By @Wenguss

2012 was supposed to be the end of the world as we know it, but to everyone’s surprise, we’re still here. (Or are we?) Nothing has felt the same since 2012 honestly, so let’s take a look at why:

January

• Lionel Messi wins the Ballon D’Or for a record third consecutive year
• Rick Ross releases Rich Forever, one of the most downloaded mixtapes in history
• LeBron James becomes the youngest player in NBA history to have 20,000 career points (28 years, 17 days)
• The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) blackout becomes the biggest protest in the history of the Internet. The FBI shuts down Megaupload.com and hacker group Anonymous responds by attacking government and entertainment industry websites
• European Union embargoes Iranian oil in protest against Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program
• Novak Djokovic beats Rafa Nadal in the 100th Australian Open – the longest Grand Slam singles final in the Open Era (5 hours, 53 mins)
• Snowboarder Shaun White gets the first-ever SuperPipe perfect score (100) in Winter X Games history.

February

• New York Giants beat the New England Patriots 21-17 in Super Bowl XLVI
• Queen Elizabeth II celebrates 60 years since she took the crown, becoming only the second person to do so
• Emeli Sandé releases her debut album, Our Version of Events. Rap duo Chiddy Bang also release their debut, titled Breakfast. And we all get a new favorite pop rock band. Their name? fun.
• Zambia win their first African Cup of Nations! (This itself should have been an indicator of the end times, we beat Ghana AND Ivory Coast on our way there)
• “The Artist” wins five Oscars at the Academy Awards, and becomes the first silent film to win since 1927
• The world’s largest prehistoric penguin is discovered, at nearly 5 ft tall

March

• New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton is uspended by the NFL when it is discovered that players were given incentives to injure opposition
• Vladimir Putin wins Russian Presidential election
• “The Hunger Games” premieres in LA
• Encyclopedia Britannica announces it will no longer publish written copies of its encyclopedia
• Indian cricket player Sachin Tendulkar becomes the first cricketer to score 100 international centuries
• George Clooney, Martin Luther King III, and other prominent figures are arrested outside the Sudanese Embassy for civil disobedience
• Bolton Wanderers footballer Fabrice Muamba suffers a cardiac arrest during a match against Tottenham Hotspur. Despite his heart stopping for an apparent 78 minutes, he recovers.
• Wendy’s overtakes Burger King to become the second-largest burger chain after McDonald’s
• Disney movie John Carter becomes one of the biggest busts in history, has a $200 million write down
• Greek parliament agrees to international bailout deal
• Manchester City set Premier League record of 20 consecutive home wins, beating Chelsea 2-1
• Australia’s most wanted man, Malcolm Naden is caught after 7 years on the run
• The African Union suspends Mali’s membership after a coup. They also send out an envoy looking to catch or kill warlord Joseph Kony
• Filmmaker James Cameron becomes the first person to visit Challenger Deep – the deepest point on Earth – in over 50 years
• Mastercard & Visa announce massive security breach, over 10 million credit cards compromised

April

• Barack Obama officially secures Democratic presidential nomination
• Lion King becomes highest=grossing Broadway show, surpassing Phantom of the Opera
• Apple is valued at $600 billion – making it the largest company by market cap in the world at the time
• Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is diagnosed with prostate cancer
• Nicki Minaj releases “Roman Reloaded”. Future also drops his debut album, Pluto.
• The first Avengers movie premieres in LA. The beginning of an era.
• The Beastie Boys are inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
• Tupac comes back to life with a holographic performance at Coachella
• 8th century St. Cuthbert Gospel, Europe’s oldest intact book, is bought by the British Library for £9 million
• The unfinished One World Trade Center overtakes the Empire State Building as the tallest building in New York

May

• Guggenheim Partners make the largest-ever sports franchise purchse, buying the LA Dodgers for $2.1 billion
• Lionel Messi breaks the European goalscoring record, with 68 goals
• Japan shuts down its nuclear reactors, leaving the country without nuclear power for the first time since 1970
• Francois Hollande elected as 24th President of France
• Discovery of a missing Mayan calendar disproves 2012 as the year in which the world ends. Perfect timing, isn’t it?
• Manchester City win the Premier League for the first time in dramatic fashion, with “AGUEROOOOOOO” stealing the show in the last minute. This was also the first time the Premier League title was decided on goal difference. Chelsea also do the impossible beating Bayern Munich 4-3 on penalties to win their first-ever Champions League title
• A SpaceX Dragon becomes the first commercial spacecraft to dock at the International Space Station
• Police in Indonesia pull one of the biggest drug busts of the decade, seizing over a million ecstasy pills valued at $45 million
• Egypt officially ends its 31-year (yes, 31) State of Emergency

