2010 – 2020s

Events in the 2010s 127

• 1917 – 2017 Danielle Darrieux (1917-2017) French actress with a career of eight decades, from Mayerling to Max Ophüls's films and Persepolis.
• 1917 – 2010 Lena Horne (1917-2010) American singer, actress and civil rights activist, star of Stormy Weather.
• 1917 – 2013 Joan Fontaine (1917-2013) British-American actress, star of Rebecca and the only actor to win an Oscar for a Hitchcock film.
• 1922 – 2019 Doris Day (1922-2019) American actress and singer, one of the biggest box-office stars of the 1950s and 1960s and later a leading animal-welfare campaigner.
• 1925 – 2015 B.B. King American blues guitarist & singer B.B. King (1925-2015) — born Riley B. King in the Mississippi Delta — became "the King of the Blues", famous for his guitar Lucille, his hit "The Thrill Is Gone", and a touring and recording career spanning more than sixty years and fifteen Grammy Awards.
• 1927 – 2015 Günter Grass Writer, sculptor, Nobel laureate, 1927-2015 Günter Grass (1927-2015) — novelist, poet, playwright, sculptor and printmaker. Author of The Tin Drum (1959), the defining work of post-war German literature; winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1999); political activist and speechwriter for Willy Brandt; and, in his final decades, the man who shattered his own image as Germany's moral conscience by revealing his Waffen-SS service sixty years after the fact.
• 1928 – 2014 Maya Angelou American poet and memoirist Angelou wrote I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, reflecting on identity, racism, and resilience.
• 1929 – 2010 Jean Simmons (1929-2010) British actress who went from Ophelia in Olivier's Hamlet to Hollywood epics like The Robe and Spartacus.
• 1932 – 2016 Umberto Eco Italian novelist and philosopher Eco wrote The Name of the Rose, combining mystery, semiotics, and historical fiction.
• 1932 – 2019 Jacques Chirac President of France 1995–2007 Jacques René Chirac was a French Gaullist politician who dominated the French right for three decades. He served twice as Prime Minister, eighteen years as Mayor of Paris, and twelve years as President of the Republic, remembered for his charm, his opposition to the 2003 Iraq War, and his recognition of France's role in the Holocaust.
• 1936 – 2015 Margaret Atwood Canadian novelist Atwood wrote The Handmaids Tale, exploring dystopian society, gender, and political control.
• 1938 – 2016 The 27 Club Artists who died at 27 Musicians and artists who died at the age of 27 — Robert Johnson, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse and others. A coincidence that became a legend.
• 1949 – 2011 Gil Scott-Heron American poet, musician & author Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011) was an American poet, musician and author whose spoken-word recordings — above all "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" — made him one of the most influential forefathers of hip-hop and a defining voice of Black political consciousness in American music.
• 1955 – 2011 Steve Jobs Apple co-founder Steve Jobs co-founded Apple and pioneered personal computing and the smartphone era with the Mac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad.
• 1958 – 2016 Prince Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist American musician from Minneapolis who blended funk, rock, pop and soul, played almost every instrument on his records and fought the music industry for control of his work.
• 1968 – 2016 Crosby, Stills & Nash American folk rock trio David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash — the harmony supergroup of Laurel Canyon, sometimes with Neil Young.
• 1969 – 2014 The Allman Brothers Band American southern rock band Georgia band founded by Duane and Gregg Allman, the originators of southern rock and one of the great live bands.
• 1975 – 2015 Jonah Lomu The winger who turned rugby into a global spectacle Jonah Tali Lomu was a New Zealand rugby union winger widely credited as the sport's first global superstar. Combining a 120kg frame with sprinter-level speed, he redefined what a back-line player could be and forced the laws and tactics of the game to adapt around him. His explosive performances at the 1995 Rugby World Cup arrived just as rugby turned professional, and the two events together are often cited as the moment the sport became a worldwide commercial product. Off the field he battled a serious kidney disorder for two decades, undergoing a transplant in 2004 before dying suddenly in 2015 at age 40.
• 1976 – 2017 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers American rock band Florida rock band led by Tom Petty, with Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench — American Girl, Refugee and Free Fallin'.
• 1989 – 2019 Emperor Akihito (Heisei era) Reign 1989–2019 — abdicated, the first in 200 years Emperor Akihito's Heisei era was a time of economic stagnation after the 1980s bubble, and of natural disasters including the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. A reconciliation-minded monarch, in 2019 he became the first Japanese emperor in over two centuries to abdicate the throne.
