70] U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian: Cuba - Countries
  71. [71] UNFCCC: The Paris Agreement
  72. [72] Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year 2015
  73. [73] Oxford Languages: Word of the Year 2015 (archived)
  74. [74] Collins Language Blog: 'Binge-watch' - Collins Word of the Year 2015 (Nov 5, 2015)
  75. [75] Dictionary.com: Why "Identity" Was Dictionary.com's 2015 Word Of The Year (Dec 8, 2015)
  76. [76] Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Songs 2015
  77. [77] Box Office Mojo: 2015 Worldwide Box Office
  78. [78] CBS News: Mystery solved! #TheDress is blue and black (Feb 27, 2015)
  79. [79] Billboard: Album of the Century? Adele's '25' Smashes Sales Mark
  80. [80] LIGO Caltech: Gravitational Waves Detected 100 Years After Einstein's Prediction (February 11, 2016)
  81. [81] Senedd Research (Welsh Parliament): EU referendum results in Wales (24 June 2016)
  82. [82] Guinness World Records: Pokémon Go catches five new world records (10 August 2016)
  83. [83] NPR: Chicago Cubs Win World Series, Defeating Cleveland Indians 8-7 In Game 7 (November 2, 2016)
  84. [84] CNN: It's official: Clinton swamps Trump in popular vote (Dec 21, 2016)
  85. [85] Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year 2016
  86. [86] Oxford Languages: Word of the Year 2016 (archived)
  87. [87] Collins Language Blog: Top 10 Collins Words of the Year 2016 (Nov 3, 2016)
  88. [88] Dictionary.com: Xenophobia Was Dictionary.com's 2016 Word Of The Year (Nov 28, 2016)
  89. [89] Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Songs 2016
  90. [90] Box Office Mojo: 2016 Worldwide Box Office
  91. [91] NPR: Can Someone Please Explain The Mannequin Challenge? (Nov 10, 2016)
  92. [92] Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies: 58th Inaugural Ceremonies
  93. [93] NASA Scientific Visualization Studio: 2017 Solar Eclipse Video File
  94. [94] National Weather Service Houston/Galveston: Hurricane Harvey & Its Impacts on Southeast Texas (August 25-29, 2017)
  95. [95] National Weather Service San Juan: Major Hurricane Maria - September 20, 2017
  96. [96] TIME: Silence Breakers TIME Person of the Year 2017: How We Chose (Dec 6, 2017)
  97. [97] Merriam-Webster's 2017 Words of the Year
  98. [98] Oxford Languages: Word of the Year 2017 (archived)
  99. [99] Collins Language Blog: Collins 2017 Word of the Year Shortlist (Nov 2, 2017)
  100. [100] Dictionary.com: Why "Complicit" Was Dictionary.com's 2017 Word Of The Year (Nov 27, 2017)
  101. [101] Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Songs 2017
  102. [102] Box Office Mojo: 2017 Worldwide Box Office
  103. [103] CBS News: America's hottest toy: A cheap way to chill, or major distraction? (May 4, 2017)
  104. [104] The White House (Trump archive): Joint Statement of President Donald J. Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un at the Singapore Summit (June 12, 2018)
  105. [105] HISTORY: Last of Thai soccer team rescued from cave (This Day in History, July 10, 2018)
  106. [106] Voice of America: France Beat Croatia to Win 2018 FIFA World Cup (July 15, 2018)
  107. [107] CAL FIRE: Camp Fire incident page
  108. [108] NASA JPL: NASA InSight Lander Arrives on Martian Surface (Nov. 26, 2018)
  109. [109] Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year 2018
  110. [110] Oxford Languages: Word of the Year 2018 (archived)
  111. [111] Collins Language Blog: Etymology Corner - Collins Word of the Year 2018 (Nov 7, 2018)
  112. [112] Dictionary.com: Why "Misinformation" Was Dictionary.com's 2018 Word Of The Year (Nov 26, 2018)
  113. [113] Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Songs 2018
  114. [114] Box Office Mojo: 2018 Worldwide Box Office
  115. [115] Fortnite News: Announcing 2018-2019 Fortnite Competitive Season (Jun 12, 2018)
  116. [116] NPR: 'Yanny' Or 'Laurel'? Why People Hear Different Things In That Viral Clip (May 16, 2018)
  117. [117] U.S. National Science Foundation: Astronomers capture first image of a black hole (April 10, 2019)
  118. [118] NPR via MPR News: Fire engulfs Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, spire collapses, towers still standing (April 15, 2019)
  119. [119] CBS Sports: USWNT vs. Netherlands score: USA soccer captures back-to-back Women's World Cup titles (Jul 7, 2019)
  120. [120] U.S. House of Representatives, History, Art & Archives: List of Individuals Impeached by the House of Representatives
  121. [121] WHO: Archived: WHO Timeline - COVID-19 (27 April 2020)
  122. [122] Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year 2019
  123. [123] Oxford Languages: Word of the Year 2019
  124. [124] Collins Language Blog: Collins Word of the Year 2019 shortlist (Nov 7, 2019)
  125. [125] Dictionary.com: Why "Existential" Was Dictionary.com's 2019 Word Of The Year (Dec 2, 2019)
  126. [126] Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Songs 2019
