Year 2019 Fun Facts, Trivia, and History

This quick read is a mix of fun facts, trivia, and history events from the year 2019. Discover the year’s top news stories, sports facts, Pulitzer Prize winners, popular baby names, Internet trivia, grocery prices, and much more.

Here is a sneak preview of what this article is about:

1. 2019 in the United States
2. A Snapshot of the Year’s Top History Events
3. Sports Facts
4. Entertainment Trivia
5. Miscellaneous Fun Facts, Trivia, and Historic Events

1. 2019 in the United States:

1. President of the United States: Donald Trump (R-New York, then R-Florida)
2. Vice President: Mike Pence (R-Indiana)
3. Senate Majority Leader: Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky)
4. Speaker of the House of Representatives: Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) - Until January 3
5. Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nancy Pelosi (D-California) - Starting January 3
6. The 115th U.S. Congress was in session until January 3. On that date, the 116th U.S. Congress convened. The Senate majority was Republican, and the House majority was Democratic.
7. United States population: Approximately 328.2 million
8. Violent crime rate (per 100,000): An estimated 366.7 to 379.4
9. Property crime rate (per 100,000): 2,109.9
10. Consumer Price Index (CPI): 255.658
11. U.S. unemployment rate: 3.7%
12. Total gross national debt: $22.7 trillion

2. A Snapshot of the Year’s Top History Events:

1. On January 7, Amazon surpassed Microsoft as the world’s largest publicly traded company, reaching a market value of about $797 billion, compared with Microsoft’s $783 billion.
2. On January 25, a 35-day U.S. government shutdown ended when President Trump agreed to “a three-week funding measure” to reopen federal agencies “while a House-Senate conference committee negotiated border security.”
3. On February 11, NASA data revealed that planet Earth became 5% greener between 2000 and 2017, primarily due to China’s tree-planting program and India’s “food crop cultivation.”
4. March 15: In Christchurch, New Zealand, a gunman opened fire at two different mosques during Friday prayer services, killing 51 and wounding 40 others. The tragedy shook the nation, which had previously seen itself as “insulated” from the threats of gun violence and far-right extremism.
5. On April 26, findings from the General Social Survey (GSS) revealed that 23.1% of Americans admitted to having no religious affiliation.
6. On May 2, Facebook banned religious leader Louis Farrakhan, radio host Alex Jones, and right-wing personalities Laura Loomer, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson, and Paul Nehlen for engaging in hate speech while on the site.
7. According to data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, June 2019 was the warmest June on record.
8. On July 4, the thermometer reached 90°F in Anchorage, Alaska, breaking the previous all-time high of 85°F, set on June 14, 1969.
9. On July 21, Edgar Martinez, Harold Baines, Lee Smith, Mariano Rivera, Mike Mussina, and Roy Halladay were all inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
10. August 10: In New York City, financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead of an apparent suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges.
11. On November 17, the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, China, recorded the world’s first case of COVID-19. According to TheGuardian.com, “The Chinese government was widely criticized over attempts to cover up the [COVID] outbreak in the early weeks, including crackdowns on doctors who tried to warn colleagues about a new SARS-like virus that was emerging in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province.”
12. On December 18, after weeks of discussion, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump. History.com reports that the vote fell largely along party lines, with 230 in favor, 197 against, and one member voting present. “Trump became only the third president ever to be impeached, joining Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, after concerns about his alleged attempts to seek foreign interference in the 2020 election.”

3. Sports Facts:

1. Boston Marathon: Lawrence Cherono & Worknesh Degefa
2. Kentucky Derby: Country House
3. NBA champions: Toronto Raptors
4. NCAA basketball champs: Virginia Cavaliers
5. Rose Bowl: Ohio State
6. Stanley Cup: St. Louis Blues
7. Super Bowl: New England Patriots
8. Tour de France: Egan Bernal
9. US Open (golf): Gary Woodland
10. US Open (tennis): Rafael Nadal & Bianca Andreescu
11. Wimbledon: Novak Djokovic & Simona Halep
12. World Series: Washington Nationals

