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60 free Jimmy Buffett trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
53 free Jimmy Buffett trivia questions with answers. Jimmy Buffett sold a whole way of life along with the records, and these Jimmy Buffett trivia questions cover all of it. The early rounds stick to the songs everyone knows: how many minutes it took to write Margaritaville, where the cheeseburger came from, which single first cracked the Hot 100 and which country star finally won him an award after 30 years. Then it heads for deeper water. There are questions on the 324-copy debut album, the Billboard magazine scoop, the Eagles bassist who named the Parrotheads, the lawsuit against a restaurant chain, the Broadway musical, the seaplane shot at by Jamaican police, the manatee charity, LandShark Lager, the retirement village and the two Hall of Fame honours that arrived after his death in 2023. It suits a Parrothead pre-game, a Margaritaville-themed party or a pub quiz music round. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and primary sources before publication, and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
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Q 01In which Gulf Coast town was Jimmy Buffett born in 1946?
Pascagoula, Mississippi
He grew up in Mobile, Alabama, but the birthplace on the record is a Mississippi shipbuilding town.
Q 02Jimmy Buffett shared his birthday with which holiday?
Christmas Day
He was born on 25 December 1946, so his birthday concerts always had a seasonal twist.
Q 03Buffett flunked out of which university after a single year in 1966?
Auburn
He later finished at the University of Southern Mississippi, where a Coral Reefer-to-be first spotted him playing solo on campus.
Q 04What subject was Buffett's 1969 bachelor's degree in?
History
The degree came from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg; the history major became one of the best-selling authors of his era.
Q 05As a Nashville editorial assistant, Buffett was first to report the breakup of which bluegrass act?
Flatt and Scruggs
The scoop ran in Billboard magazine, where he worked while trying to launch a country career.
Q 06Buffett's 1970 debut album Down to Earth famously sold roughly how many copies?
324
The folk-rock flop convinced him Nashville was not working; Key West would soon fix that.
Q 07A 1971 busking expedition persuaded Buffett to move, in spring 1972, to which town?
Key West
The Florida Keys became the setting, and the sales pitch, for the rest of his career.
Q 08What was the title of Buffett's 1973 breakthrough album, his first for ABC/Dunhill?
A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean
It was cut at Tompall Glaser's studio on Music Row, the same outlaw-country hangout that Waylon Jennings used.
Q 09Which 1974 song, written for his future wife, was Buffett's first single to reach the Billboard Hot 100?
Come Monday
He wrote it while on tour heading to California; it reached No. 30 and remains one of his 'Big Eight' concert staples.
Q 10Buffett formed the Coral Reefer Band in 1975 and that August served as the opening act for which group?
The Eagles
Two years later the headliners returned the favour by playing at his 1977 wedding in Aspen.
Q 11The Coral Reefer Band's name is a pun combining coral reefs with slang for what?
Marijuana
Original Reefer Greg 'Fingers' Taylor discovered Buffett playing solo at The Hub on the Southern Miss campus in 1970.
Q 12'Margaritaville' first appeared on which 1977 album?
Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
It was his seventh album, and the title track became a concert staple in its own right.
Q 13What was the peak position of 'Margaritaville' on the Billboard Hot 100?
No. 8
It did top the Easy Listening chart, and reached No. 13 on Hot Country Songs.
Q 21Songs You Know by Heart, Buffett's best-selling album, is what kind of record?
A greatest-hits set
Released in 1985, it collected the 'Big Eight' and was certified 7x Platinum by 2005.
Q 22Which Coral Reefer Band member, better known as another famous rock group's bassist, coined 'Parrot Head'?
Timothy B. Schmit
He noticed the Hawaiian shirts and parrot hats returning show after show, much like Deadheads.
Q 23The first Parrothead club was founded in 1989 in which city?
Atlanta
Clubs raise money for charity and gather each year for the Meeting of the Minds after Fantasy Fest.
Q 14Buffett claimed he wrote most of 'Margaritaville' in about how long?
Six minutes
Producer Norbert Putnam recalled it grew out of a bad beach day: a lost flip-flop, a foot cut on a pop top and no salt for the drink.
Q 15In which year was 'Margaritaville' inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame?
2016
Seven years later the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry.
Q 16According to producer Norbert Putnam, which mishap on a bad beach day helped inspire 'Margaritaville'?
He lost a flip-flop on the way home
The same afternoon he cut his foot on a beer-can pop top and ran out of salt, all of which ended up in the song.
Q 17'Cheeseburger in Paradise' was inspired by a boat trip where Buffett survived on canned food and what?
Peanut butter
He finally reached Road Town on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands and celebrated with a burger.
Q 18'Cheeseburger in Paradise' peaked at what position on the Billboard Hot 100?
No. 32
It came from the 1978 album Son of a Son of a Sailor and later lent its name to a restaurant chain.
Q 19Which 1979 album contained both 'Fins' and its own title track?
Volcano
Decades later Buffett wrote new lyrics to 'Fins' for the Miami Dolphins.
Q 20Which restaurant chain did Buffett beat in a 1983 lawsuit over trademarking 'Margaritaville' as a drink special?
Chi-Chi's
The win protected the name that would become his own hospitality empire two years later.
Q 24Roughly how many Parrotheads attend the annual Meeting of the Minds festival?
5,000
The five-day gathering follows Fantasy Fest in the Florida Keys.
Q 25Buffett's first Margaritaville Cafe, opened in 1984 and soon closed, was in which Alabama beach town?
Gulf Shores
It began as a T-shirt shop; the second attempt in the Keys became the flagship in 1987.
Q 26On Frank Sinatra's final studio album Duets II, Buffett sang which standard with him?
Mack the Knife
The 1994 pairing put the beach bard alongside the Chairman of the Board on a Kurt Weill tune.
Q 27Buffett's 2003 duet 'It's Five O'Clock Somewhere' was recorded with which country star?
Alan Jackson
It spent eight weeks atop Hot Country Songs and won the CMA Vocal Event of the Year, Buffett's first award in 30 years of recording.
Q 28Who wrote 'It's Five O'Clock Somewhere'?
Jim 'Moose' Brown and Don Rollins
Neither singer wrote it; the songwriters earned a Grammy nomination for Best Country Song in 2004.
Q 29Which 2004 album became Buffett's only No. 1 on the Billboard 200?
License to Chill
It sold 238,600 copies in its first week and was loaded with country duets, including George Strait and Martina McBride.
Q 30What was the title of Buffett's 1998 memoir, a No. 1 New York Times nonfiction bestseller?
A Pirate Looks at Fifty
He is one of very few writers to top both the fiction and nonfiction bestseller lists.