1. Barack Obama wins the race for the White House

Getting people under 65 to be interested in politics is already earth-shattering, much less the first African-American president elected to office. With an overwhelming youth turnout, Obama created a movement with a following unprecedented in a presidential race.

2. Sarah Palin flops due to a fake (SNL, Katie Couric)

Tina Fey’s Palin impression was impressive for two reasons: it actually managed to influence the election AND it successfully made ‘Saturday Night Live’ relevant and funny, if only for a fleeting moment.

3. The Olympics/Michael Phelps

Amidst fanfare, history and over-blown scandal, Michael Phelps winning eight gold medals really made the rest of us look like slackers in comparison. His strides in Olympics history were almost as impressive as his Sports Illustrated cover and his SNL stint.

4. The Dark Knight

Ledger’s death, Bale’s arrest, Freeman’s near-death car accident and the box-office breaking film that frightened millions. The hype surrounding the movie was almost as big as the 2.5-hour epic itself, manifesting itself in record shattering ticket sales that sold out for weeks, forcing some of us to wait up to two months before we could revel in The Joker’s brilliance.

5. Britney Spears

Britney Spears’ media adventures continued from last year, but instead of shaving her head for no particular reason this year, it actually ended differently for her: she produced some work, in the form of hit singles ‘Womanizer’ and ‘Circus.’ Her 180-transformation from insane former pop idol to kind-of regular pop idol isn’t fully complete yet, but it’s a damn good start.

6. Brangelina (and a whole bunch of other less popular people) have twins!

Brad and Angie were busy with a slew of new movies, but none of that nonsense got in the way of what they were actually put on Earth to do in the first place: to sell expensive baby photos to supermarket tabloids. And boy, did they accomplish that!

7. The Disney star rise and fall (Miley’s photos, what’s her faces get pregnant (Jamie Lynn and some other less attractive one)

This was the year people actually realized that Miley Cyrus wasn’t just a family friendly pit of overpriced merchandise and, in real life, is a living, breathing teenager, with the flaws and sexual experimentation we all went through. Her backless Annie Leibovitz photos stirred up the paranoid parent crowd, but she’s still trucking on – demanding that no one name her children after her.

8. Twilight – vampires become cool again

Stephanie Meyer’s romantic coming-of-age story on teen bloodlust could have languished in obscurity if Robert Pattinson’s delicate coiffure hadn’t found its way into the hearts of preteens everywhere. ‘Twilight’ created a following of horny teenagers across the nation who no relish in the thought of blood-thirst.

9. Superbowl – Giants upset

In one of the most intense football games of the last half-century, the underdog team from New York City defeated godly New England Patriots in the final minutes of the 2007 Super Bowl.

10. Phillies win the World Series and people freak

Thanks to a last-minute 4-3 victory against the Tampa Bay Rays, now all of Pennsylvania can know what Boston and Chicago sports fans feel like. The postgame celebration spawned a slew of viral videos and lasted days – until half of Philly got fired for missing work.

Published on January 12, 2009 at 12:00 pm