In 2022, "Heat Waves" topped the charts, Top Gun: Maverick packed theaters, a stamp cost 60¢, the average home went for about $386,000.
🎵 Top songs of 2022
"Heat Waves" — Glass Animals
"As It Was" — Harry Styles
"Stay" — The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber
🎬 In theaters
Top Gun: Maverick
Avatar: The Way of Water
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
What things cost in 2022
$3.95
Gallon of gas
60¢
Postage stamp
$10.53
Movie ticket
$4.21
Gallon of milk
$386,000
Average home
$47,000
New car
$74,600
Household income
2022's painful $3.95 gas equals about $4.35 in today's dollars — still the priciest real gas of the decade — though its $10.53 ticket converts to roughly $11.60, close to today's average.
The biggest moments of 2022
The James Webb Space Telescope sent back its first stunning images of the universe.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Queen Elizabeth II died in September after a 70-year reign.
NASA's DART spacecraft deliberately smashed into an asteroid — and successfully changed its orbit.
Artemis I sent an uncrewed Orion capsule around the Moon, NASA's first step back toward lunar landings.
Lionel Messi finally lifted the World Cup trophy after a final for the ages against France.
Toys, TV & trends of 2022
Everyone shared their little green-and-yellow Wordle grids every morning.
Thanks to Encanto, nobody could stop singing "We Don't Talk About Bruno."
Stranger Things sent Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" back to the top of the charts.
Seven-year-old "Corn Kid" taught the internet that corn is "a big lump with knobs."
Wednesday Addams' jerky dance moves became the year's most-copied choreography.
Oxford's Word of the Year was "goblin mode" — chosen by public vote in a landslide.
The music scene
Glass Animals' "Heat Waves" set a record by taking 59 weeks to climb to No. 1 — the slowest ascent in chart history. In October, Taylor Swift's Midnights made her the first artist ever to occupy all top ten spots on the Hot 100 in a single week. Bad Bunny's Un Verano Sin Ti, meanwhile, finished as Spotify's most-streamed album of the year without a word of English.
At the movies
CODA became the first streaming film to win Best Picture, a landmark for Apple TV+. Top Gun: Maverick gave Tom Cruise the first billion-dollar hit of his four-decade career and was widely credited with bringing older audiences back to theaters. A scrappy indie called Everything Everywhere All at Once became the year's word-of-mouth sensation.
Cartoons kids loved
Bluey
Spy x Family (anime hit)
The Simpsons
Anime went fully mainstream in American homes, with Spy x Family's Anya becoming a meme factory and Crunchyroll subscriptions soaring. Bluey mania also crossed from preschools into the wider culture, with adults trading favorite episodes like prestige TV recommendations.
The world in 2022
World population: passed 8 billion in November
U.S. President: Joe Biden
The Qatar FIFA World Cup was held in November and December
U.S. scientists achieved fusion ignition — a reaction producing more energy than it consumed — for the first time.
Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion.
Record heat waves baked Europe, with the U.K. topping 104°F for the first time ever.
2022 birthday questions
How old is someone born in 2022?
Someone born in 2022 turns 4 in 2026 (3 if their birthday has not come round yet).
What was the number one song in 2022?
"Heat Waves" by Glass Animals was among the biggest hits of 2022.
What movie came out in 2022?
Top Gun: Maverick was one of the films packing theaters in 2022.
How much did gas cost in 2022?
A gallon of gas ran about $3.95 in 2022, and a postage stamp cost 60¢.
How much did a house cost in 2022?
The average home went for roughly $386,000 in 2022, against a typical household income of about $74,600.