  127. [127] Box Office Mojo: 2019 Worldwide Box Office
  128. [128] CNBC: Disney+ surpasses 10 million sign-ups since launch (Nov 13, 2019)
  129. [129] Apple Newsroom: Apple Sells Over 300,000 iPads First Day (5 April 2010)
  130. [130] Unicode Consortium: Unicode 6.0.0 (released 11 October 2010)
  131. [131] UC Berkeley News: Jennifer Doudna wins 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (7 Oct 2020)
  132. [132] Meta Newsroom: Facebook to Acquire Instagram (9 April 2012)
  133. [133] HHS ASPE: Health Insurance Marketplace: Summary Enrollment Report for the Initial Annual Open Enrollment Period (30 April 2014)
  134. [134] Fortune: Forget Siri, Amazon now brings you Alexa (6 Nov 2014)
  135. [135] NBC News: SpaceX Makes History: Falcon 9 Launches, Lands Vertically (21 Dec 2015)
  136. [136] Fortune: The U.S. Music Industry Just Had its Best Year Since 1998 (30 March 2017)
  137. [137] Pew Research Center: More Americans are using ride-hailing apps (4 Jan 2019)
  138. [138] TreasuryDirect: Treasury to End Over-the-Counter Sales of Paper U.S. Savings Bonds (13 July 2011)
  139. [139] ABC News: Encyclopaedia Britannica Kills its Print Edition (13 March 2012)
  140. [140] GOV.UK: On time and under budget, an all-digital UK (24 Oct 2012)
  141. [141] Government of Canada: Government of Canada marks one month until penny transition date
  142. [142] Google blog: A second spring of cleaning (13 March 2013)
  143. [143] Scientific American: Blockbuster throws in the towel (6 Nov 2013)
  144. [144] The Official Microsoft Blog: Support for Windows XP Set to End in April 2014 (8 April 2013)
  145. [145] CBS News (CNET): Twitter kills off Vine, and social media mourns (27 Oct 2016)
  146. [146] CBS News: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus ends historic 146 year run (21 May 2017)
  147. [147] CBS News (AP): AIM shutting down: AOL's Instant Messenger to sign off (6 Oct 2017)
  148. [148] PBS NewsHour: Volkswagen to stop making the Beetle after 81 years (9 July 2019)
  149. [149] Britannica: J.D. Salinger
  150. [150] Britannica: John Wooden
  151. [151] Britannica: Elizabeth Taylor
  152. [152] Britannica: Steve Jobs
  153. [153] Britannica: Whitney Houston
  154. [154] Britannica: Neil Armstrong
  155. [155] Britannica: Margaret Thatcher
  156. [156] Britannica: Nelson Mandela
  157. [157] Britannica: Gabriel García Márquez
  158. [158] Britannica: Maya Angelou
  159. [159] Britannica: Robin Williams
  160. [160] Britannica: Leonard Nimoy
  161. [161] Britannica: B.B. King
  162. [162] Britannica: David Bowie
  163. [163] Britannica: Prince
  164. [164] Britannica: Muhammad Ali
  165. [165] Britannica: John Glenn
  166. [166] Britannica: Chuck Berry
  167. [167] Britannica: Stephen Hawking
  168. [168] Britannica: Aretha Franklin
  169. [169] Britannica: John McCain
  170. [170] Britannica: Stan Lee
  171. [171] Britannica: George H.W. Bush
  172. [172] Britannica: I.M. Pei
  173. [173] Britannica: Toni Morrison
  174. [174] U.S. Energy Information Administration: U.S. Regular All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices, monthly
  175. [175] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Price Data, series APU0000708111 (2010 to 2019)
  176. [176] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Price Data, series APU0000702111 (2010 to 2019)
  177. [177] U.S. Census Bureau and HUD, Survey of Construction: Median and Average Sales Price of New Houses Sold (annual and monthly table)
  178. [178] U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division: Minimum Wage
  179. [179] USPS: Rates for Domestic Letters Since 1863
  180. [180] U.S. Census Bureau, Housing Vacancy Survey, Table 11A: Quarterly Median Asking Rent (released July 28, 2026)
  181. [181] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Price Data, series APU000072610 (2010 to 2019)
  182. [182] Meta Newsroom: One Billion People on Facebook (Oct 4, 2012)
  183. [183] Apple Newsroom: Apple celebrates one billion iPhones (Jul 27, 2016)
  184. [184] YouTube Blog: You know what's cool? A billion hours (Feb 27, 2017)
  185. [185] Instagram: Welcome to IGTV, Our New Video App (Jun 20, 2018)
  186. [186] MIT Technology Review: More than 26 million people have taken an at-home ancestry test (Feb 11, 2019)
  187. [187] Oxford Dictionaries: New words added to OxfordDictionaries.com today include binge-watch, cray, and vape (August 2014; archived)
  188. [188] OxfordDictionaries.com quarterly update: new words added today include hangry, Grexit, and wine o'clock (Aug 27, 2015; archived)
  189. [189] National Archives media alert: National Archives Releases 1940 Census (2 April 2012)
  190. [190] Ancestry press release: Ancestry.com Launches New AncestryDNA Service (3 May 2012)
  191. [191] Findmypast blog: Announcing the release of the 1939 Register (27 Oct 2015)
  192. [192] FamilySearch: Search the Freedmen's Bureau Records
