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This 2023 music trivia quiz has 78 free questions with answers, and it covers the whole year rather than one corner of it: Miley Cyrus opening the year with "Flowers", Morgan Wallen parking "Last Night" at No. 1 for 16 weeks, the Eras Tour and the Renaissance World Tour rewriting box-office records, Barbie taking over the radio, a Beatles single arriving in November, and Brenda Lee finally reaching No. 1 in December at age 78. You will find questions on the Billboard chart-toppers and the stories behind them, the 2023 and 2024 Grammy ceremonies that bookended the year, Eurovision in Liverpool, Coachella and Glastonbury, the big comebacks (blink-182, the Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters, Kiss's last show) and the losses (Tina Turner, Sinéad O'Connor, Jimmy Buffett). Difficulty runs from easy warm-ups to a few that only a chart obsessive will get. Every question was checked against Wikipedia and its cited sources before publishing, so the answers hold up in a pub quiz or a group chat argument. Play through the set, share your score, and see who really paid attention in 2023.
30 of 78 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Miley Cyrus single spent eight weeks at US No. 1 and was 2023's best-selling global single?
Flowers
Flowers debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in January 2023, logged eight weeks on top, and was named IFPI's Global Single of the Year for 2023.
Q 02Morgan Wallen's "Last Night" spent how many non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100?
16
Last Night spent 16 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 during 2023; it comes from Wallen's 36-track album One Thing at a Time.
Q 03Which BTS member's "Seven" (featuring Latto) debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in July 2023?
Jung Kook
Jung Kook's Seven, featuring Latto, debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 dated July 29, 2023, making him the second BTS member after Jimin to top the chart as a soloist.
Q 04SZA's "Kill Bill" broke which song's record for longest No. 1 run on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart?
Old Town Road
Kill Bill's 2023 run at No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs passed the 20-week record Lil Nas X's Old Town Road set in 2019.
Q 05Doja Cat's "Paint the Town Red" is built on a sample of which 1964 Dionne Warwick song?
Walk on By
Paint the Town Red samples Walk on By, Dionne Warwick's 1964 Burt Bacharach and Hal David hit; Doja Cat's track reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 in September 2023.
Q 06Which 2019 Taylor Swift album track went viral on the Eras Tour and hit No. 1 as a single in 2023?
Cruel Summer
Cruel Summer, from 2019's Lover, was co-written with Jack Antonoff and St. Vincent and reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 in October 2023, four years after release.
Q 07Oliver Anthony's 'Rich Men North of Richmond' made him the first artist to do what on the Hot 100?
Debut at No. 1 with no prior chart history
Rich Men North of Richmond debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 dated August 26, 2023, making Oliver Anthony the first act to debut at No. 1 with no prior chart history of any kind.
Q 08Which country singer's 'Try That in a Small Town' hit No. 1 in 2023 after CMT pulled its video?
Jason Aldean
Jason Aldean's Try That in a Small Town topped the Hot 100 dated August 5, 2023, after CMT pulled a video filmed at a Tennessee courthouse.
Q 09In which US city did Taylor Swift's Eras Tour open on March 17, 2023?
Glendale, Arizona
The Eras Tour opened at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on March 17, 2023; the city temporarily renamed itself 'Swift City' for the opening weekend.
Q 10In December 2023 the Eras Tour became the highest-grossing tour ever, overtaking whose farewell tour?
Elton John
Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour grossed about $939 million across 330 shows from 2018 to 2023, the record the Eras Tour overtook in December 2023.
Q 11Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour opened on May 10, 2023, in which city?
Stockholm
The Renaissance World Tour opened at Friends Arena in Stockholm on May 10, 2023, and closed at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium on October 1, 2023.
Q 12"Now and Then", the 2023 "last Beatles song", grew out of which Beatle's home demo from around 1977?
John Lennon
Now and Then began as a home cassette demo John Lennon recorded in New York in the late 1970s; the surviving Beatles completed it in 2022 and released it on November 2, 2023.
Q 13Billie Eilish's Grammy- and Oscar-winning 'What Was I Made For?' was written for which 2023 film?
Barbie
Q 21Boygenius is Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and which singer?
Phoebe Bridgers
Phoebe Bridgers formed Boygenius with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus in 2018; the trio's 2023 debut album The Record won three Grammys, including Best Alternative Music Album.
Q 22Where did "Ella Baila Sola", the first regional Mexican song in the Hot 100's top 10, peak?
No. 4
Ella Baila Sola, by Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma, peaked at No. 4 on the Hot 100 in May 2023 and became the first regional Mexican song to pass a billion Spotify streams.
Q 23Karol G's Mañana Será Bonito was the first all-Spanish-language album by a woman to do what?
Reach No. 1 in the United States
What Was I Made For? was written by Billie Eilish and Finneas for Greta Gerwig's Barbie; it won the 2024 Grammy for Song of the Year and the Oscar for Best Original Song.
Q 14How many of Guts' 12 songs made the Hot 100's top 40 in the album's debut week?
All 12
The lead single "Vampire" topped charts in eight countries including the US and the UK.
Q 15Speak Now (Taylor's Version) gave Swift her 12th Billboard 200 No. 1, breaking whose record for most chart-topping albums by a woman?
Barbra Streisand
Speak Now (Taylor's Version) topped the Billboard 200 in July 2023 and passed Barbra Streisand's record for the most No. 1 albums by a woman; Streisand's chart-toppers ran from People (1964) to Encore (2016).
Q 16Which 1989 (Taylor's Version) vault track debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 2023?
Is It Over Now?
Is It Over Now?, a vault track from 1989 (Taylor's Version), debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 dated November 11, 2023, in the album's first week of release.
Q 17Which film did Travis Scott release the day before his 2023 album Utopia?
Circus Maximus
Circus Maximus, co-directed by Travis Scott with Gaspar Noé, Harmony Korine and Nicolas Winding Refn, screened in theaters on July 27, 2023, one day before Utopia arrived.
Q 18Morgan Wallen's 36-track One Thing at a Time was mainly recorded at which famous studio?
Abbey Road Studios
The album spent 19 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1, beating Garth Brooks' Ropin' the Wind as the longest-running No. 1 country album.
Q 19Which SZA song was the only track to stay on the Billboard Hot 100 for the entire year of 2023?
Snooze
Snooze, from SZA's album SOS, appeared on every weekly Hot 100 of 2023; an acoustic remix featuring Justin Bieber followed in September 2023.
Q 20Lana Del Rey's 2023 album title begins "Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under..." — under what?
Ocean Blvd
The full title is Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, after a sealed pedestrian tunnel in Long Beach, California; the album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 in March 2023.
Mañana Será Bonito debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in March 2023, the first all-Spanish-language album by a woman to reach No. 1 in the United States; it later won the Grammy for Best Música Urbana Album.
Q 24PinkPantheress's "Boy's a Liar Pt. 2" hit No. 3 on the Hot 100 in 2023 with which Bronx rapper?
Ice Spice
Ice Spice, from the Bronx, joined PinkPantheress on Boy's a Liar Pt. 2, which peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 in early 2023, the first top-five hit for both artists.
Q 25Who headlined the Super Bowl LVII halftime show in February 2023?
Rihanna
Rihanna headlined the Super Bowl LVII halftime show on February 12, 2023, the first under Apple Music's sponsorship, and revealed her second pregnancy on stage.
Q 26Which country did Loreen represent when she won Eurovision 2023 with 'Tattoo'?
Sweden
Loreen's 2023 victory was Sweden's seventh at Eurovision, matching Ireland's tally at the time, and made her the first woman to win the contest twice after Euphoria in 2012.
Q 27Why was Eurovision 2023 staged in the UK rather than by the country that won in 2022?
Ukraine, the previous winner, could not host safely
Liverpool's M&S Bank Arena hosted on behalf of Ukraine's broadcaster, and 37 countries took part.
Q 28Which group was the first Asian act to headline Coachella, in 2023?
Blackpink
Blackpink headlined Coachella's main stage on April 15 and 22, 2023, the first Asian act to top the bill; that July they also headlined BST Hyde Park in London.
Q 29Who played the Sunday "Legends" slot at Glastonbury 2023?
Yusuf / Cat Stevens
Yusuf / Cat Stevens filled the Sunday teatime Legends slot on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2023, playing hits including Wild World and Father and Son.
Q 30Hackney Diamonds (2023) was the Rolling Stones' first album of original material since which 2005 record?
A Bigger Bang
A Bigger Bang (2005) was the Stones' previous album of new songs; Hackney Diamonds, released in October 2023, featured Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney and former bassist Bill Wyman.