‘Titanic’
The Best Picture Oscar winner (still the second-highest-grossing film of all time), which starred now-BFFs Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as star-crossed lovers aboard the doomed ocean liner, hit theaters on December 19, 1997.
Credit: 20th Century Fox
Mariah Carey’s ‘Butterfly’
Mariah Carey’s acclaimed sixth studio album, her first after her divorce from ex-husband and svengali Tommy Mottola — which spawned hits including «Honey,» «Butterfly» and «My All» — dropped in September 1997.
‘Left of the Middle’
Australia’s Natalie Imbruglia was everywhere in 1997 and 1998, thanks to her hit song «Torn,» the first single from her debut studio album, which was released internationally in November 1997.
98 Degrees’ Debut Album
Nick and Drew Lachey, Jeff Timmons and Justin Jeffre joined the boy band scene in July 1997, when they released their self-titled debut, which featured the gem «Invisible Man.»
Credit: Tim Roney/Getty Images
Backstreet Boys’ U.S. Debut Album
BSB’s self-titled U.S. debut, released stateside in August 1997, was actually a compilation of songs from their first and second international albums, which came out in 1996 and 1997, respectively.
Credit: L. Busacca/Getty Images
Hanson’s ‘Middle of Nowhere’
Hanson — made up of brothers Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson — burst onto the music scene with this May 1997 album, which spawned their most famous song, «MMMBop.»
Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’
Though the U.S. version of J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter book — which changed the «Philosopher’s Stone» to the «Sorcerer’s Stone» — didn’t hit shelves until 1998, British readers enrolled at Hogwarts in June 1997. (The first of the movies debuted four years later in 2001.)
Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
‘Selena’
A then barely known Jennifer Lopez had a star-making turn as the slain Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez in this biopic, which debuted in the U.S. on March 21, 1997.
Credit: Warner Bros
‘Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion’
Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino road-tripped to Sagebrush High to show Billy Christianson what he was missing in this riotous comedy, which premiered in the U.S. in April 1997.
Credit: Buena Vista
‘Spice World’
Already an international pop sensation, the Spice Girls — Victoria «Posh Spice» Beckham, Melanie «Scary Spice» Brown, Emma «Baby Spice» Bunton, Melanie «Sporty Spice» Chisholm and Geri «Ginger Spice» Halliwell — played themselves in this musical comedy, which hit U.K. theaters on December 26, 1997, going worldwide shortly thereafter.
This article originally appeared on US WEEKLY
