311 Good Trivia Questions and Answers, from General to Niche
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If you had a reputation for being a bit of a know-it-all as a kid, you’re likely now the person who has a trusted list of trivia questions and answers already on file. Not only that, but you probably love sentences that start with “did you know,” and you don’t groan when you show up to your favorite socializing spot only to realize it’s trivia night. Hey, we didn’t make the rules!
Building up your treasure trove of the best trivia questions before busting them out later with pals is fun for a few reasons. We’d be lying if we said part of the fun wasn’t getting to flex your own trivia night muscles. But it’s also always cool to see which topics your friends specialize in, whether that’s pop culture trivia or general history. And there’s the simple joy, too, of getting to make a game out of learning new things and testing your knowledge. Let your inner (or outer) nerd rejoice!
Below, you’ll find a comprehensive list of fun trivia questions and answers for your next game night with friends, which we’ve organized according to popular trivia topics. You’ll find plenty of random and general trivia questions, plus some pop culture trivia questions we’ve curated specifically for music and movie buffs. Finally, for those in a hurry to get the quiz questions rolling, we’ve put together a quick list of easy trivia questions, followed by tougher ones for a crowd that craves a challenge. Afterward, you can keep the night going with more game ideas for you and your crew like Truth or Dare, Never Have I Ever, This or That, or 21 Questions. May the biggest know-it-all win!
In this article you’ll find:
General knowledge trivia questions and answers
We love a good themed trivia night as much as the next person, but sometimes, niche trivia just isn’t the mood. (Cut to a scene of the one and only time I’ve been duped into attending an evening of The Office-focused trivia. To my sister, the duper in question, I say: never again.)
If you’re putting together a trivia night for a big group — or just looking up trivia questions and answers to pass the time — it’s probably better to go broad. Whether you’re a film buff or a science enthusiast, we guarantee there’s something for you and your trivia crew on this list of general trivia questions. But just because these facts qualify as general knowledge doesn’t mean they’re no-brainers; some you may not have heard since first being taught them in school. So prepare to learn, or re-learn, a thing or two!
1. Who, in 1903, was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?
Answer: Marie Curie
2. What year did the Berlin Wall fall?
Answer: 1989
3. What element does the chemical symbol Au stand for?
Answer: Gold
4. What is the sign directly opposite Scorpio in the zodiac?
Answer: Taurus
5. Who wrote the classic American novel Their Eyes Were Watching God?
Answer: Zora Neale Hurston
6. The shooting of whom, in 1914, started World War I?
Answer: Archduke Franz Ferdinand
7. What is the smallest planet in our solar system?
Answer: Mercury
8. What is the highest-grossing Broadway show of all time?
Answer: The Lion King
9. What New York City bar was the location of a 1969 uprising credited as sparking the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement?
Answer: The Stonewall Inn
10. What are the first 22 cards in a tarot deck called?
Answer: The Major Arcana
11. What was the name of the possessed hotel in Steven King’s novel (and movie) The Shining, based on the real-life Stanley Hotel in Colorado?
Answer: The Overlook Hotel
12. What is the capital of India?
Answer: New Delhi
13. Which two states in the U.S. share the most borders with other states?
Answer: Tennessee and Missouri
14. What is the more popular name for the portrait officially titled “La Gioconda,” painted in Florence in 1503?
Answer: The Mona Lisa
15. At a restaurant, you’ll see deer meat on the menu under what name?
Answer: Venison
16. The author of the best-selling, four-part book series known as the Neapolitan Novels, now an HBO series, famously publishes their works under what pseudonym?
Answer: Elana Ferante
17. Where was the hottest-ever temperature on Earth recorded, per the World Meteorological Organization?
Answer: Death Valley, California (where it hit 134 degrees Fahrenheit in July 1913)
18. Who holds the record for the most wins in the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program category?
Answer: RuPaul
19. What was the first book published by Jane Austen?
Answer: Sense and Sensibility
20. Which two countries have the longest shared international border?
Answer: Canada and the U.S.
21. What city hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics?
Answer: Sochi, Russia
22. What is the longest running Broadway show?
Answer: The Phantom of the Opera, which finally closed in April 2023 after a record 13,981 performances
23. What is the human body’s largest organ?
Answer: Skin
24. What year was the first iPhone released?
Answer: 2007
25. What’s the (extremely metal) name for a group of crows?
Answer: A murder of crows
26. What are the first names of the four main characters in Golden Girls?
Answer: Sophia, Dorothy, Rose, and Blanche
27. What is the longest above-water mountain range?
The Andes
28. What year did Netflix, previously a DVD rental business, introduce streaming services?
Answer: 2007
29. How many feet are in a yard?
Answer: Three
30. How many bones do sharks have?
Answer: Zero!
