2012

• Adele – “Set Fire to the Rain”
• Bruno Mars – “Locked Out of Heaven”
• Calvin Harris – “Feel So Close”
• Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe”
• Christina Perri – “A Thousand Years”
• David Guetta – ‘Titanium”
• Ellie Goulding – “Lights”
• Flo Rid aft Sia – “Wild Ones”
• Flo Rida – “Good Feeling”
• Fun – “Some Nights”
• Fun ft Janelle Monae – “We Are Young”
• Gotye ft Kimbra – “Somebody That I Used to Know”
• Jessie J – “Domino”
• Katy Perry – “Part of Me”
• Kelly Clarkson – “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
• LMFAO – “Sex and I Know It”
• Maroon 5 – “One More Night”
• Maroon 5 – “Payphone”
• Nicki Minaj – ‘Starships”
• One Direction – “What Makes You Beautiful”
• Phillip Phillips – “Home”
• Pink – “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)”
• Psy – “Gangnam style”
• Rihanna – “Diamonds” 
• Taylor Swift – “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
• The Wanted – “Glad You Came”
• Train – “Drive By”
• Usher – “Scream”

• The Avengers
• Skyfall
• The Dark Knight Rises
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• Ice Age: Continental Drift
• The Twlight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
• The Amazing Spider-Man
• Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
• The Hunger Games
• Men in Black 3

• Saving Hope
• Revolution
• The Mindy Project
• Elementary
• Chicago Fire
• Nashville
• Arrow

• Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
• Chuck
• Zeke and Luther
• One Tree Hill
• CSI: Miami
• Desperate Housewives
• House
• The Closer
• Gossip Girl

• Season: Philippines
• 3 tribes of 6, including 3 players who'd been medically evacuated previously
• Winner: Denise Stapley
• Runners-up: Lisa Whelchel, Michael Skupin

• Season: One World
• Location: Samoa
• 2 tribes of 9 new players, divided by gender
• Winner: Kim Spradlin
• Votes: Kim (7), Sabrina (2), Chelsea (0)

• Winner: Phillip Phillips
• He released "Home" as coronation song - became the best selling of all coronation songs
• Runner-up: Jessica Sanchez - was saved at Top 7; first recipient of the save reached the finale
• Ace Young (season 5 finalist) proposed marriage to Diana DeGarmo (season 3 runner-up).

• Winner: Cassadee Pope
• Runner-up: Terry McDermott
• Coaches:
• • Blake Shelton*
  • Adam Levine
  • CeeLo Green
  • Christina Aguilera

• Winner: Jermaine Paul
• Runner-up: Juliet Simms
• Coaches:
• • Blake Shelton*
  • Adam Levine
  • CeeLo Green
  • Christina Aguilera

• Michael Clarke Duncan - actor, "The Green Mile"
• Whitney Houston - singer, "I Will Always Love You"
• Dick Clark - producer, host of "American Bandstand" and "New Year's Rockin' Eve"
• Sarah Burke - X-Games veteran and daredevil Canadian ski pro
• Neil Armstrong - astronaut, first man to walk on the moon
• Tony Scott - movie director, directed "Top Gun"
• Sherman Hemsley - actor, "The Jeffersons"
• Andy Griffith - actor, "Andy Griffith" (1960s sitcom), and "Matlock"
• Robin Gibb - part of the Bee Gees, one of the top-grossing music acts of all time with songs like "Stayin' Alive", "How Deep is Your Love"
• Donna Summer - "Queen of Disco", helped to define the 70s dance genre with hits like "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls"
• Maurice Sendak - children's book author and illustrator, "Where the Wild Things Are" and "In the Night Kitchen"
• Etta James - R&B and blues singer,  "At Last" (1961)
• Davy Jones - former Monkees frontman, teen idol
• Robert Sherman - songwriter, composed "It's a Small World After All"

• escape room
• hot take
• inspo

After winning the gold medal in the men’s discus throw final with a throw of 68.27 meters, Germany's Robert Harting celebrated like any Olympic champion would – by ripping off his shirt like the Incredible Hulk and making a run for the women's hurdles, astonishingly clearing each one all while keeping his German flag draped over his shoulders. His entertaining victory lap will certainly go down as one of the best gold medal celebrations of all time.