• 1995 – 2014 The question of sexuality -- 16 years of denial The question of Thorpe's sexuality follows him from his mid-teens, when journalists begin asking directly. He is, he later explains, genuinely uncertain about his own sexuality as a teenager -- too young to know the answer -- and defaults to the socially safe denial. The denial then calcifies: by the time he knows the truth, the lie is so public and so repeated (including in the 2012 autobiography) that correcting it feels like confirming that he has been dishonest about everything. He describes the experience of having been asked about his sexuality at 16 by a reporter as formative: "I was 16. I was just a kid." The years of enforced concealment are inseparable from the depression that runs through the same period.
• 1996 – 2014 Depression and the long struggle -- the hidden story Behind the gold medals, Thorpe has been struggling with depression since his teenage years -- a condition that intensifies after retirement and which he does not discuss publicly until 2014. The depression is severe enough, at points, to involve contemplation of suicide. Antidepressants fail to provide adequate relief. He turns to alcohol to manage the pain. The drinking becomes its own problem. He spends years in a cycle of treatment, partial recovery and relapse. His 2012 autobiography This Is Me addresses depression but does not resolve the underlying crisis. The full story -- the severity of the depression, the role of the alcohol, the connection to the concealment of his sexuality -- emerges only in the 2014 Parkinson interview.
• 2002 – 2014 The physical Thorpedo -- what made him exceptional Thorpe's physical profile is extraordinary even by elite athletic standards: 6 feet 5 inches tall, 230 pounds, with a shoe size of 17 (his custom-made racing fins are famously enormous), an arm span matching his height, and the most powerful leg kick of any swimmer of his era -- eight to ten beats per two arm strokes, compared to the standard six. His signature stroke is a rolling, rhythmic freestyle built around leverage and timing rather than brute force. His coach Doug Frost develops a race strategy in which Thorpe's second 100m of the 400m freestyle is faster than his first -- a negative split that becomes his tactical trademark. The combination of physical advantage and technical refinement is what produces 22 world records across distances from 200m to 800m.
• 2007 – 2010 Paradiso Girls -- the beginning The Paradiso Girls are formed in 2007 under Robin Antin and Jimmy Iovine, with a deliberate concept: a multinational girl group, each member from a different country. The final lineup of five includes Chelsea Korka (USA), Aria Crescendo (France), Shar Mae Amor (Philippines), Kelly Beckett (UK) and Lauren Bennett (UK). Signed to Interscope Records, they are conceived as a Pussycat Dolls-adjacent act combining pop, R&B and dance music. Bennett is 18 when the group forms and, having just relocated from Kent, is beginning her professional career in earnest.
• 2009 – 2010 Who's My Bitch -- and the group disbands The Paradiso Girls follow "Patron Tequila" with the single "Who's My Bitch," but the group is dropped by Interscope Records and disbands in 2010 before achieving the major commercial breakthrough that their debut promised. The dissolution is a setback but not an end: Bennett remains close to Robin Antin and continues working in the Los Angeles music industry. Her relationship with Antin survives the group's collapse and will prove crucial to her next chapter.
• 2009 – 2017 Obama presidency 44th President — 2009 to 2017 Barack Obama served as the 44th President from January 20, 2009 to January 20, 2017. He passed the Affordable Care Act, ordered the raid killing Osama bin Laden, and signed the Paris Climate Agreement.
• 2010 Amar'e Stoudemire signs as free agent After missing out on top free agents, the Knicks sign Amar'e Stoudemire, who immediately energizes Madison Square Garden.
• 2010 I Got It from My Mama -- with will.i.am While still active with the Paradiso Girls, Bennett is featured in a remix of will.i.am's "I Got It from My Mama," extending her network in the Los Angeles pop and hip-hop world beyond the Antin circle. The collaboration with will.i.am positions her within the broader Black Eyed Peas ecosystem -- a connection that will soon prove significant, as the Black Eyed Peas' label circle overlaps with LMFAO's world. She is building the industry relationships that lead to "Party Rock Anthem."