31. What is the deadliest mammal?
Answer: The hippo
32. What is the deadliest animal in the world?
Answer: The mosquito
33. What country was the Marxist revolutionary figure Che Guevara born in?
Answer: Argentina
34. What is the capital of Singapore?
Answer: Singapore (it’s an island city-state)
35. What is the word for the weather event also called a winter hurricane?
Answer: A bomb cyclone
36. What was the first country to give women the right to vote?
Answer: New Zealand — in 1893, all women across races and ethnicities who were “British subjects” in New Zealand won the right to vote. This included Indigenous women, like Māori women, but excluded groups who did not have citizenship in New Zealand, like Chinese women.
37. What year was the landmark civil and LGBTQ+ rights case Obergefell v. Hodges ruled on?
Answer: 2015; it’s more commonly referred to as the marriage equality case
38. What are the names of the four March sisters in Little Women?
Answer: Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy
39. What chewy dessert topping is made from tartar and egg whites and often found on pie?
Answer: Meringue
40. In Greek mythology, who was known as the messenger of the gods?
Answer: Hermes
41. What was Eleanor Roosevelt’s maiden name before marrying FDR?
Answer: Roosevelt (she and Franklin were fifth cousins once removed!)
42. What was the birth name of boxing legend Muhammad Ali?
Answer: Cassius Clay
43. In what city were the first infections of COVID-19 discovered?
Answer: Wuhan, China
44. In chess, what direction can a bishop move?
Answer: Diagonally
45. What celebrity was the world’s first cloned animal, a sheep, named after in 1996?
Answer: Dolly Parton
46. What is the name for the solar event that occurs on March 20th or 21st of each year?
Answer: The Vernal Equinox
47. What’s the shortcut for the paste function on most computers?
Answer: Ctrl+V
48. What river runs through Paris?
Answer: The Seine
49. What is the capital of Iowa?
Answer: Des Moines
50. What is the most commonly spoken language in Brazil?
Answer: Portuguese
51. To what artist is this famous quote attributed: “I am my own muse. I am the subject I know best. The subject I want to know better”?
Answer: Frida Kahlo
52. How many colors will you find in a regular bag of M&Ms?
Answer: Six
53. The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the U.S. from what country?
Answer: France
54. How many wives did Henry VIII have?
Answer: Six
55. What is the rarest blood type?
Answer: AB negative
56. Which famous art movement did Pablo Picasso co-create?
Answer: Cubism
57. Which U.S. president is featured on the $2 bill?
Answer: Thomas Jefferson
58. What phase does a moon enter into after it’s full?
Answer: Waxing Gibbous
59. Where on the food pyramid do eggplants belong?
Answer: In the fruit section
60. What alcoholic beverage is made from juniper berries?
Answer: Gin
61. For how many nights is Hanukkah celebrated?
Answer: Eight
62. What religious and political organization did Malcolm X join in 1952, helping it to grow exponentially before cutting ties with it in 1964?
Answer: The Nation of Islam
63. What country has the highest number of citizens over the age of 65?
Answer: Japan
64. Area 51 is located in which U.S. state?
Answer: Nevada
65. What U.S. fast food chain is credited with introducing the first drive-through window to the masses?
Answer: In-N-Out Burger
66. What temperature does water boil at?
Answer: 212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Celsius
67. In what city and state is Harvard University located?
Answer: Cambridge, Massachusetts
68. Who is the actress with the longest-running TV career?
Answer: Betty White
69. What does DNA stand for?
Answer: Deoxyribonucleic Acid
70. What is celebrated on February 2 and is also a film?
Answer: Groundhog Day
71. Which is the only vowel on a standard keyboard that is not on the top line of letters?
Answer: A
72. What is the longest running American animated TV show?
Answer: The Simpsons
73. Where in the human body is the smallest bone located?
Answer: The ear
74. What is the capital city of Canada?
Answer: Ottawa
75. Which planet in our solar system has the most moons?
Answer: Jupiter
76. What does BMW stand for (in English)?
Answer: Bavarian Motor Works
77. In what year was the first birth control pill made available to the public in the U.S.?
Answer: 1960
78. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was written by which writer?
