United States in 1998
You were born in 1998 — Pokémon invaded America, Furby was watching you sleep, Google launched, and AIM invented the art of the away message.
💰 How much things cost in 1998
| Item | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol | 1.06 USD/gallon | verified (U.S. EIA) |
| Cinema ticket | ~4.69 USD | estimate |
| Coffee | ~1.00 USD | estimate |
| Ice cream | ~1.15 USD (scoop) | estimate |
Currency: USD
🎵 The music of 1998
The song of the year: Next – Too Close (Billboard Year-End Hot 100 #1)
Other songs people listened to in 1998:
- Brandy & Monica – The Boy Is Mine
- Shania Twain – You're Still the One
- Savage Garden – Truly Madly Deeply
- Janet Jackson – Together Again
- Aerosmith – I Don't Want to Miss a Thing
- Barenaked Ladies – One Week
- Cher – Strong Enough
- Backstreet Boys – Quit Playing Games
- K-Ci & JoJo – All My Life
📺 TV, cinema and pop culture
Cartoons: Pokémon (US premiere September 8, 1998) / Powerpuff Girls / Dexter's Lab (on Kids WB / Cartoon Network). Pokémon arrived in America September 1998 and became a cultural supernova. Cards, games, the cartoon — all at once.
TV series: The Seinfeld finale (May 14, 1998) — 76 million viewers. The show about nothing ended.
At the cinema: Saving Private Ryan — the Normandy landing scene. Spielberg made war undeniable.
Person of the moment: Jerry Seinfeld — the finale of Seinfeld was a national event
The cult toy: Furby / Pokémon cards / Nintendo Game Boy with Pokémon Red/Blue. Furby was the Christmas toy of 1998. It talked, it blinked, it was allegedly listening to you. Perfect and terrifying.
👗 Fashion and snacks
Fashion: Y2K approaching: vinyl, metallics, tiny sunglasses, cargo pants. Fashion gets futuristic.
Snacks: Dunkaroos, Surge, Ring Pops, Lunchables, Gushers, Fruit Roll-Ups
📰 What happened in 1998
Event of the year: Clinton impeached by the House over Lewinsky scandal. Google founded. US embassies bombed in Africa.
Sport: Super Bowl XXXII: Denver Broncos beat Green Bay Packers 31-24. John Elway and Terrell Davis star.
💻 Technology and everyday life
Tech news: Google founded by Page and Brin at Stanford. iMac G3 in bondi blue: Jobs' comeback begins.
The gadget to have: iMac G3 (August 1998, translucent colorful computers) / Furby / Google founded September 4, 1998
How people communicated: AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) was how you talked to friends. BRB. A/S/L. ROFL. The vocabulary was born.
How people listened to music: Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Britney Spears — pop was huge again.
The weekend: Saving Private Ryan. The Truman Show. There's Something About Mary. A Bug's Life.
📵 What didn't exist yet in 1998
- Google (just born, Sept 4)
- cell phones for teens widely
- YouTube (2005)
- Facebook (2004)
- Spotify (2008)
🎯 Guess the year — Every day a new mystery year from United States. You have 5 guesses: every miss reveals another clue.
More years from the 1990s
Main sources: EIA, Billboard, NATO