On this day

October 20, 1978

Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.

Music on My Birthday

Billboard 200

The Top 50 albums for the chart week of October 18, 1978, covering October 20, 1978.

  1. 1
    Album cover for Grease by Soundtrack

    Grease

    Soundtrack

    Last week
    1
    Peak
    1
    Weeks
    23
  2. 2
    Album cover for Who Are You by The Who

    Who Are You

    The Who

    Last week
    4
    Peak
    2
    Weeks
    7
  3. 3
    Album cover for Don't Look Back by Boston

    Don't Look Back

    Boston

    Last week
    2
    Peak
    1
    Weeks
    8
  4. 4
    Album cover for Living In The U.S.A. by Linda Ronstadt

    Living In The U.S.A.

    Linda Ronstadt

    Last week
    10
    Peak
    4
    Weeks
    3
  5. 5
    Album cover for Double Vision by Foreigner

    Double Vision

    Foreigner

    Last week
    3
    Peak
    3
    Weeks
    16

Notable Births

Virender Sehwag

1978Virender Sehwag, Indian cricketer[†]

Virender Sehwag is a former Indian cricketer who represented India from 1999 to 2013. Widely regarded as one of the most destructive openers and one of the greatest batsmen of his era, he played for Delhi Capitals in IPL and Delhi and Haryana in Indian domestic cricket. He batted right-handed and played his first One Day International in 1999 and joined the Indian Test side in 2001. In April 2009, Sehwag became the first Indian to be honoured as the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for his performance in 2008, subsequently becoming the first player of any nationality to retain the award for 2009. He worked as stand-in captain occasionally during absence of main captain of India, also worked as Vice-Captain for Indian squad. He is former captain of Delhi Daredevils and Delhi Ranji Team. During his time with India, Sehwag was a member of the team that was one of the joint winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, the winners of the 2007 T20 World Cup, and the winners of the 2011 Cricket World Cup. During the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, Sehwag was the highest run scorer with 271 runs. In 2023, he was inducted into ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Paul Wilson (musician)

1978Paul Wilson, Scottish bass player and songwriter[†]

Paul "Pablo" Wilson is a Scottish musician, who is best known as the former bass guitarist for Northern Irish–Scottish alternative rock band Snow Patrol. He previously played guitar in Glasgow band Terra Diablo during 2000–2005. Wilson plays left-handed and generally uses a black Rickenbacker for concerts. He is a multi-instrumentalist trained in piano.

Notable Deaths

Gunnar Nilsson

1978Gunnar Nilsson, Swedish race car driver (born 1948)[†]

Gunnar Axel Arvid Nilsson was a Swedish racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1976 to 1977. Nilsson won the 1977 Belgian Grand Prix with Lotus.

Historical Context for October 20, 1978

In 1978, the world population was approximately 4,292,097,502 people[†]