Answer: Arthur Conan Doyle
79. What city is built atop the ruins of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan?
Answer: Mexico City, Mexico
80. What temperature does water boil at?
Answer: 212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Celsius
81. Who holds the title of top scorer of all time in NCAA Division I basketball?
Answer: Caitlin Clark
82. Who was the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director?
Answer: Kathryn Bigelow, who won in 2010 for The Hurt Locker
83. Which country is known as the Land of the Rising Sun?
Answer: Japan
84. In what year did the first Walt Disney World park open in Florida?
Answer: 1971
85. What is the most commonly spoken language in the world?
Answer: Mandarin Chinese
86. What is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature?
Answer: Mercury
87. Which famous activist was placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list in 1970 after being falsely accused of conspiring to break a member of the Black Panther Party out of jail?
Answer: Angela Davis
88. What are the three water signs of the zodiac?
Answer: Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio
89. Which animal can be seen on the Porsche logo?
Answer: Horse
90. What is the slogan of Apple Inc.?
Answer: Think Different
91. How many ribs are in a human body?
Answer: Twenty-four
92. What are the two main ingredients in the classic French dish coq qu vin?
Answer: Chicken — bonus point if you specifically guessed rooster! — and red wine
93. Where did Winnie the Pooh and his crew live, serving as the setting for their adventures with Christopher Robin?
Answer: The Hundred Acre Wood
94. In what year did the Titanic sink?
Answer: 1912
95. What is the chemical symbol for oxygen?
Answer: O
96. What is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea?
Answer: Sicily
97. What was Princess Diana's maiden name?
Answer: Spencer
98. Who composed the "Moonlight Sonata"?
Answer: Ludwig van Beethoven
99. What dish featuring minced meat, onions, and oatmeal is the national dish of Scotland?
Answer: Haggis
100. What was director Spike Lee’s first feature-length film, later adapted as a Netflix show?
Answer: She’s Gotta Have It
101. In The Chronicles of Narnia, what does Edmund ultimately betray his family and Aslan in exchange for after meeting the White Witch?
Answer: Turkish Delight — our guy really betrayed all of his siblings and brought eternal winter on Narnia in exchange for Turkey’s equivalent to gummy worms
102. What is the process by which plants release water vapor into the air called?
Answer: Transpiration
103. What famous Texan-born singer was popularly called the "Queen of Tejano” during her too-short lifetime?
Answer: Selena Quintanilla-Pérez
104. What flagship menu item first put today’s second-largest fast food burger chain in the world on the map in 1957?
Answer: The Whopper
105. Which amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery, if only in name and not in influence?
Answer: The 13th Amendment
106. What color is opposite blue on the color wheel?
Answer: Orange
107. What is the name of the fermented cabbage dish that’s a staple in Korean cuisine?
Answer: Kimchi
108. What is the name of the ancient Greek poet who inspired the coining of the term lesbianism?
Answer: Sappho
109. What was the better-known name of the actress born Norma Jeane Mortenson?
Answer: Marilyn Monroe
110. What was the last name of the four Dominican sisters who rebelled against the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo and were assassinated for their activism in 1960, as memorialized in Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of Butterflies?
Answer: Mirabal
111. What best-selling book and movie franchise was originally created as Twilight fanfiction under the pen name Snowqueen Icedragon?
Answer: 50 Shades of Grey
Random trivia questions and answers
If you see trivia nights first and foremost as the chance to learn something new, you’ll probably love this roundup of some of our favorite random trivia questions and answers. (And if you’re the person who likes to fill lulls in conversation with random fun facts, you’ll definitely want to file these away, too.)
1. Which marine animals hold hands in their sleep to prevent drifting apart?
Answer: Sea otters, and my system is unable to process that level of cuteness.
2. What type of flower was once used as money?
Answer: Tulips, whose bulbs were once used as a form of currency in Holland!
3. In what country do more than half of people believe in elves?
Answer: Iceland
4. For up to how long do cicadas live underground before emerging above ground for just a few weeks?
Answer: 17 years
5. Where is the world’s tallest roller coaster?
Answer: New Jersey (at Six Flags Great Adventure — it’s the Kingda Ka roller coaster, with a height of 456 feet)
