Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
50 free Grammy Awards trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
47 free Grammy Awards trivia questions with answers. The Grammys have been handing out gilded gramophones since 1959, and the history is full of trivia: a comedian who won Best New Artist, a Grammy that got revoked, a 100-year-old winner, a drummer who played on six straight Records of the Year, and one superstar with eight Song of the Year nominations and no wins. This quiz runs 50 questions covering the whole thing: the Big Four categories and who swept them, Album of the Year firsts, Beyoncé, Michael Jackson, Santana, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish's records, the youngest and oldest winners, and the machinery behind the show, from where the trophies are made to which network is taking over the broadcast. It starts easy and works up to questions that will stump music journalists. Every answer has been checked against reference sources, shown under each question once you answer, so it works for a Grammy-night watch party or a music round at pub trivia.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What object does the Grammy trophy depict?
A gramophone
The original plan was to call them the 'Gramophone Awards'; the name 'Grammy' came from a mail-in contest.
Q 02Which organisation presents the Grammy Awards?
The Recording Academy
Its members, active recording professionals, do all the nominating and voting; the separate Latin Recording Academy was set up in 1997.
Q 03In what year was the first Grammy Awards ceremony held?
1959
It was held simultaneously in Beverly Hills and New York, and only 28 Grammys were handed out.
Q 04How many Grammys were awarded at the very first ceremony in 1959?
28
The second ceremony, held later the same year, was the first to be televised.
Q 05Who holds the record for the most Grammy Awards won in a lifetime?
Beyoncé
She overtook the conductor Georg Solti, who had led with 31 for decades; she reached 35.
Q 06Which conductor held the record for most Grammys, 31, until Beyoncé passed him in 2023?
Georg Solti
The Hungarian-British maestro was music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 22 years.
Q 07Which producer holds the record for the most Grammys won by a producer, with 28?
Quincy Jones
He also set the record for a producer in one night with six wins in 1991, and produced Thriller.
Q 08Which band holds the record for the most Grammys won by a group?
U2
They also became the only act to win Record of the Year in consecutive years with two songs from the same album, 'Beautiful Day' and 'Walk On'.
Q 09What is the record for the most Grammys won by one artist in a single night?
Eight
Michael Jackson did it in 1984 and Santana tied it in 2000; no one has beaten it.
Q 10Which 1999 album holds the record as the most-honoured album, with nine Grammys?
Supernatural by Santana
'Smooth' with Rob Thomas took Song of the Year, and Carlos Santana became the first Latino artist to win Album of the Year.
Q 11Michael Jackson's record eight Grammys in 1984 came mostly for which album?
Thriller
Thriller sat at number one on the Billboard album chart for a record 37 non-consecutive weeks.
Q 12Which four categories make up the Grammys' 'General Field', also known as the Big Four?
Album, Record, Song of the Year and Best New Artist
Since 2024 Producer of the Year and Songwriter of the Year (Non-Classical) have also been moved into the General Field.
Q 13Who was the first artist to win all four Big Four Grammys in a single night, in 1981?
Christopher Cross
Q 21Which was the first rock and roll album to win Album of the Year?
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Glen Campbell's By the Time I Get to Phoenix was the first country winner the following year.
Q 22Which artists have won Best New Artist and Album of the Year in the same year?
Bob Newhart, Christopher Cross, Lauryn Hill, Norah Jones and Billie Eilish
Bob Newhart, a comedian, won both in 1961 for The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart.
Q 23Which act is the only one ever to have a Grammy revoked?
Only Billie Eilish has matched the single-night sweep, in 2020, when she was 18.
Q 14Which artist won all four Big Four awards on separate occasions rather than in one night?
Adele
She took Best New Artist in 2009 and the other three in 2012 and again in 2017.
Q 15Who is the youngest lead artist ever to win Album of the Year?
Billie Eilish
She was 18 years and 39 days old when When We All Fall Asleep won in 2020; Taylor Swift was 20 when Fearless won in 2010.
Q 16Who is the only main-credited artist to have won Album of the Year four times?
Taylor Swift
Sinatra, Wonder and Simon each have three; she was also the first woman to win it twice and three times.
Q 17Who was the first woman to win Album of the Year, in 1962?
Judy Garland
The winning record was the live album Judy at Carnegie Hall.
Q 18Which was the first hip hop album to win Album of the Year?
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
At the 1999 ceremony Hill set records for the most nominations and wins by a woman at a single ceremony.
Q 19Which was the first Spanish-language album to win Album of the Year?
Debí Tirar Más Fotos
Both nominated Spanish-language albums are by Bad Bunny; his win in 2026 made him the third Latino artist to take the award.
Q 20Which two artists are the only ones to win Album of the Year in two consecutive years as main artists?
Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder
Sinatra did it in 1966-67 and Wonder in 1974-75; Wonder and Adele are the only ones to win for consecutive studio albums.
Milli Vanilli
Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus admitted they had not sung on Girl You Know It's True; producer Frank Farian had used other vocalists.
Q 24At 14, who became the youngest Best New Artist winner and the first country artist to win it, in 1997?
LeAnn Rimes
She was 14 years and 182 days old; the youngest Grammy winner overall is 8-year-old Leah Peasall of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.
Q 25Which comedian won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 1961?
Bob Newhart
Comedy acts were regularly nominated in the award's early years, but he was the only one to win.
Q 26Who won Best New Artist in 1969, becoming the first blind artist and first Puerto Rican to win it?
José Feliciano
His hit that year was a Latin-flavoured cover of The Doors' 'Light My Fire'.
Q 27Which song, in 1959, became the first ever winner of both Record of the Year and Song of the Year?
'Volare' by Domenico Modugno
Its real title is 'Nel blu, dipinto di blu'; it had won the Sanremo Festival and come third at Eurovision the year before.
Q 28Which two artists have won Record of the Year three times?
Paul Simon and Bruno Mars
Simon won for 'Mrs. Robinson', 'Bridge over Troubled Water' and 'Graceland'; Mars for 'Uptown Funk', '24K Magic' and 'Leave the Door Open'.
Q 29Who was the first artist to win Record of the Year in two consecutive years?
Roberta Flack
She won in 1973 for 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' and in 1974 for 'Killing Me Softly with His Song'.
Q 30As of the 2026 Grammys, who had the most Record of the Year nominations, with nine?
Beyoncé
Bruno Mars was the most-nominated man with eight; Sinatra holds the record for consecutive years nominated with four.