June

• Puerto Rico votes to become a US state
• WHO concludes that diesel exhaust can cause cancer
• Andrew Garfield is Spider-Man for the first time as “The Amazing Spider-Man” premieres at the Tokyo Film Festival
• Apple I computer, one of Apple’s first products, sells for a record $374,500
• Coca-Cola begins business in Myanmar after 6 decades
• Justin Bieber releases Believe. Chris Brown also releases Fortune.
• Miami Heat claim yet another NBA Championship after beating OKC 4-1
• First female athletes from Saudi Arabia are cleared to compete at the London Olympics

July

• Spain bash Italy 4-0 to remain European champions
• GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) settles the largest healthcare fraud case in history ($3 billion)
• Rangers are voted into the third division of Scottish football, following their financial troubles
• “The Dark Night Rises” premieres in LA
• Kim Jong-Un officially appointed Supreme Leader of North Korea.
• Hashim Amla scores 311 runs for South Africa vs. England; first South African to score a triple-century in Test cricket
• Four barrels containing 248 human fetuses are discovered in Russia. Creepy.
• Flo Rida releases his Wild Ones album. Frank Ocean announces himself to the world with Channel Orange. Also, remember Psy? Mr. Gangnam Style? This song dropped this month. Game-changer. Can’t forget that Rick Ross also dropped God Forgives, I Don’t.
• The 2012 Summer Olympics begin. Michael Phelps becomes greatest Olympian of all-time, increasing his Olympic medal total to 19, 15 of which are Gold.
• General Motors (Chevrolet) sign record-breaking 7-year $560 million sponsorship deal with Manchester United

August

• Oscar Pistorius becomes first double-leg amputee to compete at the Olympics. Usain Bolt becomes the first man to win 100/200m double in back-to-back Olympic
• South African Police open fire on striking mine workers; killing at least 34
• Russia and Vanuatu become members of the World Trade Organization
• Samsung is found guilty of a patent infringement and pays $1 billion in damages to Apple. Remember the rumor that they sent the money in nickels?
• Voyager 1 becomes the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space. It was launched in 1977
• 15 year-old Lydia Ko of New Zealand becomes the youngest LPGA Tour event winner
• Macklemore releases “Thrift Shop”. It goes VIRAL. You know how that story goes. 2 Chainz and Rita Ora enter the game with Based on a T.R.U. Story and Ora respectively. While they arrive, Slaughterhouse leave – the rap group drop their second and final album, Welcome to Our House.
• Mitt Romney confirmed as Republican Party’s Presidential candidate
• USADA strips Lance Armstrong of his 7 Tour de France titles

September

• US Embassy in Libya is mobbed and burned down, killing 5 people, including American ambassador
• Iran blocks Google
• Imagine Dragons release their debut album, Night Visions. G.O.O.D. Music bless us with Cruel Summer, and Michael Jackson’s Bad turns 25 years old

October

• Michael Schumacher announces he will retire from F1 racing at the end of the season
• Kendrick Lamar releases Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City. Game-changer. Meek Mill also schools us on how to have an intro to an album when he releases his debut, Dreams and Nightmares.
• The European Union wins the Nobel Peace Prize, sparking a lot of conversation
• Skyfall, the 23rd James Bond film, premieres in London
• Publishers Penguin and Random House merge, forming the world’s largest publishing house.
• Walt Disney buys Lucasfilm Ltd for just over $4 billion. This gives them the rights to iconic franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

November

• Little Mix drop their debut album, DNA.
• Gmail becomes the world’s most popular email service
• Barack Obama is re-elected, defeating Republican candidate Mitt Romney
• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, is released
• Call of Duty Black Ops 2 drops and grosses $500 million on first day, the biggest entertainment launch of all time

December

• The Game releases his Jesus Piece album.
• Johnny Manziel becomes the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy
• Stephen Hawking wins the most lucrative prize in academics, the $3 million Fundamental Physics Prize
• Corinthians beat Chelsea 1-0 to win the Club World Cup
• Gangnam Style becomes the first YouTube video to amass 1 billion views

And then BOOM! The world ended.

But before that, these were the top 10 songs on Billboard at the end of the year:

1. Somebody That I Used to Know – Gotye feat. Kimbra
2. Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jensen
3. We Are Young – Fun. feat. Janelle Monae
4. Payphone – Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa
5. Lights – Ellie Goulding
6. Glad You Came – The Wanted
7. Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) – Kelly Clarkson
8. We Found Love – Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris
9. Starships – Nicki Minaj
10. What Makes You Beautiful – One Direction

You can listen to our updated Spotify playlist by clicking this link.