6. What is the national animal of Scotland?
Answer: The unicorn
7. What is the largest living structure on Earth?
Answer: The Great Barrier Reef, located off the coast of Queensland, Australia
8. Globe and Jerusalem are both types of what?
Answer: Artichokes
9. Which planet is the hottest in the solar system?
Answer: Venus
10. Which bone are babies born without?
Answer: Knee cap
11. Which planet has the most gravity?
Answer: Jupiter
12. What is the smallest country in the world?
Answer: Vatican City
13. How many Pyramids of Giza were made?
Answer: Three
14. What is the national dish of Spain?
Answer: Paella
15. Where is the tallest building in the world located?
Answer: Dubai, where the Burj Khalifa stands at a height of 2,717 feet
16. Which mammal has no vocal cords?
Answer: Giraffe
17. According to Greek mythology, who was the first woman on earth?
Answer: Pandora
18. Fissures, vents, and plugs are all associated with which geological feature?
Answer: Volcanos
19. Which country consumes the most chocolate per capita?
Answer: Switzerland
20. What is the loudest animal on Earth?
Answer: The sperm whale
21. What was the first toy to be advertised on television?
Answer: Mr. Potato Head
22. How many eyes does a bee have?
Answer: Five
23. Which bird can fly backward?
Answer: The hummingbird
24. What is the only continent without any active volcanoes?
Answer: Australia
25. What is the tallest breed of dog in the world?
Answer: The Great Dane
26. What is the hardest naturally occurring substance in the world?
Answer: A diamond
27. What did the first message sent by telegram — basically, the first text message — say?
Answer” “What hath God wrought,” sent by Samuel Morse in 1844
28. What state in the U.S. has only two escalators?
Answer: Wyoming
29. In what one country will you find, from start to finish, the longest road?
Answer: The U.S. — Route 20 covers 3,365 miles. If looking at roads that aren’t contained within one country, the longest road is the Pan-American Highway at 19,000 miles.
30. In what country is the world’s oldest university located?
Answer: Italy — found in the city of Bologna, the University of Bologna was founded in 1088
31. What country has the longest coastline of any country in the world?
Answer: Canada, with 125,570 miles of coastline
32. In what country is the world’s highest post office located?
Answer: India — the post office of Hikkim, Himachal Pradesh, is found at an altitude of 14,567 feet
33. What is the only mammal capable of sustained flight?
Answer: The bat
34. What is the only letter that doesn't appear in any U.S. state name?
Answer: Q
35. What musical artist today spent 13 years as a competitive gymnast, holding the title of fifth-ranked gymnast in the U.S. during their sophomore year of high school?
Answer: SZA
36. In Japan, what is the name for the edible pufferfish, notorious for its potentially lethal toxins if not prepared correctly?
Answer: Fugu
37. What is the collective noun for a pack of pug dogs?
Answer: A grumble
38. What late-19th century U.S. invention was intended to “tackle the twin national crises of indigestion and masturbation”?
Answer: Corn flakes
39. What actress went viral for lying about loving limes?
Answer: Dakota Johnson
40. What is the one animal species to-date that’s officially classified as “biologically immortal?”
Answer: Turritopsis dohrnii jellyfish, also known as "immortal jellyfish” (there are a small handful of other organisms with characteristics thought to be similar to biological immortality, but so far, this jellyfish species is the only one commonly agreed upon)
41. The face of what U.S. politician was used to test the intelligence of crows?
Answer: Dick Cheney — masks of the former Vice President’s face were used in a famous study
42. What is the shortest war in history?
Answer: The Anglo-Zanzibar War, which lasted 38 minutes in 1896
43. What is the only food that does not spoil?
Answer: Honey
44. What famous historical queen is today remembered for, among other things, her X-rated taste in furniture?
Answer: Catherine the Great
45. In what country is fermented shark, which smells heavily of ammonia, treated as a national delicacy?
Answer: Iceland
Easy trivia questions and answers
So, you want to host a trivia night where the questions aren’t literally impossible to answer. We hear you. The following list of easy trivia questions may not be totally free of challenges — because where would be the fun in that? — but they should work for a group of pretty much any trivia skill level!
1. Which country is both an island and a continent?
Answer: Australia
2. What is the name of the world’s longest river?
Answer: The Nile
3. How many Lord of the Rings films are there?
Answer: Three
4. Who is the only U.S. president to serve more than two terms in office?
Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt
5. Which Williams sister has won more Grand Slam titles?
Answer: Serena
6. What type of shark is responsible for the most attacks on humans annually?
Answer: Great white sharks — but the number of attacks is small. In 2023, seven people were attacked by a great white.
7. In the United Kingdom, what is the day after Christmas known as?
Answer: Boxing Day
8. Which artist painted "The Starry Night"?
Answer: Vincent van Gogh
9. What is the largest ocean on Earth?
Answer: The Pacific Ocean
10. Which gas makes up the majority of Earth's atmosphere?
Answer: Nitrogen
11. Which planet is known as the "Red Planet"?
Answer: Mars
12. What is the official national anthem of the United States of America?
Answer: “The Star Spangled Banner”
13. Who was the first Disney Princess?
Answer: Snow White — the movie came out in 1937! (But if you’re a diehard Disney trivia fan, you probably knew that.)