  193. [193] Silicon Republic: 12.5m free records on Irish genealogy have now been added online (14 Sep 2016)
  194. [194] FamilySearch Newsroom: UPDATE: FamilySearch Digital Records Access Replacing Microfilm (31 Aug 2017)
  195. [195] European Parliament press release: New EU data protection rules take effect on Friday (24 May 2018)
  196. [196] NBC News: Police were cracking cold cases with a DNA website. Then the fine print changed. (23 Oct 2019)
  197. [197] U.S. Census Bureau: 2010 Census Questionnaires & Instructions
  198. [198] Barack Obama Presidential Library (National Archives): Archived White House Websites and Social Media
  199. [199] Library of Congress blog: Update on the Twitter Archive at the Library of Congress (26 Dec 2017)
  200. [200] CBS News: MySpace music lost as 12 years' worth of data wiped out (19 March 2019)
  201. [201] U.S. Census Bureau: The 72-Year Rule
Show the credits for all 53 pictures
  • Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling unit on fire 2010: U.S. Coast Guard (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain, U.S. Coast Guard work · Source
  • Earthquake damage in Port-au-Prince 2010-01-15: Tech. Sgt. James L. Harper Jr., U.S. Air Force (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain, U.S. federal government work · Source
  • J. D. Salinger (Catcher in the Rye portrait): Lotte Jacobi, 1950 / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Commons LicenseShortName 'Public domain'; template PD-scan · Source
  • John Wooden - Southern Campus 1960: Associated Students, UCLA (Southern Campus yearbook, 1960) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Commons LicenseShortName 'Public domain'; template PD-US-not renewed. Scanned from the 1960 UCLA Southern Campus yearbook · Source
  • IPad-WiFi-1stGen: Evan-Amos (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons. Released into the public domain by the photographer · Source
  • NASA shuttle Atlantis STS-135 final landing: NASA/Kim Shiflett (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain, NASA work · Source
  • Taylor, Elizabeth posed: Studio publicity still, c. 1955 / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Commons LicenseShortName 'Public domain'; template PD-US-not renewed · Source
  • Steve Jobs Headshot 2010 (cropped 4): Matthew Yohe at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0 (license) · Source
  • US Navy 110315-N-5503T-307 An aerial view of damage to Otsuchi, Japan: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alexander Tidd (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain, U.S. Navy work · Source
  • High-Resolution Self-Portrait by Curiosity Rover Arm Camera (PIA16239): NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain, NASA work · Source
  • The Olympic Park - London: Mark from Brighton, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0 (license) · Source
  • Neil Armstrong pose: NASA (photo S69-31741) / Public domain. PD-USGov-NASA. Commons credit field: NASA Photo ID S69-31741, Program: Apollo XI. · Source
  • Storm damage along the New Jersey coast: Greg Thompson/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service work · Source
  • Flickr Whitney Houston performing on GMA 2009 4: Asterio Tecson / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0 (license) · Source
  • Blockbuster Store Closing, Ypsilanti Township, Michigan: Dwight Burdette, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 3.0 (license) · Source
  • Chelyabinsk meteor trace 15-02-2013: Nikita Plekhanov, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0 (license) · Source
  • Moree's Gas Station sign and old hotel sign, GA 133, Dougherty County: Michael Rivera, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0 (license) · Source
  • Margaret Thatcher (1983): Rob Bogaerts / Anefo, Nationaal Archief / CC0. CC0 public domain dedication from the Nationaal Archief (license) · Source
  • Papa Francisco recién elegido: Tenan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0 (license) · Source
  • Comet 67P on 19 September 2014 NavCam mosaic: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM, CC BY-SA IGO 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (license) · Source
  • Gabriel García Márquez 01: Gorup de Besanez / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0 (license) · Source
  • Angelou at Clinton inauguration (cropped 2): William J. Clinton Presidential Library / Public domain. PD-USGov. Credit: William J. Clinton Presidential Library · Source
  • Three P-8A Poseidon aircraft from Patrol Squadron (VP) 16, at Perth Airport: U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Keith DeVinney (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain, U.S. Navy work · Source
  • Robin Williams in 2008: Chad J. McNeeley, U.S. Navy / Public domain. PD-USGov-Military-Navy. DoD image 081001-N-0696M-339. · Source
