Three stories per year, ranked 1 through 3 by how much they dominated US headlines. Color marks category. Rankings are my judgment calls, and some years could go several ways. 2025 and 2026 are provisional.
War & Cold War
Politics & Elections
Disaster & Tragedy
Civil Rights & Society
Science & Space
Economy
Culture
1925
1Scopes "Monkey Trial" over teaching evolution
2Tri-State Tornado kills 695
3The Great Gatsby published; Jazz Age peaks
1926
1Death of Rudolph Valentino triggers national frenzy
2NBC founded, first national radio network
3Miami hurricane ends the Florida land boom
1927
1Lindbergh flies solo across the Atlantic
2Great Mississippi Flood displaces 600,000
3The Jazz Singer brings sound to film
1928
1Hoover wins landslide presidential election
2Amelia Earhart crosses the Atlantic
3St. Francis Dam collapse kills 400+
1929
1Wall Street Crash starts the Great Depression
2St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago
3Hoover inaugurated
1930
1Smoot-Hawley Tariff deepens the crisis
2Bank failures accelerate nationwide
3Drought begins across the Plains
1931
1Depression worsens; unemployment soars
2Al Capone convicted of tax evasion
3Empire State Building opens
1932
1Lindbergh baby kidnapping
2FDR defeats Hoover in a landslide
3Bonus Army marchers routed in DC
1933
1FDR inaugurated, launches the New Deal
2Prohibition repealed
3Bank holiday halts the banking collapse
1934
1Dust Bowl storms devastate the Plains
2Dillinger killed; public enemy era peaks
3Longshoremen's strike shuts the West Coast
1935
1Social Security Act signed
2Huey Long assassinated
3"Black Sunday" dust storm
1936
1FDR reelected in historic landslide
2Jesse Owens wins 4 golds in Berlin
3Hoover Dam completed
1937
1Hindenburg disaster at Lakehurst, NJ
2Amelia Earhart vanishes over the Pacific
3"Roosevelt Recession" hits
1938
1"War of the Worlds" broadcast panic
2Munich crisis; war fears grow
3New England hurricane kills 600+
1939
1WWII begins in Europe; US declares neutrality
2New York World's Fair opens
3Gone with the Wind and Oz hit theaters
1940
1FDR wins unprecedented third term
2First peacetime draft in US history
3Battle of Britain; US aid debate
1941
1Pearl Harbor attack; US enters WWII
2Lend-Lease Act passes
3DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak
1942
1Battle of Midway turns the Pacific war
2Japanese American internment ordered
3Manhattan Project begins in secret
1943
1Allied invasion of Italy
2Detroit race riot kills 34
3Home-front rationing peaks
1944
1D-Day invasion of Normandy
2FDR wins fourth term
3GI Bill signed
1945
1Atomic bombs; WWII ends
2FDR dies; Truman takes over
3United Nations founded in San Francisco
1946
1Postwar strike wave sweeps the country
2Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech in Missouri
3Baby boom and housing crunch begin
1947
1Jackie Robinson breaks the color line
2Truman Doctrine launches containment
3Marshall Plan proposed
1948
1Truman upsets Dewey ("Dewey Defeats Truman")
2Berlin Airlift begins
3Truman desegregates the military
1949
1Soviets test the A-bomb
2NATO founded
3China falls to the Communists
1950
1Korean War begins
2McCarthy launches Red Scare accusations
3Truman orders H-bomb development
1951
1Truman fires General MacArthur
2Korean War stalemates
322nd Amendment limits presidents to two terms
1952
1Eisenhower elected
2First H-bomb test at Eniwetok
3Nixon's "Checkers" speech
1953
1Korean armistice signed
2Rosenbergs executed for espionage
3Stalin dies; Cold War shifts
1954
1Brown v. Board ends school segregation
2Army-McCarthy hearings end McCarthyism
3First nuclear submarine Nautilus launched
1955
1Montgomery Bus Boycott begins
2Emmett Till murder shocks the nation
3Polio vaccine declared safe and effective
1956
1Interstate Highway Act signed
2Suez and Hungary crises
3Eisenhower reelected
1957
1Little Rock Nine integrate Central High
2Sputnik shocks America
