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50 free Coldplay trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
48 free Coldplay trivia questions with answers. Coldplay went from a student band called Starfish playing a Camden pub to the first group ever to gross a billion dollars on a single tour. This quiz follows the whole journey: how Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion found each other at university, the Safety EP, the beach video for their breakthrough single, the trilogy of early albums, Brian Eno and the Joe Satriani lawsuit, the Super Bowl halftime show, BTS, the eco-friendly world tour and the record crowds in India. It opens with questions any radio listener can get and works up to details about producers, chart records, side projects and stage guests that only devoted fans will know. Every answer has been checked against documented sources on the band's history rather than fan lore, so it holds up when you argue about it. No lyrics are quoted; the questions are about the songs, the people and the records. Great for a music quiz night, a road-trip playlist game or a warm-up before a stadium show. Free, no signup, answers included.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Where did Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland meet during freshers' week in 1996?
University College London
They met in their first week and were still cramming for finals there days after signing their record deal in 1999.
Q 02Under what name did the band play their first live show in January 1998?
Starfish
The gig was at the Laurel Tree in Camden; Big Fat Noises had been the name on their earliest drummer-less demos.
Q 03How did Will Champion end up behind the kit?
He filled in when his roommate failed to turn up
The others had come to his house to recruit the roommate, who never arrived, so Champion sat down at the kit instead.
Q 04What was the title of the band's self-financed debut EP in 1998?
Safety
Only 150 of the 500 copies went on open sale; the first was sold to a roommate for £3 and the rest went to record labels.
Q 05Which early manager and friend of the singer was later credited as a full band member?
Phil Harvey
He dropped out of Oxford to manage them, quit under the pressure in 2002, and returned as creative director in 2005.
Q 06Which BBC DJ's Evening Session made Coldplay its first ever unsigned guests in January 1999?
Steve Lamacq
A month later they signed a short-term deal with the indie label Fierce Panda and re-recorded "Brothers & Sisters".
Q 07With which record label did the band sign in April 1999?
Parlophone
The label's A&R man had already passed on them once; the deal was famously signed in Trafalgar Square.
Q 08What is the title of the band's debut album, released in July 2000?
Parachutes
It went straight to number one in the UK, won a Brit and a Grammy, and eventually went double platinum in the US.
Q 09What was the band's first UK Top 40 hit, released in March 2000?
Shiver
It peaked at number 35 the same week they were supporting Terris at a venue in Tunbridge Wells.
Q 10Which single became the band's first UK top-five hit in June 2000?
Yellow
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later added it to its Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll exhibit.
Q 11The one-take video for the band's 2000 breakthrough single shows the singer on a beach in which English county?
Dorset
It was filmed at Studland Bay, and the minimalist clip became one of the most recognisable videos of the decade.
Q 12What was the name of the 1,000-copy Christmas CD the band gave to fans and journalists in December 2001?
Mince Spies
It paired a remix of "Yellow" with a cover of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".
Q 13The band relocated to which city to record their second album after struggling in London?
Liverpool
They had already recorded much of their debut at Parr Street Studios there and, Martin said, became obsessed with recording.
Q 21Which guitarist sued Coldplay in 2008, claiming "Viva la Vida" copied his song "If I Could Fly"?
Joe Satriani
The case was dismissed with each side told to pay its own costs; the song still won Song of the Year at the Grammys.
Q 22"Lost+", a 2008 reworking of the single "Lost!", added a verse from which rapper?
Jay-Z
The pair later closed the Mylo Xyloto Tour with two New Year shows together at Brooklyn's Barclays Center.
Q 23Which actor cameos as a violin-playing Elvis impersonator in the "Christmas Lights" video?
Simon Pegg
He is a close friend of Chris Martin's; the single came out in December 2010.
Q 14What is the title of Coldplay's second studio album (2002)?
A Rush of Blood to the Head
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame put it on its list of 200 Definitive Albums.
Q 15"The Scientist" was inspired by a 1970 song by which former Beatle?
George Harrison
The song in question was "All Things Must Pass", the title track of his triple album.
Q 16Which Coldplay song won the Grammy for Record of the Year in 2004?
Clocks
The band's second album had won Best Alternative Music Album the year before.
Q 17Which Coldplay album was the world's best-selling album of 2005?
X&Y
It sold 8.3 million copies that year and entered the charts of 32 countries at number one; its late release was even blamed for a dip in EMI's share price.
Q 18At Live 8 in Hyde Park in 2005, the band performed "Bitter Sweet Symphony" with which singer?
Richard Ashcroft
The Verve frontman sang his own band's hit while Coldplay backed him.
Q 19Which producer did the band work with on their fourth album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends?
Brian Eno
Parts of the record were made in churches and other venues in Latin America and Spain while the band toured.
Q 20'Viva la Vida' was released exclusively through which digital store, where it was 2008's best-selling song?
iTunes
It was the band's first number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart.
Q 24At whose private memorial did the band perform in October 2011?
Steve Jobs
The set at Apple's gathering included "Viva la Vida", "Fix You", "Yellow" and "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall".
Q 25Which single from Mylo Xyloto won Best Rock Video at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards?
Paradise
It was also the best-selling rock single in the UK that year, shifting 410,000 copies.
Q 26In the Mylo Xyloto story and comics, what is the name of the tyrant the boy grows up under?
Major Minus
The tale unfolded through the "Hurts Like Heaven" video and a comic series in 2013.
Q 27The 2013 song "Atlas" was written for the soundtrack of which film?
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The band also wrote "Miracles" for Angelina Jolie's war drama Unbroken the following year.
Q 28The Ghost Stories Tour of 2014 consisted of intimate shows in how many cities?
Six
The run went from New York's Beacon Theatre to London's Royal Albert Hall via Paris, Tokyo, Sydney and Los Angeles.
Q 29Which US president's voice appears on the album A Head Full of Dreams?
Barack Obama
Beyoncé, Gwyneth Paltrow, Noel Gallagher and Tove Lo also guest on the 2015 record.
Q 30In the "Adventure of a Lifetime" video, the band perform as which animals?
Chimpanzees
Motion-capture specialist Andy Serkis, of Gollum fame, consulted on the performances.