• 2010 Love Gun -- with CeeLo Green Bennett is featured on "Love Gun," a track on CeeLo Green's acclaimed 2010 album The Lady Killer -- the same album that contains "Forget You" (the radio edit of his viral hit "F**k You"). Her feature on a CeeLo Green album at the height of his commercial success raises her profile considerably. The Lady Killer goes platinum in several countries. Bennett's voice -- versatile, melodic and suited to pop-R&B hybrid production -- is becoming attractive to a range of high-profile artists.
• 2010 Instagram founded Photo sharing app changes social media Instagram was founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in 2010. It was acquired by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012 and grew to over 2 billion monthly users.
• 2010 Haiti earthquake 316,000 killed in Port-au-Prince A catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti on January 12, 2010, killing an estimated 316,000 people and leaving 1.5 million homeless in one of the deadliest earthquakes in history.
• 2010 Iditarod 2010 Winner: Lance Mackey — 8 days 23h Lance Mackey won his fourth consecutive Iditarod, becoming the first musher to achieve four straight victories and the second to finish under 9 days.
• 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill Worst marine oil spill in history The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and causing the largest accidental marine oil spill in history. Nearly 5 million barrels spilled into the Gulf of Mexico.
• 2010 First synthetic cell created Craig Venter builds life from scratch Craig Venter's team announced the creation of the first synthetic bacterial cell on May 20, 2010, assembling its entire genome from chemicals and inserting it into a cell. It was the first life form with a computer-generated genome.
• 2010 Toy Story 3 #1 film of 2010 — $1.07bn worldwide Directed by Lee Unkrich at Pixar. Andy is leaving for college and the toys are accidentally delivered to a daycare centre.
• 2010 Inception Nolan's mind-bending thriller — $836m Directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. A thief who enters people's dreams is tasked with planting an idea into a CEO's mind.
• 2011 Carmelo Anthony trade New York trades a large package of players and picks to Denver for star forward Carmelo Anthony.
• 2011 Death of Jet Harris Aged 71 Founding bassist Jet Harris died in 2011 at the age of 71, after long struggles with alcoholism in earlier life — the last of the original four-piece lineup to pass away.
• 2011 Party Rock Anthem -- the number one hit In 2011 Bennett is featured on LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" -- singing the bridge and hook alongside the duo's rapping -- on a track that becomes one of the defining pop songs of the early 2010s. The single tops the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks, reaching number one in more than 20 countries including the UK (four weeks at number one), Ireland (four weeks), Australia, Canada and across continental Europe. It sells over five million digital downloads in the United States alone, making it one of the best-selling digital singles in history at the time. For Bennett, raised in Meopham, Kent, it is the realisation of everything she has worked toward since performing in pub talent contests at 14.
• 2011 – present Party Rock Anthem -- the song that lasts In the 15 years between its release and her death, "Party Rock Anthem" remains one of the most-streamed and most-recognised pop songs of the 2010s -- an inescapable presence in commercials, film trailers, sports arenas and party playlists worldwide. Its combination of LMFAO's absurdist electro-rap persona and Bennett's clean, radio-ready vocal hook gives it a longevity that most number-one singles do not achieve. In Ireland it spends 26 weeks on the singles chart; globally its streaming numbers continue to accumulate for years after its initial release. For Bennett, who sings the hook that most listeners remember, it is the artistic achievement for which she will always be primarily known.
• 2011 The Party Rock Tour -- on the road with LMFAO Following the release and success of "Party Rock Anthem," Bennett joins LMFAO on the Party Rock Tour, performing the track live alongside the duo across North America and internationally. The tour gives her her first experience of arena-scale performance and consolidates the working relationship with LMFAO that produced the single. She is 21-22 during this period, at the height of the song's global dominance.
• 2011 – 2012 The comeback -- failing to qualify for London 2012 In February 2011 Thorpe announces his return to competitive swimming with the aim of qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics. The comeback attracts enormous media interest. He trains in the United States, hoping a different environment will reinvigorate him. But his times are well below the standard required for London qualification, the 400m freestyle (his signature event) is not even on his event list, and a shoulder injury complicates preparations. At the 2012 Australian Olympic trials, he fails to qualify. The comeback is officially over. He is 29. The failure is painful but honest: some careers cannot be revived, and seven years away from elite competition is too long.
