In 1991, "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" topped the charts, Terminator 2: Judgment Day packed theaters, a stamp cost 29¢, the average home went for about $120,000.
🎵 Top songs of 1991
"(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" — Bryan Adams
"Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" — C+C Music Factory
"Rush Rush" — Paula Abdul
🎬 In theaters
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Beauty and the Beast
What things cost in 1991
$1.14
Gallon of gas
29¢
Postage stamp
$4.21
Movie ticket
$2.75
Gallon of milk
$120,000
Average home
$15,473
New car
$30,130
Household income
A $1.14 gallon of gas in 1991 has the buying power of roughly $2.60 in 2024 dollars. A 29¢ stamp is around 67¢ today, and a $4.21 movie ticket is about $9.70.
The biggest moments of 1991
Operation Desert Storm ended in February 1991, and Americans welcomed troops home with yellow ribbons and parades.
The Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991, officially ending the Cold War era.
Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hit the airwaves and grunge fashion in flannel shirts spread from Seattle to everywhere.
Michael Jordan and the Bulls won their first NBA championship in June 1991, beating Magic Johnson's Lakers in five games.
Eight crew members were sealed inside Biosphere 2, a giant glass world in the Arizona desert, for a planned two-year stay that fascinated the world.
The world's first website quietly went live in August 1991 from a physics lab in Switzerland — almost nobody noticed at the time.
Toys, TV & trends of 1991
The Super Nintendo launched in America with Super Mario World, sparking playground debates with Sega fans.
Sonic the Hedgehog sped onto the Sega Genesis and instantly became Nintendo's biggest rival mascot.
Rollerblading boomed as kids and grown-ups alike laced up inline skates all over the neighborhood.
Street Fighter II arrived in arcades and single-handedly revived them, with quarters lined up along the cabinet to claim the next match.
Home Improvement premiered in September 1991, and Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor's grunts became a national catchphrase.
Skip-It hit its stride, with its built-in lap counter daring kids to beat their own record until their ankles gave out.
The music scene
Behind the scenes, 1991 changed how hits were counted: Billboard switched to SoundScan's actual register data in May, and suddenly country and rap proved far more popular than the industry had guessed. Garth Brooks' Ropin' the Wind became the first country album ever to debut at No. 1 on the all-genre chart, and Metallica's "Black Album" opened at the top too. R.E.M.'s Out of Time and U2's Achtung Baby rounded out a year when rock was quietly reinventing itself just before the grunge wave crested.
At the movies
Beauty and the Beast made history as the first animated film ever nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. Terminator 2 earned its thrills the expensive way — at roughly $100 million it was the costliest movie ever made to that point, most of it visible in that liquid-metal villain. And 23-year-old John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood made him the youngest Best Director nominee in Oscar history and the first African American nominated for the award.
Cartoons kids loved
Rugrats
Doug
Darkwing Duck
August 11, 1991 is a landmark date in cartoon history: Nickelodeon premiered its first three Nicktoons in a single morning. What made them revolutionary wasn't just the shows — it was the philosophy. Instead of building cartoons around toy lines, Nickelodeon handed creative control to individual artists, betting that original voices would win kids over. The creator-driven era of animation started here.
The world in 1991
World population: about 5.4 billion
U.S. President: George H. W. Bush
The Soviet Union was dissolved in December 1991, and 15 independent nations took its place.
South Africa repealed the last of its apartheid laws in June 1991, dismantling the legal framework of racial segregation.
Mount Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines, the second-largest volcanic eruption of the century, cooling global temperatures for two years.
Boris Yeltsin became the first freely elected president of Russia in June, months before the Soviet flag came down.
1991 birthday questions
How old is someone born in 1991?
Someone born in 1991 turns 35 in 2026 (34 if their birthday has not come round yet).
What was the number one song in 1991?
"(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" by Bryan Adams was among the biggest hits of 1991.
What movie came out in 1991?
Terminator 2: Judgment Day was one of the films packing theaters in 1991.
How much did gas cost in 1991?
A gallon of gas ran about $1.14 in 1991, and a postage stamp cost 29¢.
How much did a house cost in 1991?
The average home went for roughly $120,000 in 1991, against a typical household income of about $30,130.