The Year is 1991
Top Films of 1991
| Rank | Title | Distributor | Worldwide gross |
| 1 | Terminator 2: Judgment Day | Sony / Carolco | $519,843,345 |
| 2 | Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves | Warner Bros. | $390,493,908 |
| 3 | Beauty and the Beast | Disney | $346,317,207 |
| 4 | Hook | Sony | $300,854,823 |
| 5 | The Silence of the Lambs | Orion | $272,742,922 |
| 6 | JFK | Warner Bros. | $205,405,498 |
| 7 | The Addams Family | Paramount / MGM | $191,502,426 |
| 8 | Cape Fear | Universal | $182,291,969 |
| 9 | Hot Shots! | Fox | $181,096,164 |
| 10 | City Slickers | Sony / Castle Rock | $179,033,791 |
Top Singles of 1991
Top Albums of 1991
| No. | Title | Artist |
| 1 | Stars | Simply Red |
| 2 | Greatest Hits | Eurythmics |
| 3 | Greatest Hits II | Queen |
| 4 | Simply the Best | Tina Turner |
| 5 | Dangerous | Michael Jackson |
The Year is 1991
January
- January 1 – The first anti-stalking law, passed in 1990, goes into effect in California
- January 7 – Eden Hazard, Belgian football player
February
- February 6 – Capcom releases Street Fighter II for arcades. It becomes highly successful and is routinely listed as the grandfather of the fighting game genre.
- February 17 – Ed Sheeran, English singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actor
March
- March 6 – Tyler, The Creator, American rapper
- March 15 – Germany formally regains complete independence after the four post-World War II occupying powers (France, the U.K., the U.S., and the U.S.S.R.) relinquish all remaining rights to the country
April
- April 4 – Jamie Lynn Spears, American singer and actress
- April 14 – In the Netherlands, thieves steal 20 paintings worth $500 million from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Less than an hour later they are found in an abandoned car near the museum
May
- May 6 – In the U.S., Time magazine publishes “The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power,” an article highly critical of the Scientology movement
June
- June 4 – The largest solar flare ever recorded triggers an anomalously large aurora as far south as Pennsylvania
- June 28 – Kevin De Bruyne, Belgian footballer
The Year is 1991 (no links)… July
- 17 July – The Ultimate steel roller coaster, Europe’s longest, opens at Lightwater Valley theme park in North Yorkshire.
- July 22 – U.S. boxer Mike Tyson is arrested and charged with the rape of Miss Black America contestant Desiree Washington three days earlier, in Indianapolis, Indiana.
August
- August 4 – The cruise liner MTS Oceanos sinks off the coast of South Africa, leading to the rescue of all 571 passengers on board by SAAF helicopters.
- 12 August – The Times reports that every job vacancy is being chased by 22 applicants. Unemployment has hit 2,400,000 – the highest level since the spring of 1988 – completing a 50% rise in just over a year. However, the rate of rising unemployment is slowing down and retail sales are improving.
- Michael Schumacher, regarded as one of the greatest Formula One drivers in history, makes his Formula One debut at the Belgian Grand Prix.
September
- September 19 – Ötzi the Iceman is found in the Alps. Ötzi, also called the Iceman, is the natural mummy of a man who lived between 3400 and 3100 BCE. The mummy was found in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps (hence the nickname “Ötzi”) on the border between Austria and Italy.
- Ötzi is believed to have been murdered; an arrowhead has been found in his left shoulder, which would have caused a fatal wound. The nature of his life and the circumstances of his death are the subject of much investigation and speculation.
- Gordon Roddick and A. John Bird launch The Big Issue, a then-monthly magazine to be sold by homeless people in response to growing number of rough sleepers on the streets of London
- September 24th – The so-called “best day in music history” occurs when Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Soundgarden release their breakout albums Nevermind, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, and Badmotorfinger respectively
October
- 19 October – Canadian singer Bryan Adams makes history when his hit single (Everything I Do) I Do It for You, which features in the film Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves (released on 14 June this year, and starring Kevin Costner) enters its fifteenth successive week at #1 in the UK singles charts. It was eventually beaten after 16 weeks by U2 – The Fly
- October 31 – November 3 – The Halloween blizzard hits the U.S. Upper Midwest, killing 22 people and causing US$100 million in damage.
November
- 23 November – Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of rock band Queen, announces that he is suffering from AIDS, following lengthy media speculation about his health.
- 24 November – Freddie Mercury dies at his home in London, just 24 hours after going public with the news that he was suffering from AIDS.
December
- December 1 – Thousands of British shops, including retail giants Asda and Tesco, defy trading laws, and open their doors on a Sunday in a bid to boost trade that has been badly hit by the ongoing recession.
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