What the world was like the last time Federer was No. 1

The last time Roger Federer was the world No. 1 was November 2012. Going on six years later, at the age of 36, he’s now the oldest player to sit on the ATP throne, breaking Andre Agassi’s previous record of 33.

Here’s a look back six phenoms that defined the pop cultural landscape the last time Federer was the No. 1 player in the world:

1

People couldn't stop watching Honey Boo Boo.

TLC’s flagship reality star at the time was a sassy, six-year-old, meme-machine child beauty pageant contestant named Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson. If every word of that sentence struck you as wrong, congratulations, you’re not crazy.

2

Big Bird was the unlikely star of the 2012 US Election

Barack Obama was fighting for re-election and Big Bird found himself at the center of debate during the 2012 US presidential campaign when Mitt Romney pledged to cut funding for PBS, the then-home of Sesame Street, reminding everyone a world without Big Bird is a lesser world. Sesame Street would later ditch PBS for HBO anyway.

3

Edward and Bella were on the rocks

After her torrid affair with Snow White and the Huntress director Rupert Sanders hit the tabloid pages, the world seized in panic over the fate of Kristen Stewart’s relationship with Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson. Needless to say, Hollywood’s defining couple at the time didn’t make it.

4

Felix Baumgartner was dropped from space

Before regular headlines about Elon Musk’s daring attempts to get us all to Mars before it’s too late, Felix Baumgartner’s “space jump” was the best front row seat for space thrills around. A whopping 8 million people tuned in live to watch the dare-devil parachute from beyond the atmosphere.

5

Taylor Swift released her album Red

Before she became a generational icon of sorts, Taylor Swift was still an indomitable force of smash hits and ruthless branding. Red, a Grammy test-tube-of-an-album, sold 1.2 million copies at a time when people were starting to rethink buying records at all.

6

Gangnam Style was inescapable

Presently, this PSY novelty tune-turned-dance-craze has over 3 billion hits on YouTube. Most of them probably from 2012 when it was as ubiquitous as air itself.

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