2016 Pop Culture History

Quick Facts from 2016:

• World Changing Event: Pokémon Go (a free worldwide game) brought game playing to the outside (real) world for millions of children, teens, and plugged-in adults.
• The Top Song was Closer by The Chainsmokers with Halsey
• The Movies to Watch include Zootopia, Rogue One: A Star Wars Movie, The Magnificent Seven, La La Land, Florence Foster Jenkins, The Sing, Finding Dory, and Deadpool
• The Most Famous Person in America was probably Donald Trump
• The Fad: Playing Pokemon Go
• Notable books include: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
• People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive: Dwayne ‘The Rock” Johnson
• The Crazy Conspiracy: Katy Perry is actually a grown-up JonBenét Ramsey.
• The record for most data lost to hackers is held by Yahoo!, where one billion user records were taken in 2016.
• The Challenge: Mannequin Challenge is a viral Internet video trend that started in October 2016 where people remain still and recorded on video while music is (usually) playing.
• The Conversation: Why were so many people seeing clowns in discreet, usually wooded, areas?

Top Ten Baby Names of 2016:

Emma, Olivia, Ava, Sophia, Isabella, Noah, Liam, William, Mason, James

Time Magazine’s Person of the Year:

Donald Trump

Miss America:

Betty Cantrell

Miss USA:

Deshauna Barber

The Scandals:

An underground meth lab was discovered beneath the parking lot of a Walmart in Amherst, New York.
Researchers spent 29 hours searching for Nigeria’s last lions with recordings of a distressed buffalo calf through a wildlife national park in 2016. No lions or tracks were found.

A total of 6,755 postal employees were attacked by dogs in 2016.

The Australian women’s national team was beaten 7-0 by the Newcastle under-15 boys team.

The average attention span for humans seems to have dropped from 12 seconds in the year 2000, to 8 seconds in 2016, about the same amount of time it takes to read this sentence.

Pop Culture Facts & History:

Prince Harry took an HIV test live on July 14, 2016, to show how easy it is. It was hailed as a “groundbreaking moment in the fight against HIV.” HIV awareness group THT has reported a 5 fold increase in the number of orders of HIV self-tests since the prince’s broadcast.

The classic Happy Birthday song was copyrighted and was illegal to use in public performances/shows unless royalties were paid. This ended in 2016 when Warner paid $14 million in a lawsuit to end the copyright

Long Island woman accidentally threw away an envelope with $5000 cash intended for her mortgage, sanitation workers sifted through tons of trash until they found it. They refused to accept a reward.

Game of Thrones was the most pirated TV show of 2016.

The Zomba Prison Project was a music recording made by inmates of a maximum-security prison in Malawi known as the ” waiting room of hell. ” The completed album has 20 songs by 16 prisoners and was nominated for the Best World Music Album in 2016.

Celine Dion stood near the open casket of her deceased husband for 7 hours to greet and comfort complete strangers who had arrived to pay their respects at the public visitation held on the eve of his funeral. She was only expected to stay for 30 minutes.

Metallica’s lawyer once sent a cease and desist letter to Sandman, a Metallica cover band. Metallica later said they had no idea the letter had been sent and offered an apology and told Rolling Stone that they had started out as a cover band, adding “We have a long history of not only enjoying tribute bands, but we started as one. Heck, we even recorded a two-disc album of covers!”

In 2016 New Jersey went from the 49th to 6th in Highest Gas Tax in the USA.

The first of a set of twins, Samuel, was born at 1:39 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016. His brother Ronan was born 31 minutes later just as daylight saving time had ended, making him 29 minutes older.

Rapper Lil Wayne personally thanked a group of US Marines stuck on the tarmac at the same time as his plane in Indiana.

Simon Smith legally changed his name to Bacon Double Cheeseburger.

It took Boeing 42 years and 1 month to deliver its 10,000 7series aircraft (October 1958-November 2000) and, 42 years and 5 months for Airbus to achieve the same milestone (May 1974-October 2016).

The most common password in 2016 was ‘123456’.

The 2016 Canadian Census had the highest response rate (98.4%) of any census in Canada since the 1666 New France Census, 350 years earlier.

