IGN Presents the History of Awesome: 2008

Welcome back to IGN's History of Awesome - a year-long look back at all the coolest and most influential games, movies, TV shows, comic books, toys, and tech that have shaped pop culture, and shaped the lives of an entire generation. Up this week is 2008, the year of Grand Theft Auto 4, Fallout 3, and Metal Gear Solid 4.

Catch up on IGN's History of Awesome:

2008 was also a pretty good year for movies, with The Dark Knight setting a new standard for Batman films and the first Iron Man kicking off the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Keep reading for more on what made 2008 an awesome year for pop culture.

2008 by the Numbers

1. The Dark Knight	$533,345,358
2. Iron Man	$318,412,101
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	$317,101,119
4. Hancock	$227,946,274
5. WALL-E	$223,808,164
6. Kung Fu Panda	$215,434,591
7. Twilight	$192,769,854
8. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa	$180,010,950
9. Quantum of Solace	$168,368,427
10. Dr. Suess' Horton Hears a Who!	$154,529,439

Source: Box Office Mojo

1. "Low"	Flo Rida feat. T-Pain
2. "Bleeding Love"	Leona Lewis
3. "No One"	Alicia Keys
4. "Lollipop"	Lil Wayne feat. Static Major
5. "Apologize"	Timbaland feat. OneRepublic
6. "No Air"	Jordin Sparks feat. Chris Brown
7. "Love Song"	Sara Bareilles
8. "Love In This Club'"	Usher feat. Young Jeezy
9. "With You"	Chris Brown
10. "Forever"	Chris Brown

Source: Billboard

1. Breaking Bad
2. Sons of Anarchy
3. True Blood
4. The Mentalist
5. 90210
6. Fringe
7. Leverage
8. The Secret Life of the American Teenager
9. Star Wars: The Clone Wars
10. Merlin

Source: IMDB

1. The Hunger Games	by Suzanne Collins
2. Breaking Dawn	by Stephanie Meyer
3. The Host	by Stephanie Meyer
4. Paper Towns	by John Green
5. City of Ashes	by Cassandra Clare
6. The Battle of the Labyrinth	by Rick Riordan
7. The Last Song	by Nicholas Sparks
8. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society	by Mary Ann Shaffer
9. Outliers: The Story of Success	by Malcolm Gladwell
10. The Graveyard Book	by Neil Gaiman

Source: Goodreads

Females	Males
1. Emma	1. Jacob
2. Isabella	2. Michael
3. Emily	3. Ethan
4. Olivia	4. Joshua
5. Ava	5. Daniel

Source: Social Security Administration

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History of Awesome is IGN's 38-part trip down memory lane - each week we're covering a new year's most important, influential, or just-plain-awesome movies, games, TV shows, comics, and more. 2008 was epic, but things are only going to get more awesome from here. Be sure to check back next week for an in-depth look at the year 2009, the year of Batman: Arkham Asylum, Minecraft, and Uncharted 2.