• 2011 – 2012 Working with Robin Antin and the Pussycat Dolls Throughout 2011-2012 Bennett maintains her close working relationship with Robin Antin, the Pussycat Dolls' founder. She is featured in the Pussycat Dolls' second fitness DVD. Antin is in this period rebuilding the Pussycat Dolls brand following the original lineup's dissolution, and is assembling a new group of performers -- the project that will eventually become G.R.L. Bennett is a natural choice for the new group given her history with Antin through Paradiso Girls and her elevated profile from "Party Rock Anthem."
• 2011 Arab Spring Wave of pro-democracy uprisings across Middle East The Arab Spring began in December 2010 in Tunisia and spread across the Arab world in 2011, toppling governments in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen and sparking civil war in Syria.
• 2011 Iditarod 2011 Winner: John Baker — 8 days 18h (record) John Baker, Inupiaq from Kotzebue, set a new course record of 8 days 18 hours 46 minutes that stood for years. He dedicated the win to his village and Alaska Native heritage.
• 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster Worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl The March 11, 2011 tsunami caused three reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, forcing 154,000 people to evacuate.
• 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami 19,000 killed, Fukushima meltdown A magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Japan's Tohoku coast on March 11, 2011 generated a devastating tsunami killing nearly 19,000 people and triggering the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
• 2011 Royal Wedding — William & Kate 2 billion watch worldwide Prince William married Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011, watched by an estimated 2 billion people worldwide. Kate became the Duchess of Cambridge.
• 2011 Osama bin Laden killed US Navy SEALs raid Abbottabad Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by US Navy SEALs in a raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011, nearly ten years after the 9/11 attacks he orchestrated.
• 2011 French Open 2011 Men: Rafael Nadal · Women: Na Li Na Li became the first Chinese Grand Slam singles champion.
• 2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 #1 film of 2011 — $1.34bn worldwide Directed by David Yates. The final chapter of the Harry Potter saga. Harry faces Voldemort in the ultimate battle for Hogwarts.
• 2011 Steve Jobs resigns from Apple Co-founder steps down as CEO Steve Jobs resigned as Apple's CEO on August 24, 2011, citing his inability to meet the duties of the role due to illness. He died six weeks later on October 5, 2011.
• 2011 Steve Jobs dies Apple co-founder, age 56 Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, Pixar and NeXT, died on October 5, 2011, aged 56, from pancreatic cancer. He had transformed six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing and digital publishing.
• 2011 I Wish I Wish -- solo debut Bennett's debut solo single "I Wish I Wish" is released on 21 November 2011 via Interscope Records. Written by Esmée Denters and Billy Mann, and produced by David Schuler, the track attempts to establish her as a solo artist beyond the featured-vocalist role that "Party Rock Anthem" has created for her. The single demonstrates her pop vocal range outside a group context, though it does not achieve the commercial dominance of the LMFAO collaboration.
• 2012 "Linsanity" Undrafted point guard Jeremy Lin has a sensational multi-game scoring stretch that captivates New York and the wider basketball world.
• 2012 G.R.L. formed -- Girls Rock Life In 2012 Robin Antin assembles G.R.L. (Girls Rock Life) as the successor to the Pussycat Dolls' performance lineup. The founding members are Lauren Bennett, Simone Battle, Natasha Slayton, Emmalyn Estrada and Paula van Oppen. The group is signed and positioned as a contemporary pop-dance act with the Pussycat Dolls' DNA but a more ensemble-driven sound. For Bennett, G.R.L. is her third group project under Antin's direction and the one that achieves the most sustained commercial success.
• 2012 This Is Me -- the autobiography Thorpe's autobiography This Is Me is published in 2012. The book addresses his career, his retirement, and his long struggle with depression in considerable detail, but contains the line that will later seem most revealing: "For the record, I am not gay and all of my sexual experiences have been straight. I'm attracted to women, I love children, and aspire to have a family one day." The denial -- in writing, in a published autobiography -- reflects how impossible he finds it, at 29, to tell the truth he will tell two years later. The book is nonetheless valuable as a document of elite athletic psychology: the pressures of Australian sporting celebrity, the cost of perfection, the difficulty of the life after the pool.
• 2012 Australian Open 2012 Men: Novak Djokovic · Women: Victoria Azarenka Djokovic vs. Nadal — a 5h 53m epic, the longest Grand Slam final.
• 2012 Iditarod 2012 Winner: Dallas Seavey — 9 days 4h Dallas Seavey, son of Mitch Seavey, won his first Iditarod at age 25 — the youngest champion in race history.
