Year 1010 (MX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.

• The Nile river in Egypt freezes over.^[1]

• The Lý dynasty is established in Vietnam (or 1009), and moves the capital to Thăng Long (modern-day Hanoi).
• Second conflict in the Goryeo–Khitan War: The Goryeo king is unseated in a revolt, resulting in an invasion by the Liao dynasty, and the burning of the Korean capital Gaegyeong.
• Song Zhun of Song dynasty China completes the work of the earlier geographer Lu Duosun, an enormous atlas of China that is written and illustrated in 1,556 chapters, showing maps of each region, city, town, and village (the atlas took 39 years to complete).
• In the Chola dynasty of southern India, the first votes are celebrated by adding a ballot in an urn.

• January – Fujiwara no Kenshi (daughter of Michinaga) is married to the imperial heir Crown Prince Okisada.
• February 14 – On the death of Fujiwara no Korechika his daughter, the poet Fujiwara no Chikako, becomes a lady-in-waiting to Empress Shōshi.
• Emperor Ichijō wants to retire – the influential statesman Fujiwara no Michinaga supports Crown Prince Okisada (now his son-in-law), who will be the successor, but the emperor prefers his eldest son by the late Empress Teishi, Prince Atsuyasu, who has been raised by Empress Shōshi, who also supports her stepson, leading to conflict at court.

• Viking explorer Thorfinn Karlsefni attempts to found a settlement in North America (approximate date).

• June 2 – Fitna of al-Andalus – Battle of Aqbat al-Bakr: The Caliphate of Córdoba is defeated. Allied to Muslim rebels, Ramon Borrell, Count of Barcelona sacks Córdoba,^[2] and Hisham II the Nephast is restored as Umayyad caliph of Córdoba, succeeding Muhammad II al-Mahdi.
• The Russian city of Yaroslavl is founded, as an outpost of the principality of Rostov Veliky.

• The construction of Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur (a city now in Tamil Nadu, India) is completed during the Chola dynasty, and at about this time the wall painting Rajaraja I and His Teacher

• March 8 – Persian poet Ferdowsi finishes writing the Shahnameh (Book of Kings), which will be regarded as the national epic of the greater Iranian culture.
• Lady Murasaki writes The Tale of Genji in Japanese (approximate date).
• Beowulf is written anonymously in Old English (approximate date).

• Eilmer of Malmesbury in England attempts flight in a glider of his own construction.
• The 217 ft (66 m) tall Brihadisvara Temple is completed.

• May 30 – Zhao Zhen, Emperor Renzong of the Song dynasty (d. 1063)
• Adalbero, bishop of Würzburg (approximate date)
• Adalbero III of Luxembourg, German nobleman (d. 1072)
• Akkadevi, princess of the Chalukya dynasty (d. 1064)
• Anno II, archbishop of Cologne (approximate date)
• Arialdo, Italian nobleman and deacon (approximate date)
• Benno, bishop of Meissen (approximate date)
• Eberhard, archbishop of Trier (approximate date)
• Eleanor of Normandy, countess of Flanders (d. 1077)
• Gebhard, archbishop of Salzburg (approximate date)
• Gomes Echigues, Portuguese knight and governor (d. 1065)
• Honorius II, antipope of the Catholic Church (approximate date)
• John V of Gaeta, Italian nobleman (approximate date)
• Michael IV the Paphlagonian, Byzantine emperor (d. 1041)
• Odo (or Eudes), Gascon nobleman (approximate date)
• Otloh of Sankt Emmeram, German monk (approximate date)
• Siegfried I, German nobleman (approximate date)
• Tunka Manin, ruler of the Ghana Empire (d. 1078)

• February 14 – Fujiwara no Korechika, Japanese nobleman (b. 974)
• Ælfric of Eynsham, English abbot and scholar (approximate date)
• Abu'l-Nasr Muhammad, Farighunid ruler (approximate date)
• Aimoin, French monk and chronicler (approximate date)
• Aisha, Andalusian poet and writer (approximate date)
• Cathal mac Conchobar mac Taidg, king of Connacht
• Ermengol I (or Armengol), count of Urgell (b. 974)
• John Kourkouas, Byzantine catepan (approximate date)
• Maelsuthan Ua Cerbhail, Irish advisor and chronicler
• Vijayanandi, Indian mathematician (approximate date)