We couldn't celebrate el año nuevo without delivering our favorite headlines of the year past!
9. Octomom- Nadya Suleman gave birth to octuplets in January of 2009. She already had 6 hijos bringing the grand total to 14. Reality shows should be in the works...but we're pretty sure the Jon and Kate Plus Eight drama ruined it for the money making mami!
8. TIE: Swine Flu/ Jobs?- The world went crazy when H1N1 emerged in April of 2009. The outbreak began in Mexico, and quickly spread. In recent months the vaccine has become available. Still...this was a rather unpleasant story of the year.
Tales of the Recession!- The economy sucked this year. Recent college graduates couldn't get jobs, experienced professionals lost their jobs and couldn't find jobs..
Lets just say admitting you were jobless wasn't as bad as admitting you had swine flu.
7. Chrihannagate-Chris Brown and Rihanna were once the next Beyonce and Jay-Z, but a February altercation changed all that. After leaving a party in Los Angeles, Brown reportedly received a text message from another woman and refused to let Rihanna see his phone. An argument ensued, followed by Brown assaulting Rihanna. A TMZ photo was leaked of the extensive damage Brown did to Rihanna's face and Brown later pleaded guilty to felony assault and was sentenced to five years probation and six months of community service. However, we like to remember them in happier times...
6. Balloon Boy- This was perhaps one of the funniest stories of 2009. On October 15, 5 year old Falcon Henee took off on an air adventure in a silver balloon his meteorologist father had designed for work. Or so we thought...after every air authority followed the balloon for up to 2 hours, it finally landed and young Falcon (the name is perfectly ironic) wasn't inside. Instead he was hiding in his attic. The following day the Henee family was on every morning show, leading the public to believe this was a publicity stunt. It was in fact a hoax and on December 23, Falcon's dad, Richard Heene, was sentenced to 90 days jail and mom, Mayumi Heene, to 20 days weekend jail.
5. Twitter- The social networking site was founded in 2006, but reached popularity in 2009. The 140 character messages are quick and make everyone feel like their very own self important celebrity..including MTV Tr3s! Feel free to follow us here @mtv3. The site became much more than a quick version of Facebook's status updates though; it's now a go to for quick links to news stories and recaps for pop culture's biggest events. When news of Balloon Boy emerged, the funniest updates included tweets like "Falcon, Imma let you finish, but Up was the greatest runaway balloon story of all time."
4. Kanye West vs. Taylor Swift- How could we forget Kanye West stealing Taylor Swift's moment during the 2009 VMAs. Ye believed Beyonce deserved the coveted MTV Moon Man for Best Female Video, and hopped up on stage during Swift's acceptance speech to proclaim that 'Single Ladies' was one of the best videos of all time. Kanye later apologized twice to Taylor, and also managed to coin the phrase "Imma let you finish."
3. Michael Jackson's Death- The King of Pop died on June 25th after suffering from cardiac arrest. He reportedly had been administered drugs such as propofol and lorazepam, and his death was ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles County coroner. His death triggered an outpouring of grief from around the world with a globally live broadcast of his memorial service from Los Angeles' Staples Center that attracted an audience of up to one billion people. Director Spike Lee recently made a video for Jackson's last song, 'This Is It', which was also the name of his 2009 tour.
Michael Jackson - This Is It - Directed by Spike Lee from 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks on Vimeo.
2. President Barack Obama- This may feel like a 2008 story, but the official inauguration for President Barack Obama took place on January 20th. The first African American President is still highly favored and appointed our number one story of the year....
1. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor- The Bronx-born Latina is the first Hispanic to sit on the Supreme Court, the third female justice in U.S. history and the second-youngest member of the court. Making her NUMBER ONE on our list!
Feliz y prospero año nuevo! And remember to stay tuned to MTV Tr3s in January to catch nuestros especiales on Lo Mejor De Los 00's, y mientras tanto...
Photos via Getty and Google Images