• 2012 The Avengers #1 film of 2012 — $1.52bn worldwide Directed by Joss Whedon. Earth's mightiest heroes must come together to stop Loki and his alien army from enslaving humanity.
• 2012 – present Putin 2nd & 3rd presidencies Third term onwards — 2012 to present Putin returned to the presidency on May 7, 2012, and was re-elected in 2018 and 2024 following constitutional changes extending term limits. He ordered the annexation of Crimea in 2014, interference in the 2016 US election, and launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
• 2012 CRISPR gene editing developed Revolutionary tool to edit DNA Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier published their landmark paper on CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in June 2012. The technique allows precise editing of DNA in any organism and earned them the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
• 2012 Higgs boson discovered "God Particle" confirmed at CERN Scientists at CERN announced the discovery of the Higgs boson on July 4, 2012, confirming a fundamental particle first theorised in 1964. It was one of the greatest achievements in physics.
• 2012 The Dark Knight Rises #3 film of 2012 — $1.08bn worldwide Directed by Christopher Nolan. Eight years after the Joker's reign of anarchy, Batman faces a masked terrorist known as Bane.
• 2012 US Open 2012 Men: Andy Murray · Women: Serena Williams Murray's first Grand Slam.
• 2012 Skyfall — Daniel Craig The franchise's 50th anniversary film is also the finest Bond film ever made by most critical assessments. Sam Mendes directs; Roger Deakins shoots in luminous widescreen; Adele performs the theme. The villain Silva (Javier Bardem) is the franchise's most fully realised antagonist. The ending — Bond returning to his Scottish roots at Skyfall Lodge — is genuinely moving. Budget: $200 million. Box office: $1.1 billion.
• 2012 Skyfall #2 film of 2012 — $1.11bn worldwide Directed by Sam Mendes, starring Daniel Craig. James Bond's loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her.
• 2013 "Share a Coke" campaign Personal names replace the Coca-Cola logo The "Share a Coke" campaign — replacing the Coca-Cola logo on bottles with 150 popular first names — was launched globally in 2013. It became one of the most successful marketing campaigns in the company's history, boosting sales for the first time in over a decade.
• 2013 Division title and playoff run Led by Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire, the Knicks win their first division title in 19 years before falling to Indiana in the Conference Semifinals.
• 2013 – 2014 The shoulder surgery and infection In 2013 Thorpe undergoes surgery on a shoulder injury sustained during his comeback attempt. The operation is complicated by a serious infection -- a medical crisis that requires extended treatment and leaves the prospect of further operations. He discusses the ongoing shoulder problems in the 2014 Parkinson interview, where they form part of a broader portrait of a man dealing with multiple simultaneous crises: the depression, the alcohol, the shoulder, and the sexuality he has not yet publicly acknowledged.
• 2013 Vacation -- debut single from The Smurfs 2 G.R.L.'s debut single "Vacation" is released as part of the soundtrack to the animated film The Smurfs 2 (2013), giving the group an immediate high-visibility platform. The Smurfs franchise is a major global family entertainment property, and the soundtrack placement guarantees exposure to a broad international audience. The single introduces G.R.L. to the public as a polished, energetic pop act and sets up their more mature-skewing follow-up material.
• 2013 Pope Francis elected First Jesuit and Latin American pope Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected Pope Francis on March 13, 2013, becoming the first Jesuit, first Latin American and first pope from the Southern Hemisphere.
• 2013 Star Trek Into Darkness The second Kelvin Timeline film controversially reworks "The Wrath of Khan," with Benedict Cumberbatch playing a whitewashed Khan. Divisive among fans and critics; commercially successful but marks the beginning of the Kelvin Timeline's creative difficulties. Budget: $190 million. Gross: $467 million.
• 2013 Wimbledon 2013 Men: Andy Murray · Women: Marion Bartoli Andy Murray became the first British men's champion since Fred Perry in 1936 — ending a 77-year wait.
• 2013 Frozen #2 film of 2013 — $1.27bn worldwide Disney animated film directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee. A fearless princess sets off on a journey to find her estranged sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped their kingdom.
• 2013 Nelson Mandela dies Father of the Rainbow Nation, age 95 Nelson Mandela died on December 5, 2013, aged 95, at his home in Johannesburg. The first democratically elected president of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize laureate was mourned worldwide.
