January 16:
Wings arrives in Tokyo for an 11 concert tour of Japan. Paul McCartney is arrested for possession of marijuana and jailed for 10 days.

January 21:
On the day the Wings concert tour was scheduled to start, the band members, without Paul and Linda, fly back to England.

January 25:
Paul McCartney is released from jail and deported to England.

February 18:
Shooting starts for the motion picture "Caveman" with Ringo Starr, in Durango, Mexico.

February 26:
Paul McCartney receives the award for "Outstanding Music Personality of 1979" at the British Rock and Pop Awards in London.

February 27:
Paul's "Rockestra Theme" is awarded a Grammy in the US.

March 24:
Capitol Records releases "The "Beatles Rarities" LP, the first authorized release of version 1 of "Love Me Do", with Ringo Starr on drums, in the US, 17 years after its UK release.

May 16:
Paul's LP "McCartney II" is released in the UK.

May 17:
NBC television's "Saturday Night Live" premieres Paul McCartney's video "Coming Up", introduced live by Paul and Linda by satellite from England.

May 19:
Ringo Starr and actress Barbara Bach, whom he had met during the "Caveman" filming in Mexico, are involved in a car accident in South London, escaping serious injury.

May 21:
"McCartney II", including a one-sided bonus promo for "Coming Up" (Live Version) is released in the US.
May 31:
The "McCartney II" LP hits number one on UK charts.

June 28:
Wings' single "Coming Up" (Live Version) tops the charts in the US.

August 1:
George Harrison founds "HandMade Films (Productions) Ltd".

September 19:
Paul McCartney's single "Temporary Secretary"/"Secret Friend" is released in the UK.

September 29:
In the US, Newsweek magazine publishes an interview with John Lennon.

October 13:
"The Beatles Ballads - 20 Original Tracks" is released in the UK.

October 15:
George Harrison founds "HandMade Films Distribution) Ltd.

October 24:
John and Yoko's " single "(Just like) Starting Over"/"Kiss Kiss Kiss" is released in the UK and three days later in the US.

November 3:
EMI Ltd.'s World Records mail order division releases "The Beatles Box" set of 8 LPs, featuring 126 Beatles recordings.

November 17:
John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Double Fantasy" LP is released simultaneously in the UK and the US.

November 28:
John Lennon declares in a deposition, taken for a lawsuit by Apple Corps Ltd. against the producers of the "Beatlemania" stage show, that he and the former Beatles were planning a reunion concert, to be filmed as a part of an autobiographical Beatles documentary "The Long and Winding Road".

December 4:
An interview with Paul by Vic Garbarini of "Musician" magazine, recorded earlier in the year, is released as an LP "The McCartney Interview" in the UK.

December 6:
Andy Peebles of the BBC does an interview with John Lennon, which will provide the framework for a 5 hour radio special.

December 8:
In the morning, John and Yoko are interviewed at home in their Dakota Building apartment by RKO radio in New York, followed by a picture session with photographer Annie Liebovitz, which includes the famous nude shot of John Lennon later featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine's 22 January 1981 issue.
In the afternoon and early evening, John and Yoko work in a local studio on Yoko's recording mix of "Walking on Thin Ice".
Upon returning to the Dakota around 10:50 pm, they are confronted in front of the building by a "fan", Mark David Chapman, who had been photographed hours earlier receiving an autograph from John Lennon.