The 1980s (shortened to "the '80s") was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1, 1980, and ended on December 31, 1989.
In the United States, MTV was launched and music videos began to have a larger effect on the record industry. Pop
artists such as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Duran Duran, Prince, Cyndi Lauper and Madonna mastered the format and
helped turn this new product into a profitable business. New wave and synthpop were developed by many British and
American artists, and became popular phenomena throughout the decade, especially in the early and mid 1980s. Music grew
fragmented and combined into subgenres such as house, goth, and rap metal.