3Civil Rights Act of 1957 passes
1958
1NASA created in response to Sputnik
2Explorer 1, first US satellite
3Sharp recession hits
1959
1Alaska and Hawaii become states
2Castro takes power in Cuba
3Khrushchev tours the US
1960
1Kennedy defeats Nixon; first TV debates
2U-2 spy plane shot down over the USSR
3Greensboro sit-ins spread
1961
1Bay of Pigs invasion fails
2Alan Shepard, first American in space
3Berlin Wall goes up
1962
1Cuban Missile Crisis
2John Glenn orbits the Earth
3Ole Miss riot over James Meredith
1963
1JFK assassinated in Dallas
2March on Washington; "I Have a Dream"
3Birmingham campaign and church bombing
1964
1Civil Rights Act signed
2Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
3LBJ wins landslide over Goldwater
1965
1Voting Rights Act; Selma marches
2Vietnam escalation; first combat troops
3Watts riots in Los Angeles
1966
1Vietnam War protests grow nationwide
2Miranda v. Arizona decided
3Medicare goes into effect
1967
1"Long hot summer" riots; Detroit burns
2Vietnam troop levels near 500,000
3Thurgood Marshall joins the Supreme Court
1968
1MLK and RFK assassinated
2Tet Offensive shifts opinion on Vietnam
3Chaos at the Chicago convention; Nixon wins
1969
1Apollo 11 moon landing
2Woodstock festival
3Vietnam Moratorium, largest protests yet
1970
1Kent State shootings
2Cambodia invasion widens the war
3First Earth Day; EPA created
1971
1Pentagon Papers published
2Nixon ends the gold standard
326th Amendment lowers voting age to 18
1972
1Watergate break-in
2Nixon visits China
3Nixon reelected in a landslide
1973
1Watergate hearings grip the nation
2Roe v. Wade decided
3OPEC oil embargo; gas lines
1974
1Nixon resigns over Watergate
2Ford pardons Nixon
3Inflation and recession deepen
1975
1Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War
2NYC nears bankruptcy
3Two assassination attempts on Ford
1976
1Carter defeats Ford
2Bicentennial celebrations
3Viking landers reach Mars
1977
1NYC blackout and looting
2Elvis Presley dies
3Carter pardons draft evaders
1978
1Camp David Accords brokered by Carter
2Jonestown massacre kills 900+
3Prop 13 tax revolt in California
1979
1Iran hostage crisis begins
2Three Mile Island nuclear accident
3Second oil shock; gas lines return
1980
1Reagan elected
2Failed hostage rescue in Iran
3John Lennon shot in New York
1981
1Reagan shot; recovers
2Iran hostages freed on Inauguration Day
3AIDS first reported by the CDC
1982
1Recession peaks; unemployment tops 10%
2Tylenol poisonings
3Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedicated
1983
1Beirut barracks bombing kills 241 Marines
2Grenada invasion
3"Star Wars" missile defense announced
1984
1Reagan reelected in a 49-state landslide
2LA Olympics amid Soviet boycott
3Geraldine Ferraro, first woman on a major ticket
1985
1Reagan-Gorbachev summit begins the thaw
2TWA 847 hijacking
3Live Aid and "We Are the World"
1986
1Challenger explosion
2Iran-Contra scandal breaks
3Chernobyl fallout fears reach the US
1987
1Black Monday stock market crash
2Iran-Contra hearings; Oliver North testifies
3"Tear down this wall" speech in Berlin
1988
1Bush defeats Dukakis
2Lockerbie bombing kills 189 Americans
3Yellowstone fires burn all summer
1989
1Berlin Wall falls; Cold War thaws
2Exxon Valdez oil spill
3Loma Prieta quake hits the World Series
1990
1Iraq invades Kuwait; Desert Shield
2Recession begins
3Hubble Space Telescope launched
1991
1Gulf War; Kuwait liberated
2Soviet Union collapses
3Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings
1992
1LA riots after the Rodney King verdict
2Clinton defeats Bush and Perot
3Hurricane Andrew devastates Florida
1993
1World Trade Center bombing
2Waco siege ends in fire
3Mississippi flood; NAFTA signed
1994
1OJ Simpson chase and arrest
2GOP takes Congress; "Contract with America"
3Northridge earthquake hits LA
1995
1Oklahoma City bombing kills 168
2OJ Simpson acquitted
3Government shutdown begins
1996
1Clinton reelected
