In this commemorative edition, PEOPLE looks back at a year marked by exceptional resilience and joyful reunions. After such a long time apart, people came back together in movie theaters, at schools, on red carpets, at live shows—hello, Springsteen on Broadway!—and for family gatherings and celebrations. (Congrats to newlyweds Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton, and to new mom Bindi Irwin!) Hugs were back, and so were air kisses on fashion’s gala night at the Met. The cast of Friends met up again, and after 17 years, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck rekindled their love. Also here are the year’s top stories: President Joseph R. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office, a high-profile trial offered a long-overdue measure of justice in Minneapolis, and a rift in the British royal family was revealed. Plus: We remember great lives lost in 2021. An essential collector’s keepsake of an extraordinary year.
Yearbook 2021: When We All Got Together Again
Great To See You Again • AFTER A YEAR APART, PEOPLE COULD FINALLY GET TOGETHER. THANKS TO VACCINES, GWEN & BLAKE GOT HITCHED BEFORE 40 LOVED ONES, BRUCE REOPENED BROADWAY, THE INTERNET’S FAVORITE LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL MET HER IDOL, AND THESE SIX FAMILIAR FRIENDS—AT LAST!—HELD THEIR FIRST REUNION
The Transfer Of Power • AFTER A DEADLY INSURRECTION AT THE U.S. CAPITOL MEANT TO OVERTURN THE 2020 ELECTION, JOE BIDEN BECAME AMERICA’S 46TH PRESIDENT AND KAMALA HARRIS ITS FIRST FEMALE V.P.
So…That Happened • YES, SHE’S REALLY GOING OUT WITH HIM—AGAIN. YES, MEGHAN & HARRY WENT THERE IN THAT BOMBSHELL INTERVIEW. AND, YES, IT TOOK SOME SERIOUS BRITNEY STANS TO MAKE A COURT TAKE HER CONSERVATORSHIP ISSUES SERIOUSLY
Their Lives Mattered • A MINNEAPOLIS JURY CONVICTED EX-POLICE OFFICER DEREK CHAUVIN FOR THE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD—DAYS AFTER ANOTHER WHITE COP GUNNED DOWN A 20-YEAR-OLD FATHER, DAUNTE WRIGHT, JUST MILES AWAY
Glimpses Of Grace • A MONARCH’S MOVING DISPLAY OF RESOLVE FOLLOWING A HEARTBREAKING LOSS. A GYMNAST WHO WOWED THE WORLD BY DEFYING GRAVITY—AND BY KNOWING WHEN TO GROUND HERSELF. HEROES WHO BRAVELY GOT BACK TO THE BUSINESS OF BEING SCHOOLKIDS AND TEACHERS—THIS YEAR THERE WAS SO MUCH TO INSPIRE
Climate Change Hits Home • GLOBAL WARMING EVENTS WREAKED HAVOC ACROSS THE NATION—AND AROUND THE WORLD—BRINGING HISTORIC HEAT WAVES, WILDFIRES, HURRICANES, WINTER STORMS AND OTHER NATURAL CALAMITIES
Obsessions! What We Watched • THERE WAS PLENTY OF TIME FOR TV AND PLENTY OF GREAT SHOWS TO FILL IT WITH—FROM A SWEETIE NAMED TED TO MARVEL’S SHAPE-SHIFTING LOKI
Leaving Afghanistan • AFTER 20 YEARS, AMERICA’S LONGEST WAR CAME TO A CHAOTIC AND BLOODY END, AS THE U.S. CONDUCTED A MASS EVACUATION WHILE A TRIUMPHANT TALIBAN SEIZED POWER IN KABUL
Tributes: Not Fade Away • REMEMBERING A ROLLING STONE, A PIONEERING SCREEN DIVA, AND MANY MORE WHO MOVED US WITH BREATHTAKING PERFORMANCES, WHO GAVE US UNCONTROLLABLE LAUGHTER, WHO EXPLORED THE COSMOS OR THE INNER LIVES OF CHILDREN, WHO BROUGHT US JOY—OFTEN UNTIL THEIR FINAL DAYS
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