14. Which American state is the largest (by area)?
Answer: Alaska
15. How many stripes does Adidas have in its logo?
Answer: Three
16. What natural wonder is commonly referred to as “the Lungs of the World”?
Answer: The Amazon Rainforest
17. Which country won the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2019?
Answer: The United States
18. Which iconic baseball player broke Major League Baseball’s racial segregation barrier in 1947?
Answer: Jackie Robinson
19. What song did Tom Holland famously perform for his appearance on Lip Sync Battle in 2017?
Answer: “Umbrella” by Rihanna (if you’re one of the 10 people on the planet who hasn’t seen this video, do yourself a favor and watch it now)
20. On what television show did both Ryan Gosling and Christina Aguliera get their start?
Answer: The Mickey Mouse Club
21. Which ancient civilization built the famous city of Machu Picchu in Peru?
Answer: The Inca civilization
22. What is the four-word nickname given to the titular character of the Harry Potter series?
Answer: The Boy Who Lived
23. What is the term for the fear of spiders?
Answer: Arachnophobia
24. Who is the youngest person to ever win a Nobel Prize?
Answer: Malala Yousafzai, who won at age 17!
25. What’s the most-consumed beverage in the world that is not water?
Answer: Tea
26. How many Cheetah Girls are there in the movie series of the same title?
Answer: Four
27. How many justices serve on the United States Supreme Court?
Answer: Nine
28. Which empire was ruled by Emperor Nero?
Answer: The Roman Empire
29. What’s the only vegetable that is also classified as a flower?
Answer: Broccoli
30. What is the study of fossils called?
Answer: Paleontology
31. Who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?
Answer: Michelangelo
32. What is the name of the central protagonist in J.D. Salinger’s classic book The Catcher in the Rye?
Answer: Holden Caulfield
33. What breakfast cereal has been represented by a cartoon toucan mascot since 1963?
Answer: Froot Loops
34. Which scale are earthquakes measured on?
Answer: The Richter Scale
35. What are the last names of the warring families in Romeo and Juliet?
Answer: The Montagues and Capulets
Hard trivia questions and answers
So, you breezed right through our list of easy, general knowledge trivia questions and now you’re ready to kick things up a notch. Whip out some of these difficult trivia questions, covering topics from technology to world history to geography, the next time you’re looking to really stump your friends. But be warned: We’re not calling these tough trivia questions for nothing!
1. How many countries are in the European Union?
Answer: 27
2. What is the smallest unit of memory in computers?
Answer: A bit, short for binary digit
3. The Hawaiian Islands archipelago is made up of what number of major islands?
Answer: Eight major islands (plus a bunch of smaller islands and islets for a total of 137 islands!)
4. Who is considered the first female self-made millionaire in the U.S.?
Answer: Madam C.J. Walker, a Black woman and entrepreneur who built a hugely successful haircare and beauty product business in the early 1900s
5. How many colors were on the original Pride flag, flown at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in 1978?
Answer: Eight (the flag’s pink and turquoise stripes were later dropped for production reasons)
6. What country has the national language with the longest alphabet?
Answer: Cambodia — their national language, Khmer, has 74 characters
7. What does “HTTP” stand for?
Answer: HyperText Transfer Protocol
8. How many keys are on a modern, standard-sized piano?
Answer: 88
9. Which intercontinental city is divided into two separate parts by the Bosphorus Strait, with half of the city in Europe and half in Asia?
Answer: Istanbul, Turkey
10. What nation has the highest number of time zones in the world?
Answer: France — including its colonized territories and territorial claim in Antarctica, France represents 13 time zones
11. The Hays Code and its “morality” guidelines, used to censor Hollywood movies, were in effect until when?
Answer: 1968 — the code started in 1930
12. What movie holds the record for the most successful movie of all time at the Irish box office?
Answer: Barbie (you thought we were going to say something Irish-y, didn’t you?)
13. What element are human beings predominantly composed of?
Answer: Carbon
14. The Goo Goo Dolls wrote “Iris” for what movie?
Answer: City of Angels, which means that, yes, the lyrics of “Iris” are really about the plot of a Nicholas Cage movie
15. Name three movies that are based on rides or attractions at Walt Disney World. (Naming multiple movies in the same franchise doesn’t count.)