2TWA Flight 800 explodes off Long Island
3Atlanta Olympics bombing
1997
1Princess Diana's death dominates US media
2Heaven's Gate mass suicide
3Pathfinder lands on Mars
1998
1Clinton impeached over the Lewinsky scandal
2Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania
3Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run chase
1999
1Columbine school shooting
2Clinton acquitted by the Senate
3Y2K fears build; dot-com mania peaks
2000
1Bush v. Gore disputed election
2Elian Gonzalez custody saga
3Dot-com bubble starts to burst
2001
1September 11 attacks
2Anthrax letters follow 9/11
3US invades Afghanistan
2002
1DC sniper attacks
2Iraq war buildup; Congress authorizes force
3Enron and WorldCom collapse
2003
1US invades Iraq; Saddam captured
2Columbia shuttle disaster
3Northeast blackout hits 50 million
2004
1Bush reelected over Kerry
2Abu Ghraib scandal
3Indian Ocean tsunami; US relief effort
2005
1Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans
2Iraq insurgency worsens
3Roberts and Alito reshape the Court
2006
1Democrats retake Congress
2Iraq war sours; Rumsfeld out
3Housing market peaks and turns
2007
1Virginia Tech shooting kills 32
2Subprime crisis begins
3Iraq surge announced; iPhone launches
2008
1Financial crash; Lehman fails
2Obama elected first Black president
3$700B bailout passes
2009
1Great Recession; stimulus and bailouts
2Obama inaugurated
3"Miracle on the Hudson" landing
2010
1BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill
2Obamacare signed
3Tea Party wave takes the House
2011
1Bin Laden killed by Navy SEALs
2Gabby Giffords shot in Tucson
3Occupy Wall Street; debt ceiling standoff
2012
1Sandy Hook shooting kills 26
2Hurricane Sandy hits the Northeast
3Obama reelected
2013
1Boston Marathon bombing
2Snowden leaks NSA surveillance
3Government shutdown; Obamacare rollout fails
2014
1Ferguson protests after Michael Brown shooting
2Ebola cases reach the US
3ISIS beheads Americans; airstrikes begin
2015
1Same-sex marriage legalized nationwide
2Charleston church shooting
3Trump enters the presidential race
2016
1Trump wins the presidential election
2Pulse nightclub shooting kills 49
3Russian election interference revealed
2017
1Charlottesville rally turns deadly
2#MeToo movement erupts
3Las Vegas shooting kills 60; hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria
2018
1Parkland shooting sparks youth movement
2Kavanaugh confirmation hearings
3Mueller probe intensifies; midterm blue wave
2019
1Trump impeached (first time)
2El Paso and Dayton shootings
3Mueller report released
2020
1COVID-19 pandemic shuts down the country
2George Floyd protests nationwide
3Biden defeats Trump; Trump contests result
2021
1January 6 Capitol attack
2COVID vaccines roll out; Delta surge
3Afghanistan withdrawal and Kabul collapse
2022
1Roe v. Wade overturned
2Russia invades Ukraine; US leads response
3Uvalde school shooting; inflation hits 9%
2023
1Trump indicted four times
2October 7 attack; Israel-Hamas war
3Silicon Valley Bank collapse; Maui wildfires
2024
1Trump survives assassination attempt, wins election
2Biden drops out; Harris takes over
3Hurricanes Helene and Milton
2025
1Trump's second term: tariffs, deportations, federal overhaul
2Charlie Kirk assassinated; wave of political violence
3Longest government shutdown in history; LA wildfires
2026
1Iran war: US-Israel strikes kill Khamenei; Hormuz blockade
2US attacks Venezuela, captures Maduro
3US co-hosts the World Cup
Sourcing: events drawn from standard historical records. Rankings within each year are editorial calls, not from any published index. 2025 and 2026 entries checked against year-in-review coverage from CBS, NBC, ABC, and Britannica in August 2026. Hover a year's top story (1925-1963) to see a front page from that day, via the Library of Congress Chronicling America archive. Later years are still under copyright, so no images there yet.