• 2014 – present Life after coming out -- recovery and advocacy In the years after the 2014 coming-out, Thorpe speaks publicly about the relief of no longer carrying the concealment -- and about the ongoing work of recovery from depression and alcohol dependency. He moves back to Australia from the United States in 2015. He takes on the role of mentor to Australia's next generation of Olympic swimmers. He campaigns for marriage equality in Australia (legalised in December 2017, following a postal survey in which 61.6% of Australians vote yes). He has expressed interest in a possible future career in politics. The arc from the most scrutinised teenager in Australian sport to an open, advocacy-active adult is one of the more complete personal transformations in the history of Australian public life.
• 2014 Lighthouse -- the tribute single Following Simone Battle's death, G.R.L. release "Lighthouse" as a tribute to their lost bandmate. The single is accompanied by the group's public partnership with Give an Hour, a mental health charity, and marks a shift in their public identity: from a pure pop-dance act to a group visibly engaged with questions of mental health and loss. "Lighthouse" is received with widespread sympathy and is one of the most emotionally significant releases of their career.
• 2014 Phil Jackson hired as president Hall of Fame executive Phil Jackson takes over basketball operations, beginning a turbulent five-year tenure.
• 2014 The death of Simone Battle -- G.R.L. loses a member In September 2014 G.R.L. member Simone Battle is found dead in her West Hollywood home. Police rule it a suicide. She is 25. The loss is devastating for the group and for Bennett personally -- Battle is both a close colleague and a founding member whose presence has shaped the group's identity. In response, G.R.L. release the tribute single "Lighthouse" and partner with the mental health charity Give an Hour. The tragedy casts a shadow over the remainder of the group's active period.
• 2014 Ugly Heart -- the biggest UK hit G.R.L.'s "Ugly Heart" (2014) is the group's highest-charting UK single, reaching number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and achieving similar success across Europe and Australia. The track is included on the group's self-titled EP and represents their commercial peak as a recording act. Its guitar-driven pop sound is more distinctive than much of their earlier material. "Ugly Heart" remains the song most associated with G.R.L. beyond "Vacation."
• 2014 Wild Wild Love -- with Pitbull G.R.L. feature on Pitbull's "Wild Wild Love" (2014), extending their commercial reach into the Latin pop crossover market that Pitbull dominates in this period. The collaboration is consistent with the group's positioning as a broadly appealing international pop act rather than a niche dance or R&B project. Bennett and her G.R.L. bandmates are by this point performing regularly and building a fanbase in both North America and Europe.
• 2014 Australian Open 2014 Men: Stan Wawrinka · Women: Li Na Wawrinka upset Nadal. Li Na won her second Grand Slam.
• 2014 Ukraine revolution Yanukovych flees to Russia Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia on February 22, 2014, following weeks of violent protests in Kyiv's Maidan Square after he rejected an EU association agreement.
• 2014 Russia annexes Crimea First European territory seizure since WWII Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine following a contested referendum on March 16, 2014, the first annexation of European territory by force since World War II.
• 2014 Coming out -- the Parkinson interview, July 2014 On 13 July 2014, in a television interview with British talk-show host Michael Parkinson broadcast on Australia's Channel 10, Ian Thorpe publicly confirms for the first time that he is gay. He is 31 years old. The interview is one of the most watched television events in Australian sporting history. Thorpe explains the long denial: he was first asked about his sexuality by a journalist when he was a teenager, too young to know his own answer; he said he was straight to avoid teasing from classmates; the lie then became too large to correct without appearing to have lied about everything. "I felt the lie had become so big that I didn't want people to question my integrity," he says. "I'm comfortable saying I'm a gay man." He adds that he wishes he had come out sooner.
• 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel surprise hit — $774m worldwide Directed by James Gunn. A group of intergalactic criminals must pull together to stop a fanatical warrior from acquiring a dangerous power.
• 2015 G.R.L. disbands G.R.L. disbands in 2015, a year after Simone Battle's death. The combination of grief, the disruption to the group's momentum and the practical challenges of continuing as a four-piece in the aftermath of a tragedy brings the group's active phase to an end. For Bennett, it is the second group dissolution of her career. She is 25-26 and has spent nearly a decade as a member of other people's groups; the disbandment turns her attention toward her own solo music.