  • B.B. King, 2009: Werner100359 / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0 (license) · Source
  • ORBCOMM-2 First-Stage Landing: SpaceX, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC0 1.0 public domain dedication (license) · Source
  • Secretary Kerry Watches as American Flag is Raised for First Time in 54 Years at Newly Re-Opened U.S. Embassy Havana: U.S. Department of State (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain, U.S. Department of State work · Source
  • Leonard Nimoy by Gage Skidmore: Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0 (license) · Source
  • Gioconda Louvre photographers: Bramfab, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). CC BY-SA 4.0 (license) · Source
  • Pluto in True Color - High-Res: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Alex Parker (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain, NASA mission image · Source
  • David Bowie Lodger (1979 RCA publicity photo 01): RCA Records publicity photo, 1979 / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Commons LicenseShortName 'Public domain'; templates PD-Scan · Source
  • Brexit (polling station sign): Ungry Young Man, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0 (license) · Source
  • Google-home-crop: Daniel.Cardenas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0 (license) · Source
  • John Glenn Low Res: U.S. Senate Historical Office / Public domain. PD-USGov-Congress. The author is the U.S. Senate Historical Office. The Commons page gives no date for the photo. · Source
  • Muhammad Ali NYWTS: Ira Rosenberg, World Journal Tribune / Library of Congress, New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection. Library of Congress item 96500238 · Source
  • Prince at Coachella: Scott Penner / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0 (license) · Source
  • Wrigley Field 2016 World Series Game 4 - Cubs vs Indians: Spatms, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0 (license) · Source
  • Chuck Berry 1957: Universal Attractions publicity photo / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Commons LicenseShortName 'Public domain'; template PD-Pre1978 · Source
  • 170831-F-KA253-0647 (Hurricane Harvey flooding, Houston): U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Larry E. Reid Jr. (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain, U.S. military work · Source
  • 171002-H-MA911-009 (Hurricane Maria damage, Puerto Rico): Mani Albrecht/U.S. Customs and Border Protection (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain, U.S. Customs and Border Protection work · Source
  • Space Shuttle Discovery Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Balon Greyjoy, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC0 1.0 public domain dedication (license) · Source
  • 2017 Total Solar Eclipse: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0 (license) · Source
  • Aretha Franklin, The Gospel Tradition In Performance at the White House, 2015: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza / Public domain. PD-USGov-POTUS. Pete Souza, Chief Official White House Photographer · Source
  • Camp Fire oli 2018312 Landsat: NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain, NASA work · Source
  • George H. W. Bush presidential portrait (cropped) (2): David Valdez, White House / Public domain (National Archives). PD-USGov. Photographer David Valdez, White House photographer · Source
  • John McCain official portrait 2009: United States Congress / Public domain. PD-USGov-Congress. Author: United States Congress. · Source
  • Stan Lee by Gage Skidmore 2: Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0 (license) · Source
  • Stephen Hawking NASA 50th 200804210001HQ: NASA/Paul E. Alers / Public domain. PD-USGov-NASA. Checker confirmed in NASA's own image library · Source
  • Kim and Trump shaking hands at the red carpet during the DPRK–USA Singapore Summit: White House photo by Shealah Craighead (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain, official White House work by a White House staff photographer · Source
  • Black hole - Messier 87 (crop, max res): EHT Collaboration, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0 (license) · Source
  • Itzhak Perlman with I.M. Pei, architect, looking at model of NYC Convention Center (03124v) (cropped): Bernard Gotfryd / Library of Congress. Bernard Gotfryd photograph collection, Library of Congress item 2020732665 · Source
  • Flèche en feu - Spire on Fire: Guillaume Levrier, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0 (license) · Source
  • ToniMorrison WestPointLecture 2013 (cropped): U.S. Military Academy at West Point / Public domain. PD-USArmy. Author: West Point - The U.S. Military Academy · Source
NewerThe 2020s
Next in the seriesThe 2000s, coming soon. Then the 1990s and on back in time.

Updated October 15, 2026.

Credit:

Rights:

Source · Back to the pictures