Answers: Tower of Terror, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Mission to Mars, The Country Bears, The Haunted Mansion, Tomorrowland, Jungle Cruise
16. What Nobel Prize in Literature and U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient said they spent their “entire writing life trying to make sure that the white gaze was not the dominant one in any of my books”?
Answer: Toni Morrison
17. Who invented the World Wide Web?
Answer: Tim Berners-Lee
18. What is the term for the fear of being without a mobile phone or unable to use it?
Answer: Nomophobia
19. What was the working title for the movie-turned-phenomenon Everything Everywhere All At Once?
Answer: A Woman Tries to Do Her Taxes, which, frankly, is incredible
20. Who is the youngest-ever person to win an Oscar?
Answer: Tatum O'Neal, who won Best Supporting Actress at age 10 for her role in Paper Moon
21. What modern-day country was home to the ancient civilization credited with inventing, among many things, beer some 5,000 years ago?
Answer: Iraq — the Sumerians are most commonly credited with inventing beer in ancient Mesopotamia
22. What product made for surfers in Australia eventually blew up as a global celebrity fashion staple in the early 2000s?
Answer: Uggs
23. Although Bram Stoker’s character draws inspiration from multiple sources, including folklore, who in history is thought to be the primary real-life template for Dracula?
Answer: Vlad the Impaler
24. Who was the top-earning Hollywood star of 2023?
Answer: Adam Sandler, and to that we say, how??
25. What best-selling author and TV star had an earlier career as a secret agent, during which time they contributed to the development of a still-in-use shark repellent to keep curious sharks from detonating underwater explosives?
Answer: Julia Child
26. What national park is home to the largest population of Photinus carolinus — fireflies that blink in synchronization — in the Western Hemisphere?
Answer: The Great Smoky Mountains National Park
27. What two seminal horror texts do we owe to the utter boredom of getting rained-in on vacation?
Answer: Frankenstein and The Vampyre (the precursor to Bram Stoker’s Dracula)
28. What is the world's largest flower?
Answer: Rafflesia arnoldii, also known as the “corpse flower” due to it smelling like, well, a corpse
29. Where was coffee invented, according to most researchers as well as a popular legend about a goat herder?
Answer: Ethiopia
30. Question: Which word in the English language is spelled incorrectly in every dictionary?
Answer: Incorrectly (be honest, we know we got you with this one!)
31. The poet Emily Dickinson has a sixth cousin, three times removed, who is famous for writing so-called “quill-pen songs” — who is that person?
Answer: Taylor Swift
32. What Pulitzer Prize winner is credited with coining the term “colorism” in 1982?
Answer: Alice Walker
33. What is the name of the ship that rescued Titanic passengers hours after the “unsinkable” ship went down?
Answer: The Carpathia
34. With their posthumous Grammy win in 1994, what Hollywood star joined a list of just 19 EGOT winners?
Answer: Audrey Hepburn — her Grammy was for Best Spoken Word Album for Children, and who even knew that category existed?
35. What is the deepest known part of the ocean?
Answer: The Mariana Trench, which has a maximum depth of 36,070 feet
Pop culture trivia questions and answers
Lovers of pop culture trivia, we see you. Though general knowledge trivia questions about music and movies have appeared throughout our list, if you’re a dedicated cinephile or have been studying up on your music history, you’re in luck. We’re dedicating our final two quiz sections to pop culture trivia questions, with entries that span several decades of music and film history — meaning, these should play well for a multi-gen trivia night group. (Helllllo, family game night!) Let’s kick things off with…
Music trivia questions
1. Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin all belong to what unfortunate group?
Answer: The 27 Club
2. Who besides Britney Spears did Madonna kiss at the 2003 VMAs?
Answer: Christina Aguilera
3. What song holds the title of the very first music video to ever premiere on MTV?
Answer: “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles
4. With what album did Beyoncé start her solo career?
Answer: Dangerously In Love
5. What is the stage name of Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta?
Answer: Lady Gaga
6. Who sang the first recorded version of “Strange Fruit,” a classic, haunting protest song against racism and violence against Black bodies?
