The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer on 29 July 1981 was widely billed as the "wedding of the century". 3,500 guests attended the event at St Paul's Cathedral in London, and another 750 million watched on TV. Diana later said that she very nearly called off the wedding after discovering a bracelet Charles had bought for his longtime lover Camilla Parker Bowles, but she was put off the idea by her sisters. The couple divorced in 1996 after fifteen years of marriage.

Michael Jackson's Thriller, released on November 30, 1982, was among the first albums to use music videos as a promotional tool. The videos for "Billie Jean", "Beat It" and "Thriller" not only transformed music videos into a serious art form, but helped Jackson sell 32 million copies worldwide by the end of 1983, making Thriller the best-selling album of all time--a title it still holds.

Although the Rubik's Cube reached its height of popularity in the 80s, it is still around today and widely considered to be the world's best-selling toy.

A new era in space flight began on April 12, 1981, when Space Shuttle Columbia soared into orbit from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Serving for over 22 years, it completed 27 missions before disintegrating during re-entry near the end of its 28th mission on February 1, 2003, resulting in the deaths of all seven crew members.

Mount St. Helens is most notorious for its eruption on May 18, 1980, the deadliest and most destructive volcanic event in U.S. history. More than 1,000 feet were blasted off the top of the volcano, leaving a huge crater and spreading tons of volcanic ash across several states. Not only were fifty-seven people killed, but 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways, and 185 miles (298 km) of highway were also destroyed.

Ronald Reagan served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and became a highly influential voice of modern conservatism.

Originally released in 1980, Pac-Man became an instant hit, with parent company Bandai Namco Entertainment selling more than 100,000 arcade units within 15 months. The objective of the game was to eat all of the dots placed in a maze while avoiding four colored ghosts--Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde.

The IBM PC (model 5150) weighed about 25 pounds, which was considered compact at the time.

On May 16, 1983, during a performance of "Billie Jean" on Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, Jackson appeared in his signature black trousers, silver socks, silver shirt, black-sequined jacket, and black fedora, spun around, posed, and began moonwalking. From that point forward, the moonwalk became Jackson's signature move.

On Saturday, August 1, 1981, MTV (originally short for "Music Television") was officially launched with the words "Ladies and gentlemen: rock and roll." The channel originally aired music videos and related programming as guided by television personalities known as "video jockeys". The first music video shown on MTV was the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star".