Peak years for each decade

1950s
Prelude: September 2, 1945 - 1954
Zeitgeist: July 1955 - Early 1961 (Begins with mainstream breakthrough of rock n' roll/ends with inauguration of JFK, beginning of the space race and the Bay of Pigs invasion)
Echo: Mid 1961 - Mid 1964
Peak Year: 1957

1960s
Prelude: Spring 1959 - October 1963
Zeitgeist: November 1963 - Spring 1970 (begins with JFK's assassination, the South Vietnamese Coup and the mainstream breakthrough of the Beatles/ends with the Kent State shooting, the disbandment of the Beatles and the decline of British Invasion music)
Echo: Mid 1970 - February 1973
Peak Year: 1967

1970s
Prelude: Late 1968 - 1972
Zeitgeist: February 1973 - June 1979 (begins with the second inauguration of Richard Nixon, the end of Western involvement in the Vietnam War and standardization of the counterculture/ends with the mainstream breakthrough of New Wave and synth-pop music, disco demolition night, and beginning of the Soviet-Afghan War)
Echo: Late 1979 - 1982
Peak Year: 1977

1980s
Prelude: 1978 - Mid 1982
Zeitgeist: Winter 1982/1983 - January 1989 (begins with the mainstream breakthrough of MTV, release of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album and the debut of several iconic 80s TV shows/ends with the inauguration of George HW Bush, end of the Soviet-Afghan War and rise of hip hop and rap music
Echo: 1989 - Early 1993
Peak Year: 1985

1990s
Prelude: Late 1988 - 1991
Zeitgeist: January 1992 - Spring 1997 (begins with the collapse of the Soviet Union and mainstream breakthrough of grunge music/ends with the rise of the internet and the end of the West Coast + East Coast Hip Hop rivalry 
Echo: Late 1997 - September 2001
Peak Year: 1995   

My opinion:

1980s: 1986

1990s: 1995

2000s: 2005

2010s: 2016