50 music questions and answers for your pub quiz

There’s nothing better than a quiz, and what’s a good quiz without a music round?

By Tim Glanfield

Published: Wednesday, 20 December 2023 at 11:20 AM

If you’re keen to show off your music knowledge, or quiz your friends and family: RadioTimes.com has got you covered.

From lyrical conundrums to band members and crucial years, we’ve compiled a list of different trivia questions and answers that you can have at your disposal.

From One Direction and The Beatles to Bob Dylan and Girls Aloud, there’s plenty for you to sink your teeth into.

Alternatively, if you like a particular decade of tunes, maybe try our 2000s music quiz questions, 90s pub quiz questions, 80s music quiz questions, 70s music quiz questions and 60s music quiz questions too.

And once you’re done, why not try our TV pub quiz, film pub quiz or sport pub quiz for size? Plus there’s many, many more pub quizzes available as part of our bumper general knowledge pub quiz.

Ready, steady, quiz!

Music Quiz Questions

Phoebe Bridgers
Phoebe Bridgers.
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
  1. Who was the first band member to leave One Direction?
  2. Which rock band was founded by Trent Reznor in 1988?
  3. What is the name of the duet recorded by Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow in 2010?
  4. Jimmy, Robert, John and John: can you identify this rock band from the first names of their original line-up?
  5. Who are the three members of the American supergroup Boygenius?
  6. How many members were there in pop group Little Mix before they went on hiatus? (Bonus point for each member you can name).
  7. Which singer-songwriter had studio albums titled Hejira, Ladies of the Canyon and Blue?
  8. Including streaming figures, what was the best-selling UK single of the 2010s?
  9. In what year did Elvis Presley die? (A bonus point for the month.)
  10. In 1975 Bohemian Rhapsody was number one for nine weeks. It was finally knocked off the top slot by a song with a name that appears in the lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody. Name the song and the band that ended Queen’s number one success.
  11. How many UK number ones did The Beatles have in total?
  12. Reginald Kenneth Dwight is better known by what name?
  13. Rihanna hit Umbrella was originally written with which other popstar in mind?
  14. Which band had a huge international hit album in 2002 with the record “A Rush of Blood to the Head”?
  15. Knights in White Satin was a 1967 hit for which band?
  16. Which legendary musician had film roles in The Prestige and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me?
  17. Girls Aloud were formed on Popstars: The Rivals in 2002 – but can you name the boy band that was formed at the same time?
  18. How many members are there in South Korean mega boyband BTS?
  19. Which talent show judge managed Westlife?
  20. Taylor Swift released two studio albums in 2020: one was titled Folklore, but what was the name of the other one?
  21. Roger Taylor is the drummer in which band?
  22. In which year did the Spice Girls release Wannabe?
  23. Which music legend won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2016?
  24. Which song begins with the line, “I thought love was only true in fairy tales”?
  25. Which comedy double act scored a huge hit with the England football anthem Three Lions in 1996?
  26. Which Bob Dylan song did Adele include on her first album?
  27. Which single has had the longest uninterrupted run ever on the UK Singles Chart?
  28. Which 80s group, featuring Phil Collins, reunited in 2020?
  29. Over the years, how many Sugababes have there been?
  30. Which acclaimed Scottish band takes their name from a French children’s TV programme?
  31. What’s the name of the 1957 musical prison drama starring Elvis Presley?
  32. Who became the lead singer of the 90s band Cast, after serving as the bassist for the La’s?
  33. Who was the music producer commonly referred to as The Fifth Beatle
  34. In what decade was American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis born?
  35. Which artist headlined Friday night on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival 2019?
  36. Who originally recorded the classic ballad I Will Always Love You in 1973?
  37. Rockstar David Howell Evans is better known by what name?
  38. Complete the first line of the Bill Withers hit: “Ain’t no sunshine…”
  39. What was the name of the band formed by Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton, and Ginger Baker?
  40. What English county do Supergrass and Radiohead have in common?
  41. Which Motown star released the album Innervisions in 1973?
  42. Björn Again is a tribute band for which world-famous pop group?
  43. What is the name of the band who usually serve as the backing band for Bruce Springsteen?
  44. In what year were the hit songs Uptown Funk, Bad Blood, Chandelier, Fancy, Rather Be and Anaconda released?
  45. Which prison did Johnny Cash famously sing about in his 1955 song?
  46. Singer Fergie was previously a member of which hip hop group?
  47. Which former X Factor contestant made their debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2021?
  48. Rock band AC/DC originates from which country?
  49. What is Irish musician Hozier’s real name?
  50. What Kate Bush song was featured in Season 4 of Stranger Things?

Music Quiz Answers

  1. Zayn Malik
  2. Nine Inch Nails
  3. Shame
  4. Led Zeppelin
  5. Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker
  6. 3 (Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock – Jesy Nelson left in December 2020)
  7. Joni Mitchell
  8. The Shape of You by Ed Sheeran
  9. 1977 (August)
  10. Mamma Mia by Abba
  11. 17
  12. Elton John
  13. Britney Spears
  14. Coldplay
  15. The Moody Blues
  16. David Bowie
  17. One True Voice
  18. 7
  19. Louis Walsh
  20. Evermore
  21. Queen
  22. 1996
  23. Bob Dylan
  24. I’m A Believer by The Monkees
  25. David Baddiel and Frank Skinner
  26. Make You Feel My Love
  27. (Everything I Do) I Do It for You by Bryan Adams
  28. Genesis
  29. Six: Keisha, Mutya, Siobhan, Heidi, Amelle and Jade
  30. Belle and Sebastien
  31. Jailhouse Rock
  32. John Power
  33. George Martin
  34. 1920s
  35. Stormzy
  36. Dolly Parton
  37. The Edge (the guitarist in U2)
  38. When she’s gone
  39. Cream
  40. Oxfordshire (it’s where they were both founded)
  41. Stevie Wonder
  42. ABBA
  43. The E Street Band.
  44. 2014
  45. Folson Prison
  46. The Black Eyed Peas
  47. Harry Styles (as Eros in Eternals)
  48. Australia
  49. Andrew Hozier-Byrne
  50. Running up That Hill

Can’t get enough quizzing? Try some of our other quizzes now: