60 Fun Facts About 2022 Music

Which album won Album of the Year at the 65th Grammy Awards in February 2023?

Harry's House won over a field that included Adele's 30 and Renaissance; Styles also took Best Pop Vocal Album that night.

Which Lizzo single won Record of the Year at the 65th Grammy Awards?

About Damn Time reached number one in July 2022 after a viral TikTok dance, and made Lizzo the first Black woman to win Record of the Year since Whitney Houston in 1994.

Which veteran blues singer won Song of the Year for 'Just Like That' at the 65th Grammys?

Bonnie Raitt wrote 'Just Like That' alone, about a mother meeting the man who received her late son's heart, and was the first sole female songwriter to win since Amy Winehouse's 'Rehab' in 2008.

Which jazz singer won Best New Artist at the 65th Grammys, the first from the genre since Esperanza Spalding?

Samara Joy beat higher-profile nominees including Måneskin, Latto and Anitta; her second album, Linger Awhile, had come out in September 2022.

Who passed Georg Solti in 2023 as the most-awarded artist in Grammy history, with 32 wins?

Beyoncé's 32nd Grammy, Best Dance/Electronic Album for Renaissance, took her past conductor Georg Solti's 31 after she had tied him earlier the same night.

Which US number-one single led the July 2022 album Renaissance?

Break My Soul, released in June 2022, samples Robin S.'s house classic 'Show Me Love' and Big Freedia, and topped the Hot 100 that August.

Taylor Swift's Midnights, released in October 2022, was which number studio album for her?

Tenth of her studio albums, Midnights was framed as thirteen sleepless nights from across her life; the Eras Tour was announced on Good Morning America eleven days after its release.

Which Midnights lead single topped the week Taylor Swift held every spot in the Hot 100 top 10?

Anti-Hero led the chart dated November 5, 2022, when Midnights tracks filled the entire top ten; Drake had held nine of the ten spots in 2021.

How many tickets did the Eras Tour sell on the first day of its US presale in November 2022, a record?

Over 2.4 million tickets went in a day; Ticketmaster's site buckled, the general sale was cancelled, and the fallout led to a US Senate hearing in January 2023.

How many weeks did Harry Styles's 'As It Was' spend at number one on the Hot 100 in 2022?

As It Was spent 15 weeks at number one, yet finished only second on the 2022 year-end Hot 100, behind a track that had been on the chart since January 2021.

Which British band's 'Heat Waves' took a record 59 weeks to reach the top of the Hot 100?

Glass Animals released 'Heat Waves' in 2020 on the album Dreamland, and it crept up the chart for more than a year before finally reaching number one in March 2022.

Which 1985 Kate Bush song hit UK number one in June 2022 after featuring in Stranger Things?

Running Up That Hill had peaked at number three in 1985; the Stranger Things boost took it to UK number one and to number three on the Hot 100, far above its original peak of 30.

At what age did Kate Bush become the oldest female artist ever to top the UK singles chart, in June 2022?

At 63 she passed Cher's mark as the oldest female artist to reach UK number one; the 37 years from release to the top and the 44-year gap since 'Wuthering Heights' were records too.

Which Encanto song topped the Hot 100 for five weeks in 2022, only the second Disney animated song to do so?

We Don't Talk About Bruno followed 'A Whole New World' (1993) as only the second song from a Disney animated film to top the Hot 100; Disney had put up 'Dos Oruguitas' for the Oscar instead, and it lost.

Who wrote the eight original songs on the chart-topping Encanto soundtrack?

Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the eight original songs, while Germaine Franco composed the score; it was the first Disney soundtrack to top the Billboard 200 since Frozen II in 2019.

Which 2022 album was Spotify's most-streamed album of the year?

Un Verano Sin Ti spent 13 non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200, and its maker was Spotify's most-streamed artist for the third year running.

Which country won the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Turin with the song 'Stefania' by Kalush Orchestra?

Ukraine took a record 439 televote points; since the country could not safely host, the 2023 contest was staged in Liverpool on its behalf.

Which singer's 'Space Man' finished second for the UK at Eurovision 2022?

Sam Ryder had built his following posting covers on TikTok during lockdown; his 466 points gave the UK a record sixteenth runner-up finish.

Which rapper made a surprise appearance at the February 2022 Super Bowl halftime show?

50 Cent performed 'In da Club' hanging upside down; the show, the first halftime built around hip hop, also became the first to win a Primetime Emmy for a live variety special.

Which Foo Fighters drummer died in Bogotá in March 2022, hours before a festival show?

Taylor Hawkins, 50, had drummed for Alanis Morissette before joining the band in 1997; tribute concerts at Wembley and the Kia Forum followed in September 2022.

Which country legend initially declined her 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination, then accepted?

Dolly Parton said she had not earned the honour, then accepted and was inducted in November 2022; she recorded the rock album Rockstar in 2023 to make good on it.

Kim Petras became the first openly transgender woman to win a Grammy for which 2022 duet with Sam Smith?

Unholy topped the Hot 100 in October 2022 after a TikTok tease went viral a month before release, and won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 65th Grammys.

Nicki Minaj's August 2022 number-one single is built on a sample of which 1981 Rick James hit?

Super Freak, Rick James's 1981 hit, also powered MC Hammer's 'U Can't Touch This' in 1990; Minaj's track was 'Super Freaky Girl'.

Which K-pop girl group's Born Pink was the first album by a female Korean act to top the Billboard 200, in 2022?

Blackpink's Born Pink also became the first K-pop girl-group album to reach number one in the UK; its lead single 'Shut Down' is built on Paganini's 'La Campanella'.

Which former member of the Internet hit number one in 2022 with 'Bad Habit'?

Steve Lacy, who famously produced early tracks on an iPhone, took 'Bad Habit' to number one in October 2022, the first song to top the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop and Hot Rock & Alternative charts at once.

Who won Album of the Year for We Are at the April 2022 Grammys, the first held in Las Vegas?

Jon Batiste, then bandleader on The Late Show, won five awards that night, the most of anyone; the ceremony had been postponed from January because of Omicron.

Silk Sonic won Record and Song of the Year in 2022 for which song?

Leave the Door Open took both Record and Song of the Year; the retro-soul duo then withdrew their album from the following year's Grammys, saying they had already won enough for it.

Who won Best New Artist at the Grammys in April 2022, the year after 'Drivers License' and Sour?

Olivia Rodrigo also took Best Pop Vocal Album for Sour and Best Pop Solo Performance for 'Drivers License' that night; Doja Cat's win came in the duo/group category, for 'Kiss Me More'.

ABBA Voyage, the virtual residency that opened in London in 2022, shows the band as they looked in which year?

The 'ABBAtars' show the members as they looked in 1979, built from weeks of motion capture with the four, then in their seventies, and perform with a live ten-piece band.

Which visual-effects company created the digital 'ABBAtars' used in ABBA Voyage?

Industrial Light & Magic, the effects house George Lucas founded for Star Wars, built the avatars from motion capture; the show runs in a purpose-built arena at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Elton John's 2022 duet 'Hold Me Closer' was whose first release after a long conservatorship ended?

Britney Spears's first recording since her conservatorship ended in November 2021, it stitches together 'Tiny Dancer', 'The One' and 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart', and debuted at number six in the US.

Rihanna's 'Lift Me Up' was recorded for the soundtrack of which 2022 film?

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever's closing-credits song was written as a tribute to Chadwick Boseman with Tems, Ludwig Göransson and Ryan Coogler, and earned an Oscar nomination.

Which BTS member was the first to enlist for South Korean military service, in December 2022?

Jin, the oldest member, had deferred as long as the law allowed and entered boot camp on December 13, 2022; the group had announced a pause that June to pursue solo projects.

Which Spanish singer's album Motomami won Album of the Year at the 2022 Latin Grammys?

Rosalía's Motomami mixes reggaeton, flamenco and experimental pop, opening with 'Saoko'; it also took Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album at the 65th Grammys.

Drake's surprise-released June 2022 album Honestly, Nevermind was a departure into which style?

House and dance grooves, made partly with South African DJ Black Coffee, replaced his usual rap; announced on Instagram hours before release, it nonetheless debuted at number one, his eleventh US chart-topper.

Kendrick Lamar's 2022 Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers ended a five-year gap since which album?

Damn came out in April 2017 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Music; Mr. Morale was his last album with Top Dawg Entertainment and his first under his own company, pgLang.

Which actor narrates the Weeknd's January 2022 album Dawn FM as the voice of its purgatory radio station?

Jim Carrey voices the radio host guiding listeners through purgatory; Quincy Jones and Josh Safdie also have spoken parts on the second album of a trilogy that began with After Hours.

In June 2022 Justin Bieber postponed tour dates after which condition paralysed one side of his face?

Ramsay Hunt syndrome occurs when the chickenpox virus reactivates near the ear and attacks the facial nerve; Bieber played his last show at Rock in Rio that September and cancelled the rest of the tour.

Which Fleetwood Mac keyboardist, who wrote 'Songbird' and 'Little Lies', died in November 2022 aged 79?

Christine McVie, born Christine Perfect, twice won Melody Maker's best female vocalist award with the blues band Chicken Shack before joining Fleetwood Mac in 1970.

Which country legend, subject of the 1980 film Coal Miner's Daughter, died in October 2022 aged 90?

Loretta Lynn was born Loretta Webb in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky; Sissy Spacek won the Best Actress Oscar for playing her in Coal Miner's Daughter.

Which 'Gangsta's Paradise' rapper died in Los Angeles in September 2022, aged 59?

Coolio's 'Gangsta's Paradise', from the film Dangerous Minds, interpolates Stevie Wonder's 'Pastime Paradise' and won him the 1996 Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance.

Which Grease star, singer of 'Physical', died in California in August 2022 aged 73?

Olivia Newton-John had been treated for breast cancer three times over three decades and founded a cancer wellness and research centre in Melbourne.

What was the birth name of Meat Loaf, who died in January 2022?

Marvin Lee Aday later legally changed his first name to Michael; Bat Out of Hell had sold more than 40 million copies worldwide by the time of his death.

Which member of Migos was shot and killed in Houston on November 1, 2022, aged 28?

Takeoff, the youngest of the trio and Quavo's nephew, was shot outside a Houston bowling alley; Migos had scored its first number one with 'Bad and Boujee' in 2017.

Which rock and roll pioneer nicknamed 'The Killer' died in October 2022 aged 87?

Jerry Lee Lewis became a star in 1957 with 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On' and 'Great Balls of Fire', and was the last survivor of Sun Records' 'Million Dollar Quartet'.

In April 2022 Ed Sheeran won a UK copyright case over which hit, accused of copying the song 'Oh Why'?

Shape of You was cleared in the High Court, the judge finding Sheeran had 'neither deliberately nor subconsciously copied' Sami Chokri's 'Oh Why'; he won a separate US trial over 'Thinking Out Loud' in 2023.

When Ye dropped out of headlining Coachella 2022 two weeks before the festival, who replaced him?

Swedish House Mafia and the Weeknd closed both Sunday nights; it was the first Coachella since 2019 after two pandemic cancellations.

At which venue did Adele's postponed Las Vegas residency finally begin in November 2022?

The Colosseum at Caesars Palace hosted Weekends with Adele from November 18, 2022 until November 2024, after a January 2022 start was scrapped over production delays and COVID cases on her team.

Which Metallica song first charted after Eddie Munson played it in Stranger Things' season-four finale?

Master of Puppets, the 1986 title track, reached the Hot 100 for the first time; Metallica said they were 'blown away' by the scene and jammed with actor Joseph Quinn at Lollapalooza.

For which single did Adele win Song of the Year at the 2022 Brit Awards?

Easy on Me won Song of the Year, and Adele also took Artist of the Year and Album of the Year for 30 at the O2 ceremony hosted by Mo Gilligan.

Jack Harlow's 'First Class' (2022) heavily samples which 2006 Fergie hit?

Glamorous, from Fergie's 2006 album The Dutchess, featured Ludacris and was produced by Polow da Don; 'First Class' gave Harlow his first solo number one, after 'Industry Baby' with Lil Nas X.

Who won the 2022 Mercury Prize for Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, months after Best New Artist at the Brits?

Little Simz, born Simbiatu Ajikawo in north London, had already released three albums before Sometimes I Might Be Introvert took the prize in October 2022.

Which sportswear giant ended its Yeezy partnership with Kanye West in October 2022?

Adidas was left holding more than a billion euros of unsold Yeezy stock, and Forbes said West lost his billionaire status as a result of the split.

Which two guests joined Paul McCartney during his headline set at Glastonbury 2022?

Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen joined the 80-year-old McCartney on the Pyramid Stage; he had originally been booked for the cancelled 50th-anniversary festival in 2020.

Who became the youngest headliner in Glastonbury's history in June 2022?

Billie Eilish headlined the Pyramid Stage at 20, having replaced Taylor Swift on the postponed 2020 bill, alongside Kendrick Lamar and Paul McCartney.

SZA's December 2022 album SOS features a posthumous appearance by which Wu-Tang Clan rapper?

Ol' Dirty Bastard, who died in 2004, appears on the closing track 'Forgiveless'; the album also gave SZA her first Hot 100 chart-topper, 'Kill Bill'.

Which Puerto Rican superstar wrestled at WWE's 2022 Royal Rumble after debuting at WrestleMania 37?

Bad Bunny had teamed with Damian Priest at WrestleMania 37 in April 2021, and finished 2022 as Billboard's highest-grossing touring act of the year.

Which singer joined Latto on the March 2022 remix of "Big Energy" that pushed it into the top three?

Mariah Carey's own 1995 hit 'Fantasy' and the original 'Big Energy' both draw on Tom Tom Club's 1981 track 'Genius of Love', which is why she fit the remix.

In September 2022 the NFL said Apple Music would replace which ten-year Super Bowl halftime sponsor?

Pepsi had sponsored the halftime show since 2013; days after the Apple Music deal was announced, the league named Rihanna as the first headliner of the new era.

Which band received the Global Icon Award at the 2022 MTV VMAs, presented by Cheech & Chong?

Red Hot Chili Peppers accepted the Global Icon Award and performed at the Newark ceremony, hosted by LL Cool J, Nicki Minaj and Jack Harlow.