2023 was filled with unprecedented changes, technological strides, and societal shifts. Sports, and music industries were booming with the most popular tv program in history, as well as several massive album releases in several different genres. On the other hand, conflict, and controversy were also present.
January
On January 7, Kevin McCarthy was voted the Speaker of the US House of Representatives. The vote took 15 rounds of voting and was the most since 1860. McCarthy would resign almost 10 months later as he was outcast from the position because some members of the house saw his willingness to work with Democrats as a violation of their agreement for him to become speaker.
February
On February 12, the Superbowl kicked off which saw the Kansas City Chiefs emerge victorious against the Philadelphia Eagles (38-35) and accumulated over 115 million viewers in the United States, making it not only the most watched Super Bowl in history, but the most popular TV program of all time in the U.S. But the aspect that had more views than the game itself was the halftime show performed by nine-time Grammy award-winning artist Rihanna with 118.7 million views.
March
On March 30, former US President Donald Trump was indicted by a Manhattan Grand Jury on charges over hush payments that were paid to Stormy Daniels back in October of 2016. Trump became the 1st US President to face criminal charges in the history of the United States.
April
On April 20, SpaceX’s starship rocket, the most powerful rocket ever made with 33 booster engines, launched a historical test flight from Boca Chica, Texas. The test flight only lasted four minutes with the blame going to SpaceX founder Elon Musk because he rushed the launch date to be on 4/20.
May
On May 4, four-time Grammy Award winner, Ed Sheeran was found not guilty of copying Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” for his 2014 single “Thinking Out Loud” by a Manhattan federal jury. The copyright infringement suit was filed by the heirs of Gaye’s co-writer Ed Townsend.
June
On June 1, The US Congress passed bipartisan legislation raising the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling avoiding a default, after a deal was struck between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
July
On July 14, the Joe Biden administration announced that they would be relieving 39 billion dollars in student loan debt to Americans. However, a six-three Supreme Court ruling effectively shut down this plan.
August
August 8 marked the beginning of the wildfires that ravaged the island of Maui. These fires caused mass evacuations throughout the island and sadly led to over 100 deaths. Reports say that the fire was started by power lines that fell due to high winds.
September
The Las Vegas Sphere opened its doors on September 29, hosting a concert for the band U2. Construction began in 2019 and the total cost for the Sphere totaled around 2.3 billion dollars. Having 18,600 seats, it is the largest spherical building in the world.
October
On October 7, the Israeli-Palestinian began. This is a conflict in the middle east between Israel, and the Hamas group. The fight broke out over territorial disputes, especially over the Gaza Strip. Both parties are extremely willing to defend themselves.
November
The Texas Rangers emerged victorious over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the world series on November 1. Weirdly, the Rangers, who only played one game in the month of November, had more wins than the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons played 15 games in November and did not win any.
December
December is the time of the year when Time magazine releases their Person of the Year Award. On December 6, it was announced that Taylor Swift was the person of the year. She was chosen due to her undeniable success, not limited to the music industry where she became famous. In 2023, Swift had a lasting tour, beginning in March 2023 continuing into 2024 called the Eras Tour. According to KSBW News the tour earned Swift over 1 billion dollars so far.
