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50 free Latin Music trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
"Latin music" is an industry catch-all for anything sung in Spanish or Portuguese, which means it stretches from a 1930 Cuban son about adding sauce to a 2026 Super Bowl halftime show. In between sit tango on the Río de la Plata, bossa nova in Rio, mariachi from western Mexico, salsa in 1970s New York, Tejano's golden age and reggaeton's rise from Panama and Puerto Rico to the top of the Hot 100. These 50 questions cover the genres, the instruments, the awards and the stars: Celia Cruz and Tito Puente, Gloria Estefan and Selena, Santana and Shakira, Daddy Yankee, Luis Fonsi and Bad Bunny. Easy questions cover nicknames and signature songs; harder ones ask where bachata got its first name, which year UNESCO inscribed merengue, and which album first broke the all-Spanish barrier on the Billboard 200. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss. Play it solo or print it for a music-night round.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The music industry classifies Latin music as music sung in which two languages?
Spanish and Portuguese
The definition covers Latin America, Spain, Portugal and Latino communities in the US and Canada.
Q 02In what year did the Latin Recording Academy launch the Latin Grammy Awards?
2000
The academy itself was set up by NARAS in 1997 to expand into Latin America and Spain.
Q 03Billboard divides its Latin charts into Latin pop, tropical and which third subcategory?
Regional Mexican
A fourth, Latin urban, was added in the mid-2000s as reggaeton rose.
Q 04Which 1940s bandleader is named as a pioneer of Latin music's rise in the US market?
Xavier Cugat
Tito Puente followed in the 1950s; wartime "Good Neighbor" propaganda helped the craze along.
Q 05Which record label is credited with popularizing salsa in the 1970s?
Fania Records
Its acts included Rubén Blades, Héctor Lavoe and Celia Cruz.
Q 06Where were most self-identified salsa bands assembled in the 1970s?
New York City
They were largely Puerto Rican, Cuban and Dominican musicians building on Cuban son montuno.
Q 07Musicologist Max Salazar traced the word "salsa" to a 1930 song meaning what?
Put some sauce in it
Ignacio Piñeiro's "Échale salsita" is the song; promoter Izzy Sanabria later claimed to have named the genre.
Q 08Who is known as the "Queen of Salsa"?
Celia Cruz
She rose to fame in 1950s Cuba singing guarachas and left the island after the Revolution in 1960.
Q 09The "Queen of Salsa" spent 15 years as vocalist of which Cuban group?
Sonora Matancera
The association ran from 1950 to 1965; she recorded for Seeco Records in that period.
Q 10Which mambo bandleader was called "El Rey de los Timbales"?
Tito Puente
Born in Harlem Hospital to Puerto Rican parents, he appears in the film The Mambo Kings.
Q 11Who is the top-selling salsa artist of all time?
Marc Anthony
Born Marco Antonio Muñiz, he holds 29 Lo Nuestro Awards, the most of any male artist.
Q 12Reggaeton originated in Puerto Rico from the Spanish reggae of which country?
Panama
Jamaican and Barbadian canal workers had brought reggae to Panama; the suffix "-ton" was added in Puerto Rico.
Q 13By one account, who first said the word "reggaeton" while freestyling on the 1994 mixtape Playero 34?
Daddy Yankee
He is now dubbed the "King of Reggaeton"; his 2004 album Barrio Fino was the decade's top-selling Latin album.
Q 21Which 2020 album became the first all-Spanish-language album to top the US Billboard 200?
El Último Tour Del Mundo
Its lead single "Dakiti" topped the Billboard Global 200.
Q 22Which album became the first Spanish-language record to win the Grammy for Album of the Year?
Debí Tirar Más Fotos
Its track "DTMF" was the first Spanish-language solo song to top the Hot 100.
Q 23The "King of Latin Trap" headlined the NFL's February 2026 halftime show at which game?
Super Bowl LX
The show drew both great acclaim and controversy.
Q 14"Gasolina" was the lead single from which 2004 album?
Barrio Fino
It was the first reggaeton song nominated for the Latin Grammy for Record of the Year.
Q 15In 2023, "Gasolina" was selected for preservation by which institution?
The Library of Congress
It joined the National Recording Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Q 16Which 2017 song was the first Spanish-language Hot 100 number one since "Macarena"?
Despacito
It tied the then-record of 16 weeks at number one and topped charts in 47 countries.
Q 17Luis Fonsi's 2017 smash was the lead single from which of his albums?
Vida
It was his tenth studio album; the song won four Latin Grammys.
Q 18Which Canadian pop star joined the English-language remix of Fonsi's 2017 hit?
Justin Bieber
The remix arrived on April 17, 2017, with added lyrics by Poo Bear and Marty James.
Q 19Before 2017, which 1987 Los Lobos hit was credited with spreading Spanish-language music to the mainstream?
La Bamba
It was also the first Spanish-language song nominated for a Grammy, in 1988.
Q 20Which Puerto Rican artist is dubbed the "King of Latin Trap"?
Bad Bunny
Born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, he was Spotify's most-streamed artist four times between 2020 and 2025.
Q 24Bachata evolved in which country?
Dominican Republic
The first recognised recording was José Manuel Calderón's "Borracho de amor" in 1962.
Q 25What was bachata's original name, meaning "bitterness"?
Amargue
The mood-neutral term bachata eventually replaced it.
Q 26Which lead guitar plays the arpeggiated lines in a typical bachata group?
Requinto
The five-piece line-up adds a segunda rhythm guitar, bass, bongos and güira.
Q 27Which Dominican dictator promoted merengue into the national music and dance?
Rafael Trujillo
He ruled from 1930 to 1961; UNESCO inscribed merengue as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2016.
Q 28In a typical merengue ensemble, which instrument represents the indigenous Taíno contribution?
The güira
The accordion stands for the European influence and the two-headed tambora drum for the African.
Q 29Which Dominican artist has won 31 Latin Grammy Awards, including 2010's Album of the Year?
Juan Luis Guerra
His group 4.40 made the landmark album Bachata Rosa.
Q 30Tango originated in the 1880s along which river?
The Río de la Plata
The river is the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay, which jointly had tango listed by UNESCO in 2009.