• 2015 – present Solo years -- Reality, Hurricane and continued work In the years after G.R.L.'s disbandment, Bennett continues making music independently, releasing solo singles including "Reality" and "Hurricane." She maintains connections with her former bandmates -- reuniting with G.R.L. members for various projects over the years -- and remains active as a performer and recording artist. The solo work does not achieve the commercial scale of "Party Rock Anthem" or G.R.L.'s peak years, but demonstrates her continued commitment to music on her own terms.
• 2015 Jurassic World #2 film of 2015 — $1.67bn worldwide Directed by Colin Trevorrow. Twenty-two years after the original Jurassic Park, a new dinosaur theme park is open — until a genetically modified dinosaur escapes.
• 2015 Same-sex marriage legalised in USA Supreme Court rules in Obergefell v. Hodges The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015 that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, legalising same-sex marriage across all 50 states.
• 2015 Spectre — Daniel Craig Spectre returns as the master organisation, now retconned as the villainous network behind every previous film. Christoph Waltz plays Blofeld. The film is visually spectacular but narratively cluttered, over-explaining mysteries that worked better as mysteries. It is the longest Bond film at 148 minutes. Budget: $245 million. Box office: $879.6 million.
• 2015 Paris attacks 130 killed at Bataclan and Stade de France ISIS militants launched coordinated attacks across Paris on November 13, 2015, killing 130 people at the Bataclan concert hall, restaurants and outside the Stade de France.
• 2015 Paris Climate Agreement 195 nations agree to limit warming The Paris Agreement was adopted at COP21 on December 12, 2015. Nearly 200 nations agreed to limit global temperature rise to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
• 2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens #1 film of 2015 — $2.07bn worldwide Directed by J.J. Abrams. Set 30 years after Return of the Jedi, a new threat rises as the Resistance battles the First Order.
• 2016 David Bowie dies Ziggy Stardust, age 69 David Bowie died on January 10, 2016, just two days after releasing his final album Blackstar on his 69th birthday. One of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.
• 2016 Gravitational waves detected Einstein's 1916 prediction confirmed Scientists at LIGO announced the first detection of gravitational waves on February 11, 2016, confirming Einstein's century-old prediction. The waves were produced by two merging black holes.
• 2016 AlphaGo defeats world Go champion AI masters the most complex board game Google DeepMind's AlphaGo defeated world Go champion Lee Sedol 4-1 in March 2016. Go has more possible positions than atoms in the universe, and the victory was considered a major milestone in artificial intelligence.
• 2016 Prince dies Purple Rain icon, age 57 Prince Rogers Nelson died on April 21, 2016, aged 57, from an accidental fentanyl overdose at his Paisley Park estate in Minnesota. He sold over 150 million records worldwide.
• 2016 French Open 2016 Men: Novak Djokovic · Women: Garbiñe Muguruza Djokovic finally won Roland Garros, completing the career Grand Slam and becoming the first man to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously since Rod Laver in 1969.
• 2016 Brexit vote UK votes to leave European Union The United Kingdom voted 51.9% to 48.1% to leave the European Union on June 23, 2016, triggering the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron and years of political turmoil.
• 2016 Star Trek Beyond The third Kelvin Timeline film, directed by Justin Lin, returns to the franchise's exploratory roots. Released in the franchise's 50th anniversary year. Idris Elba plays the villain Krall. Well received by critics but underperforms commercially. Budget: $185 million. Gross: $343 million. The Kelvin Timeline films stall after this entry.
• 2016 Donald Trump elected 45th US President shocks the world Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election on November 8, 2016, in one of the most surprising election results in modern history.
• 2016 Blue & Lonesome Twenty-third album — December 2, 2016 Blue & Lonesome was released on December 2, 2016, a pure electric blues covers album recorded in just three days. It won the Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album and reached number 1 in the UK.
• 2016 SpaceX lands reusable rocket Falcon 9 returns to launch pad SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket back at the launch site on December 21, 2015, proving the concept of reusable rockets and dramatically reducing the cost of access to space.
• 2017 Carmelo Anthony era ends The Knicks begin moving on from Carmelo Anthony amid front-office turmoil, eventually trading him in 2017.
• 2017 Australian Open 2017 Men: Roger Federer · Women: Serena Williams Federer won the Australian Open after a 5-year drought, defeating Nadal in five sets. Serena won while pregnant with her first child.