Abraham Muñoz ran a marathon in 5 hours, 41 minutes, 52 seconds while juggling a soccer ball – without it touching the ground.

In 2016, McDonald’s had 36,525 stores and Subway had 44,805.

Isaac Newton predicted that the world would end in 2060 and was obsessed with the number 2016.

The 118th and final element in the periodic table was given the official name “Oganesson” (Og). It was previously known as “Ununoctium” since 1979.

Cost of a 30 second Super Bowl ad: 5 Million dollars

Doomsday Clock:

3 minutes to midnight, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.
2016: “Last year, the Science and Security Board moved the Doomsday Clock forward to three minutes to midnight, noting: ‘The probability of global catastrophe is very high, and the actions needed to reduce the risks of disaster must be taken very soon.’ That probability has not been reduced. The Clock ticks. Global danger looms. Wise leaders should act- immediately.” See the full statement from the Science and Security Board on the 2016 time of the Doomsday Clock.”

2016 Toys inducted to the National Toy Hall of Fame:

Dungeons and Dragons, Little People, Swing

1st Appearances & 2015’s Most Popular Christmas Gifts, Toys and Presents:

Xbox One S, Playstation 4 Slim, Playstation 4 Pro, Pokémon Sun and Moon video game

Best Film Oscar:

Spotlight (presented in 2016)

2016 Entries to The National Film Registry:

The Atomic Café (released in 1982)
Ball of Fire (released in 1941)
The Beau Brummels (released in 1928)
The Birds (released in 1963)
Blackboard Jungle (released in 1955)
The Breakfast Club (released in 1985)
The Decline of Western Civilization (released in 1981)
East of Eden (released in 1955)
Funny Girl (released in 1968)
Life of an American Fireman (released in 1903)
The Lion King (released in 1994)
Lost Horizon (released in 1937)
Musketeers of Pig Alley (released in 1912)
Paris Is Burning (released in 1990)
Point Blank (released in 1967)
The Princess Bride (released in 1987)
Putney Swope (released in 1969)
Reverend Solomon Sir Jones films (released in 1924/1928)
Rushmore (released in 1998)
Steamboat Bill, Jr. (released in 1928)
Suzanne, Suzanne (released in 1982)
Thelma & Louise (released in 1991)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (released in 1916)
A Walk in the Sun (released in 1945)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (released in 1988)

The Big Movies: (according to boxofficemojo)

1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
2. Finding Dory
3. Captain America: Civil War
4. The Secret Life of Pets
5. The Jungle Book
6. Deadpool
7. Zootopia
8. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
9. Suicide Squad
10. Sing

Fashion Icons and Sex Symbols:

Erin Andrews, Hayley Atwell, Morena Baccarin, Kate Beckinsale, Melissa Benoist, Ashley Benson, Jordana Brewster, Alison Brie, Rose Byrne, Priyanka Chopra, Emilia Clarke, Lauren Cohan, Alexandra Daddario, Brooklyn Decker, Kara Del Toro, Cara Delevingne, Kat Dennings, Natalie Dormer, Hilary Duff, Lena Headey, Gal Gadot, Selena Gomez, Ellie Goulding, Ashley Graham, Ariana Grande, Ashley Greene, Gigi Hadid, Holly Holm, Samantha Hoopes, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Sarah Hyland, Kendall Jenner, Scarlett Johansson, Dakota Johnson, Victoria Justice, Ellie Kemper, Jennifer Lawrence, Blake Lively, Caity Lotz, Tatiana Maslany, Rose Mciver, Katherine McNamara, Maria Menounos, Kate Middleton, Chloe Grace Moretz, Olivia Munn, Elizabeth Olsen, Rita Ora, Katy Perry, Emily Ratajkowski, Alexis Ren, Daisy Ridley, Rihanna, Krysten Ritter, Margot Robbie, Ronda Rousey, Nicole Scherzinger, Taylor Swift, Bella Thorne, Ivanka Trump, Melania Trump, Sophie Turner, Sofia Vergara, Olivia Wilde, Emma Watson, Ariel Winter, Deborah Ann Woll