1996

Top Songs

  • Alanis Morissette – “Ironic”
  • Celine Dion – “Because You Loved Me”
  • Donna Lewis – “I Love You Always Forever”
  • Eric Clapton – “Change the World”
  • Everything But the Girl – “Missing”
  • Goo Goo Dolls – “Name”
  • Jann Arden - “Insensitive”
  • Joan Osborne – “One of Us”
  • Los Del Rio – “Macarena”
  • Mariah Carey – “Always Be My Baby”
  • Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men – “One Sweet Day”
  • No Doubt – “Don’t Speak”
  • No Mercy – “Where Do You Go”
  • Smashing Pumpkins – “1979”
  • Toni Braxton – “Un-Break My Heart”
  • Tony Rich Project – “Nobody Knows”
  • Tracy Chapman – “Give Me One Reason”

Top Movies

  • Independence Day
  • Twister
  • Mission: Impossible
  • The Rock
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame
  • 101 Dalmatians
  • Ransom
  • The Nutty Professor
  • Jerry Maguire

TV shows

TV shows that started

  • 3rd Rock from the Sun
  • 7th Heaven
  • Arthur
  • Blue’s Clues
  • Dragonball Z
  • Everybody Loves Raymond
  • Judge Judy
  • The Pretender
  • Sabrina, the Teenage Witch

TV shows that ended

  • Murder, She Wrote
  • The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  • Power Rangers: Zeo

Top TV Shows

  • Seinfeld
  • ER
  • Suddenly Susan
  • Friends
  • Touched by an Angel
  • Frasier
  • NYPD Blue
  • Just Shoot Me
  • The X-Files
  • Law and Order
  • King of the Hill
  • Mad About You
  • Cosby

Births

  • Collins Key - Magician, fan favorite and finalist on 8th season of America's Got Talent
  • Austin Mahone - pop singer, "Say Something"
  • Tom Holland - movie actor, plays Spiderman in 2017's "Spider-Man: Homecoming"
  • Hailee Steinfeld - movie actress, in "The Edge of Seventeen" and "Pitch Perfect 2"; also singer, "Love Myself"
  • Alessia Cara - pop singer, "Stay", "Wild Things", "Scars to Your Beautiful"
  • Lili Reinhart - TV actress, "Riverdale"

Firsts

  • Nintendo 64 released in Japan
  • Mad Cow disease hits Britain
  • DVDs launched in Japan
  • Windows NT 4.0 released by Microsoft
  • Internet Explorer 3 web browser released

new words

  • anti-vax
  • cloud computing
  • cyberattack
  • cybersafety
  • DVR
  • face-palm
  • fist bump
  • flip phone
  • gastropub
  • GOAT
  • overshare
  • phishing
  • senior moment
  • smartphone
  • webisode

Events

Royal Divorce

Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales get divorced. Their early marriage had been painted as a fairy tale but it was also highly dissected in the public eye and the pair were often featured in tabloids. Prince William as 14, while Prince Harry was 11 at the time. 

Summer Olympics in Atlanta

A dramatic and emotional start when the cauldron was lit by sporting legend Muhammad Ali. Turkish weightlifter Naim Suleymanoglu became the first weightlifter in history to win three consecutive Olympic titles. Michael Johnson of the US became the first man in Olympic history to run and win both the 200m and 400m. 

West coast snowstorm

December 29, an Arctic system combined with a wet front to cause B.C.'s worst snowstorm in a region unaccustomed to a stereotypical Canadian winter. In Vancouver, 35 cm fell in 24 hours. It was the heaviest snowfall since records were kept in 1937. The situation was worse in the Fraser Valley, where the snow shut down Highway 1. Hundreds of drivers were left stranded in and around Chilliwack and were forced to find temporary shelter. 

Dunblane School Massacre

March 13: The Dunblane school massacre took place at Dunblane Primary School near Stirling, Scotland, when gunman Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and one teacher before committing suicide. It remains the deadliest mass shooting in British history

Nintendo 64 released

June: the Nintendo 64 gaming console is first released in Japan. It was praised by critics and popular with consumers. It had some of the best graphics of any comparable gaming console. Many of the games that were available for the system were thought of as some of the most popular and influential games of all time, such as, Super Mario 64, GoldenEye 007, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Toonie introduced

Feb 19: the Canadian two-dollar "toonie" coin is introduced. Some of the early nicknames suggested included the "bearie" (analogous to the loonie and its loon), the "bearly", the "deuce", the "doubloonie" (a play on "double loonie" and the former Spanish doubloon coin), and the "moonie" (because it depicted "the Queen with a bear behind").

Mad Cow Disease hits Britain

Fears over Mad Cow Disease (BSE) had increased after it was linked to a variant called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease that had proven fatal to humans. In order to reduce the spread of BSE, the UK had to cull all at risk cattle and it was not until 1999 that the ban ended.