4. Entertainment Trivia:

1. Notable books: Normal People by Sally Rooney, Becoming by Michelle Obama, Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe, The Testaments (The Handmaiden’s Tale, #2) by Margaret Atwood, and The Dutch House by Ann Pachett
2. Top songs: Old Town Road (Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus), Sunflower (Post Malone and Swae Lee), and Without Me (Halsey)
3. Most-watched TV show: Sunday Night Football
4. Highest-grossing films: Avengers: Endgame, The Lion King, Toy Store 4, Frozen II, and Captain Marvel
5. Most popular websites: Google, YouTube, Facebook, Baidu (Chinese search engine), Wikipedia, Yahoo!, Twitter (aka X), Instagram, Yandex (Russian search engine), and Amazon.

5. Miscellaneous Fun Facts, Trivia, and Historic Events:

1. On May 4, Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner and pop singer Joe Jonas were married by an Elvis Presley impersonator in Las Vegas.
2. On June 8, actor Chris Pratt and author Katherine Schwarzenegger were married in Montecito, California. (Just so you know, Katherine Schwarzenegger is the daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the 38th governor of California.)
3. On June 11, New York City’s iconic Four Seasons Restaurant, which opened in 1959, served its last power lunch. CBS News tells us that the original Four Seasons “lost its home in the Seagram Building when developer Aby Rosen took over the landmark skyscraper in 2016. It reopened in August 2018 in a new location three blocks away.” However, the restaurant struggled financially at the new site, resulting in its closure.
4. On June 11, the New York Times reported that an estimated 500,000 song titles, including ones belonging to Chuck Berry, Louis Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald, were lost in a 2008 warehouse fire in Los Angeles.
5. On September 29, thieves stole an estimated 50,000 Golden Delicious apples—worth an estimated $27,000—from the Williams Orchard in LaPorte, Indiana.
6. On October 31, New York City Council passed legislation that would ban the sale of foie gras beginning in 2022. At the time, an estimated 1,000 restaurants in New York City had the delicacy on their menus.
7. On December 11, Time magazine selected 16-year-old Greta Thunberg of Sweden as its “Person of the Year.” Thunberg, a climate activist, was the youngest person to ever receive the honor.
8. In 2019, the words “cottagecore,” “meme stock,” “pancake plant,” “pog,” “review bombing,” and “skiplagging” all appeared in print for the first time.
9. The average life expectancy at birth in the U.S. was 81.4 years for women and 76.3 years for men.
10. Famous deaths during 2019 included Carol Channing (stage actress), Diahann Carroll (TV actress), Doris Day (movie actress), Frank Robinson (MLB player), John Witherspoon (TV actor), Karl Lagerfeld (fashion designer), Luke Perry (TV actor), and Peter Fonda (movie actor).
11. Popular baby names for the year were Liam, Jackson, Noah, Aiden, Grayson, Sophia, Olivia, Emma, Ava, and Aria.
12. Miss America: Nia Franklin (New York)

References:

1. https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/2019?amount=1
2. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/2018
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_in_the_United_States
4. https://www.mclib.info/Research/Morris-County-Library-Reference-Guides/Historic-Prices/Historic-Prices-2010s/Historic-Prices-2019
5. https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/popular-2000s-recipes/
6. https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/141972.New_York_Times_100_Notable_Books_of_2019
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_2019
8. https://www.pulitzer.org/news/announcement-2019-pulitzer-prize-winners
9. https://www.computerhope.com/history/2019.htm
10. https://www.history.com/a-year-in-history/2019
11. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-timeline-2015.html
12. https://www.onthisday.com/date/2019
13. https://www.weeklyads2.com/kroger/kroger-weekly-ad-dec-4-2019/#google_vignette
14. https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2019
15. https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/2019-emmys-winners-list-1203341089/

Disclaimer: In writing and editing this article, Gregory DeVictor has made every effort to ensure historical accuracy and not to mislead his audience. In addition, the contents of this article, including text, graphics, and captions, are for general informational purposes only.

© 2026 Gregory DeVictor