November 2008

Barack Obama delivered his presidential election victory speech before 240,000 people at Grant Park in Chicago, watched by an estimated 70 million television viewers in the US, one of the most watched political events in broadcasting history.

Beyoncé released her double-album I Am... Sasha Fierce, which produced the global hit Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It), won six Grammy Awards in a single night, and introduced her Sasha Fierce alter ego as one of pop music's most enduring artistic concepts.

Kanye West released 808s and Heartbreak, an Auto-Tune-heavy electronic album that departed radically from hip-hop convention. Critically reassessed as visionary, it directly influenced artists from Drake and Kid Cudi to Future and The Weeknd.

The descendant of an immigrant father and white mother becomes the first Black US president — a milestone amid ongoing debate.