In yet another fascinating Olympic rivalry, Jamaican sprinting legend Usain Bolt faced off against his Jamaican teammate Yohan Blake. In their first showdown it was Bolt who came out victorious, defending his 100m title from the Beijing Olympics with a 9.63 second finish. Bolt, nicknamed “the fastest man alive,” went on to win the 200m in 19.32 seconds, becoming the first sprinter to win the 100 and 200m races in consecutive Olympics. The 200m ‘Jamaican Sweep’ was complete with Yohan Blake earning silver, and Warren Weir taking the bronze.

In what was perhaps the biggest rivalry of the games, swim legend Michael Phelps took on emerging star and Olympic heartthrob Ryan Lochte. In the first of their two head-to-head competitions Lochte came out on top, winning gold in the 400-meter individual medley to Phelps's shocking fourth place. Phelps, however, struck back in the 200-meter individual medley, beating out Lochte for the gold by just .63 seconds. 

Certainly some of the biggest stars from this Olympics were the famous "Fab Five." The gymnastics powerhouses twirled, jumped and flipped their way to Olympic team gold, the first Olympic title for the U.S. since 1996. McKayla Maroney blew audiences away with her near perfect vault, while the "Flying Squirrel" Gabby Douglas literally took the sport to new heights, winning individual gold as the first African-American woman to earn the all-around title. Aly Raisman, who edged out her teammate Jordyn Wieber to compete in the all-around, also took home the bronze for balance beam and became the first American woman to win gold in the floor exercise. 

Oct. 9: In Pakistan, Taliban members shoot 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai in the head and neck. The shooting occurs while Yousafzai is on her way home on a school bus filled with children. She was targeted for her outspokenness against the Taliban and her determination to get an education.

July 20: During a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises, a gunman opens fire on the crowded theater in a Denver suburb. Twelve people are killed and 58 others are wounded. Directly after the incident, James Holmes, age 24, is arrested in a parking lot behind the theater.

Oct. 24: Hurricane Sandy hits Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica, leaving 44 dead. The storm system grows as it barrels up the East Coast, spreading to some 1,000 miles wide. Hurricane Sandy makes landfall - New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut are hardest hit by Sandy. Sandy caused at least 132 deaths and an estimated 82 billion in damages, making it the second costliest hurricane in the United States, behind Katrina.

Nov. 6: President Obama is re-elected, narrowly defeating Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Obama prevails in both the electoral college and the popular vote, buoyed largely by taking several crucial battle states, including Colorado, Iowa, Ohio, New Hampshire, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Dec. 14: Adam Lanza, age 20, forces his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut, and kills 26 people, including 20 children between the ages of six and seven. Then Lanza takes his own life while still inside the school.

In 1969, Neil Armstrong became an international icon and hero as the first man to step foot on the moon. The aerospace engineer was a member of the Apollo 11 spaceflight, which landed on the moon July 20, 1969. He died in August at the age of 82 from complications from heart surgery three weeks before. 

February 11: age 48, drug overdose/drowning in bathtub. Grammy-award winning singer, "I Will Always Love You". In 2009, Guinness World Records cited her as the most awarded female act of all time. Houston is one of the best-selling music artists of all-time, with 200 million records sold worldwide.

Producer, host and "America's youngest teenager" Dick Clark suffered a massive heart attack following an inpatient procedure in Los Angeles on April 18. He was 83. Clark was best known for hosting and creating American Bandstand and New Year's Rockin' Eve -- the latter of which he hosted until he suffered a stroke in 2004, handing over the reigns to Ryan Seacrest..

X-Games veteran and daredevil Canadian ski pro Sarah Burke died Thursday, Jan. 19, after a Jan. 11 crash during a training run left her comatose. Though she successfully underwent surgery to fix a torn artery that caused bleeding between her brain and skull, doctors said the lack of oxygen to her brain in the immediate wake of the accident caused irreparable damage.

Pop singer Beyonce and Jay-Z had a baby girl, on January 7. They named her Blue Ivy Carter. It's the first child for the couple who wed in 2008.

In July, Katie Holmes filed for divorce from her husband of 5 years, Tom cruise. The divorce launched a lot of conspiracy theories. She did leave him because of Scientology, not wanting her daughter Suri to be taken from her.

It was a Twihard’s nightmare come to life. Twilight couple Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson broke up in July after photos emerged of Stewart canoodling with her married, 41-year-old Snow White and the Huntsman director, Rupert Sanders. Fans immediately called the legitimacy of the photos into question—but those theories were debunked when Stewart herself issued a heartbroken public apology to Pattinson.