Answer: Billie Holiday
7. Who was the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?
Answer: Aretha Franklin
8. What musical artist played a whopping 27 different instruments on their debut album, “For You”?
Answer: Prince
9. Where did the band ABBA form?
Answer: Sweden
10. Which Beatles’ single was No. 1 on the Billboard charts for the longest stretch of time?
Answer: “Hey Jude”
11. What was the Notorious BIG’s real first name?
Answer: Christopher
12. How old was Taylor Swift when she took home her first Album of the Year Grammy?
Answer: 20
13. Starchild, Demon, Spaceman (or Space Ace), and Catman are the on-stage personas of what band?
Answer: KISS
14. How many members does BTS have?
Answer: Seven
15. What was The Beach Boys’ first No. 1 single, out of a total of four?
Answer: “I Get Around”
16. What instrument does Lizzo play?
Answer: The Flute
17. What musical artist cast themselves as every character in a 1978 televised performance of West Side Story?
Answer: Cher
18. What is the longest-running band still featuring its original lineup?
Answer: U2
19. What is the best-selling album of all time in the U.S.?
Answer: “Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)” by the Eagles — we wish we were kidding
20. How did Otis Redding die?
Answer: A plane crash
21. Which famous country artist had a hit in 1957 with “Walkin’ After Midnight”?
Answer: Patsy Cline
22. In 2017, what single topped the charts in 47 countries simultaneously?
Answer: “Despacito”
23. Who did Beyoncé edge out in 2021 for the title of female artist with the most Grammys?
Answer: Alison Krauss
24. What is the name of Led Zeppelin’s fourth studio album, which includes the song “Stairway to Heaven”?
Answer: It’s untitled! Although it’s most often referred to as Led Zeppelin IV
25. Ariana Grande started her career at age 15 in what Broadway musical?
Answer: 13
26. Who is the youngest person to ever win a Grammy Award for Album of the Year?
Answer: Billie Eilish (she was 18)
27. Who released the song "Uptown Funk," which, in 2015, spent 14 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart?
Answer: Mark Ronson — the song features Bruno Mars but was the lead single from Ronson’s fourth studio album
28. What was the first song written by Olivia Rodrigo to enter the Billboard Hot 100?
Answer: “All I Want” — Rodrigo wrote it for High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and it entered the Billboard Hot 100 in January 2020
29. How many of the 10 top-selling albums of 2023 were Taylor Swift albums?
Answer: Five
30. Who is the first Black woman with a sole songwriting credit on a No. 1 country hit?
Answer: Tracy Chapman, via Luke Combs’ cover of her hit song “Fast Car”
31. Who won the 2024 Grammy for Record of the Year?
Answer: Miley Cyrus for “Flowers”
32. How many solo albums has Lauryn Hill, who first rose to fame as part of hip-hop trio The Fugees, put out?
Answer: One – despite the impact of her debut solo album, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” Hill has not released another solo work
33. What’s the name of the influential punk band formed by Kathleen Hanna in the early 1990s?
Answer: Bikini Kill
34. Who are the three members of indie supergroup boygenius, a band that’s been called “the Beatles for tortured bisexuals”?
Answer: Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus
35. What are the first names of all five members of the Backstreet Boys?
Answer: Nick, AJ, Brian, Kevin, and Howie
Movie trivia questions
1. What movie is the Oscar-nominated song “Journey to the Past” from?
Answer: Anastasia
2. Who plays the Fairy Godmother in the 1997 version of Cinderella, starring Brandy?
Answer: Whitney Houston
3. How many children are in the Von Trapp family in The Sound of Music?
Answer: Seven
4. What is the highest-grossing movie of all time?
Answer: Avatar
5. What specific shade does Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly dedicate a monologue to in The Devil Wears Prada?
Answer: Cerulean
6. What famous documentary depicts New York City’s ballroom scene at the height of the AIDS epidemic in the mid-to-late 1980s?
Answer: Paris is Burning
7. What was the first feature-length animated movie ever released?
Answer: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
8. What is the name of the character played perfectly by Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park and significantly less perfectly by Goldblum in The Lost World: Jurassic Park?
Answer: Ian Malcolm
9. What’s the name of the iconic dance that starts with a “jump to the left” in The Rocky Horror Picture Show?
Answer: The Time Warp
10. In what fictional town is Jaws set?
Answer: Amity Island
11. What musical group is the movie Dreamgirls purportedly based on?
Answer: Although the movie is a fictional blend of multiple Motown female-led singing groups, it’s thought to draw the most from the Supremes
12. In Titanic, where is Jack Dawson from?
Answer: Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
13. What does the movie rating “R” stand for?
Answer: Restricted
14. What movie is Alan Rickman’s first film credit?
Answer: Die Hard
15. The costume designer for Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion also did the costumes for what other iconic 90s-fashion movie?