• 2017 Iditarod 2017 Winner: Mitch Seavey — 8 days 3h Mitch Seavey, at 57, won his third Iditarod title and became the oldest champion in race history.
• 2017 French Open 2017 Men: Rafael Nadal · Women: Jeļena Ostapenko Nadal's 10th Roland Garros title.
• 2017 Wimbledon 2017 Men: Roger Federer · Women: Garbiñe Muguruza Federer won his 8th Wimbledon without dropping a set — a stunning achievement at 35.
• 2017 Girl Cult Festival -- G.R.L. performs In August 2017 Bennett performs with G.R.L. at the Girl Cult Festival at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles -- one of the documented G.R.L. reunion performances in the years after their formal disbandment. The festival, focused on female artists and empowerment, is a natural fit for a group whose name stands for Girls Rock Life. Bennett is photographed performing onstage at the event, one of the last documented public performances of her career.
• 2017 Star Trek: Discovery — Season 1 The franchise returns to TV after a 12-year absence, now on the streaming service CBS All Access (later Paramount+). Set a decade before the original series, Discovery follows Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green). The show's dark tone, heavily serialised format and retconning of established canon prove deeply divisive — and deeply popular.
• 2018 Australian Open 2018 Men: Roger Federer · Women: Caroline Wozniacki Federer's 20th Grand Slam.
• 2018 Black Panther #2 film of 2018 — $1.35bn worldwide Directed by Ryan Coogler, starring Chadwick Boseman. T'Challa returns home to Wakanda to take the throne and faces a challenger who wants to start a global revolution.
• 2018 Avengers: Infinity War #1 film of 2018 — $2.05bn worldwide Directed by the Russo brothers. The Avengers and allies must stop Thanos before he collects all six Infinity Stones.
• 2018 US Open 2018 Men: Novak Djokovic · Women: Naomi Osaka Naomi Osaka won her first Grand Slam in a controversial final where Serena Williams received code violations.
• 2018 Apple first $1 trillion company Unprecedented market valuation Apple became the first US publicly traded company to reach a market capitalisation of $1 trillion on August 2, 2018.
• 2019 Eight-year playoff drought continues The Knicks miss the playoffs again, extending one of the league's longest postseason droughts into a new decade.
• 2019 Australian bushfires 18 million hectares burn The Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20 burned over 18 million hectares across Australia, destroying thousands of homes and killing an estimated 3 billion animals.
• 2019 Federer wins his 100th ATP title Dubai 2019 — only second man in history Roger Federer won his 100th career ATP title at the Dubai Championships in March 2019, becoming only the second man in history after Jimmy Connors to reach that milestone.
• 2019 First black hole image Event Horizon Telescope captures M87 The Event Horizon Telescope collaboration published the first ever image of a black hole on April 10, 2019 — the supermassive black hole at the centre of galaxy M87, 55 million light-years away.
• 2019 Notre-Dame fire Medieval cathedral nearly destroyed A devastating fire engulfed Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019, causing the collapse of the spire and most of the roof. The 850-year-old cathedral was saved by firefighters.
• 2019 Avengers: Endgame #1 film of 2019 — $2.80bn worldwide Directed by the Russo brothers. After Thanos wiped out half of all life, the Avengers must assemble one last time to undo his actions.
• 2019 – present Emperor Naruhito (Reiwa era) Reign 2019–present — the 126th emperor Naruhito became the 126th emperor on 1 May 2019, beginning the Reiwa era, after his father Akihito's abdication. Oxford-educated and a specialist in water policy, he is the first Japanese emperor born after World War II.
• 2019 Star Trek: Discovery — Season 2 Discovery's second season introduces Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike and Ethan Peck as Spock — a casting so successful it leads directly to the creation of Strange New Worlds. The season resolves the "Red Angel" mystery with a time-jump to the 32nd century, fundamentally changing the show's setting.
• 2019 Wimbledon 2019 — extraordinary final Men: Novak Djokovic · Women: Simona Halep Djokovic saved two championship points to beat Federer 7-6, 1-6, 7-6, 4-6, 13-12 in the longest Wimbledon final ever. Halep dominated Serena 6-2, 6-2.
• 2019 Google claims quantum supremacy Quantum computer solves problem in 200 seconds Google announced that its Sycamore quantum processor had achieved quantum supremacy on October 23, 2019, performing a specific calculation in 200 seconds that would take a classical supercomputer 10,000 years.