Answer: Clueless
16. Who is the only Disney princess to have been inspired by a real person?
Answer: Pocahontas — although given Disney’s historical inaccuracies, let’s go ahead and call this one capital-L Loosely inspired
17. How many suns does the planet Tatooine, Luke’s home, have in Star Wars?
Answer: Two
18. What was the first — and still only — horror movie to win the Oscar for Best Picture?
Answer: Silence of the Lambs
19. What movie was the first non-English film to win the Oscar for Best Picture?
Answer: Parasite
20. What is the name of the hotel in Psycho?
Answer: The Bates Motel
21. How many times has the movie A Star is Born been remade?
Answer: Four times
22. Why is Ally Sheedy’s character in detention in The Breakfast Club?
Answer: She “didn’t have anything better to do”
23. Who was the first Black actress to win an Oscar?
Answer: Hattie McDaniel, who won Best Supporting Actress in 1940 for her role in Gone With the Wind
24. What three movies share the title for winner of the most Oscars?
Answer: The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Ben-Hur, Titanic
25. What is the name of Tom Cruise’s character in the Mission Impossible series?
Answer: Ethan Hunt
26. What iconic Old Hollywood actress is famous for saying "when I'm good, I'm very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better”?
Answer: Mae West
27. What 2000s band plays a central role in the Mary Kate and Ashley movie New York Minute?
Answer: Simple Plan
28. What does actor Barry Keoghan dance to at the end of Saltburn, giving the song a major second life two decades after its initial release?
Answer: “Murder on the Dancefloor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor
29. What is the name of the fictional African nation depicted in the Marvel movie Black Panther?
Answer: Wakanda
30. What 2011 movie features Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as love interests and a dance move pulled straight out of Dirty Dancing?
Answer: Crazy, Stupid, Love
31. What is the name of the character Michael Cera plays in the 2023 Barbie movie?
Answer: Allan
32. In the The Hunger Games, what is the name of the fictional nation where the story takes place?
Answer: Panem
33. Following The Joy Luck Club in 1993, what was the next major Hollywood feature film to star a predominantly Asian cast?
Answer: Crazy Rich Asians in 2018 — that’s 25 years after The Joy Luck Club
34. What 2019 heartfelt teen buddy-comedy movie was directed, in her directorial debut, by Olivia Wilde?
Answer: Booksmart
35. Where does Lizzie McGuire travel to in the Lizzie McGuire Movie for her junior high graduation class trip?
Answer: Rome, and real talk, what group of 14-year-olds whose parents aren’t in the 1% get to go to Italy for graduating 8th grade?
36. What is the name of the rock camp that Demi Lovato’s Mitchie Torres and Joe Jonas’ Shane Gray attend in the classic Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock?
Answer: Camp Rock (sorry-not-sorry for the trick trivia question!)
37. What’s the last name of the three witch sisters in the classic Halloween movie Hocus Pocus?
Answer: Sanderson
38. What song do Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, and Bette Midler iconically dance to at the end of The First Wives Club?
Answer: “You Don’t Own Me” by Lesley Gore
39. What does the dad of Robin Williams’ Alan Parrish do for a living in Jumanji?
Answer: He owns a shoe factory
40. What’s the name of Andie (Molly Ringwald)’s best friend in Pretty in Pink?
Answer: Duckie
41. What does Cady come to the Halloween party dressed up as in Mean Girls?
Answer: Any variation of “Frankenstein’s bride,” “zombie bride,” or “scary bride” works!
42. What Shakespeare play is 10 Things I Hate About You loosely based on?
Answer: The Taming of the Shrew
43. What’s the name of the kind, caring teacher in Matilda?
Answer: Miss Honey
44. Who wins the famous “I’ll play you for your heart” basketball game at the end of Love & Basketball?
Answer: Monica
45. What’s the name of the magical land Tia and Tamara Mowry hail from in Twitches?
Answer: Coventry
46. What was the first-ever Mary Kate and Ashley movie?
Answer: To Grandma’s House We Go (1992), a made-for-TV movie — their first feature film was It Takes Two (1995)
47. Who does Sarah Michelle Gellar play in the 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie?
Answer: No one — the movie came out five years before the TV show and, though it’s also written by Joss Whedon, is otherwise a totally unrelated production
48. What kind of blood is Carrie covered in after being crowned prom queen in the movie Carrie?
Answer: Pig’s blood
49. How many letters did Lara Jean write in the breakout-hit Netflix series To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before?
Answer: Five
50. Out of a list of dozens of rules, what’s rule No. 1 for surviving the zombie apocalypse in the movie Zombieland?
Answer: Cardio (the more famous “double tap” is rule No. 2)
Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
