🎵 One-Hit Wonders Trivia Questions & Answers
The artists who hit number one exactly once and vanished. Below are 30 free one-hit wonders trivia questions with answers — part of Music trivia on BUZZ. Want a real challenge that adapts to what you know? Play the Music quiz — no signup needed to start.
30 One-Hit Wonders trivia questions
Q1. Which artist scored the disco-era smash 'Kung Fu Fighting' in 1974?
Answer: Carl Douglas
💡 Douglas cut it in a couple of takes as a B-side, and it became a global No. 1.
Q2. Whose 1982 cheerleader-chant hit 'Mickey' topped the US singles chart?
Answer: Toni Basil
💡 Basil, a Hollywood choreographer, was in her late 30s when 'Mickey' became her lone Top 40 hit.
Q3. Which band's acoustic ballad 'Hey There Delilah' became a 2007 chart-topper?
Answer: Plain White T's
💡 Singer Tom Higgenson wrote it for a runner he admired, Columbia track star Delilah DiCrescenzo.
Q4. Which dungaree-clad group topped charts with 1982's 'Come On Eileen'?
Answer: Dexys Midnight Runners
💡 In 1983 it knocked Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean' off the top of the US Hot 100.
Q5. Whose punchy 1979 debut single 'My Sharona' ruled the US chart for six weeks?
Answer: The Knack
💡 It was Billboard's No. 1 single of the entire year in 1979, driven by its stuttering guitar riff.
Q6. Which boy band sang 'Bye Bye Bye'?
Answer: NSYNC
💡 'Bye Bye Bye' was released in 2000 and peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Q7. Which boy band sang 'I Want It That Way' and 'Larger Than Life'?
Answer: Backstreet Boys
💡 The Backstreet Boys are widely regarded as the best-selling boy band of all time, with well over 100 million records sold worldwide.
Q8. Which UK artist had a hit with 'Shape of You' in 2017?
Answer: Ed Sheeran
💡 'Shape of You' spent 14 weeks at #1 in the UK and was the most-streamed song in Spotify's history for several years. Sheeran wrote it for Rihanna but kept it for himself.
Q9. Which band had a hit with 'Mr. Brightside' in 2003?
Answer: The Killers
💡 'Mr. Brightside' never reached #1 in the UK but has spent more weeks on the UK Singles Chart than any other song in history — recharting every festival season for over 20 years.
Q10. In what year did the 'Macarena' dance craze sweep the world?
Answer: 1996
Q11. Which group had a 2000 novelty smash with 'Who Let the Dogs Out'?
Answer: Baha Men
Q12. Which German band turned Cold War fears into the 1983 hit '99 Luftballons'?
Answer: Nena
💡 Frontwoman Gabriele Kerner's nickname gave the band its name; an English '99 Red Balloons' followed.
Q13. Which Italian group scored a 1999 Eurodance smash with 'Blue (Da Ba Dee)'?
Answer: Eiffel 65
💡 The Turin trio's debut single topped the charts in more than 20 countries.
Q14. Which Australian singer had a 1997 radio staple with the ballad 'Torn'?
Answer: Natalie Imbruglia
💡 Though it felt personal, 'Torn' was actually a cover of a song by US band Ednaswap.
Q15. Which band's 2000 anthem 'Teenage Dirtbag' became a nostalgic sing-along?
Answer: Wheatus
💡 The song enjoyed a huge streaming revival on TikTok two decades after its release.
Q16. Which 1999 Lou Bega hit lists a string of girls' names over a sampled 1949 mambo?
Answer: Mambo No. 5
💡 Bega updated Damaso Perez Prado's 1949 instrumental; a court later credited both men.
Q17. Which song has spent the most weeks at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100?
Answer: Old Town Road – Lil Nas X
💡 Old Town Road spent 19 weeks at number one in 2019, smashing the previous record.
Q18. What is the best-selling vinyl single of all time?
Answer: White Christmas by Bing Crosby
💡 Bing Crosby's 'White Christmas' has sold an estimated 50 million copies since 1942. Irving Berlin, who wrote it, was a Jewish immigrant from Russia — he called it his favourite song he ever wrote.
Q19. Which New Zealand singer duets with Gotye on the 2011 breakup anthem 'Somebody That I Used to Know'?
Answer: Kimbra
Q20. Which Spanish duo turned a global dance craze with their 1996 smash 'Macarena'?
Answer: Los del Río
Q21. 'I get knocked down, but I get up again' is the hook of which band's 1997 hit 'Tubthumping'?
Answer: Chumbawamba
Q22. Which artist's 1993 Eurodance hit 'What Is Love' later fuelled an SNL sketch?
Answer: Haddaway
💡 SNL's head-bobbing 'Roxbury Guys' sketch made the song a lasting pop-culture staple.
Q23. Which Minneapolis trio closed out the '90s with the 1998 hit 'Closing Time'?
Answer: Semisonic
💡 Writer Dan Wilson later revealed the song is secretly about being born, not last call.
Q24. Whose dreamy 1999 hit 'Kiss Me' soundtracked the teen film 'She's All That'?
Answer: Sixpence None the Richer
💡 The Texas band took its name from a passage in C.S. Lewis's book 'Mere Christianity'.
Q25. Which power-pop band scored a 2003 novelty hit with 'Stacy's Mom'?
Answer: Fountains of Wayne
💡 The video starred model Rachel Hunter and the song earned a Grammy nomination.
Q26. Which duo's 2006 song 'Crazy' was the first UK No. 1 built on downloads alone?
Answer: Gnarls Barkley
💡 The pair pulled it from UK stores at its peak so fans wouldn't grow tired of it.
Q27. Which New Zealand act took the quirky 'How Bizarre' worldwide in 1996?
Answer: OMC
💡 OMC stood for Otara Millionaires Club, a wink at a low-income Auckland suburb.
Q28. Which Moldovan trio recorded the 2004 Europop smash known as the 'Numa Numa' song?
Answer: O-Zone
💡 Their song 'Dragostea Din Tei' inspired Gary Brolsma's 2004 webcam 'Numa Numa' dance.
Q29. Which quirky band donned red flowerpot hats for their 1980 hit 'Whip It'?
Answer: Devo
💡 Devo called those flowerpot hats 'energy domes'; 'Whip It' was their only US Top 40 hit.
Q30. Which singer is known by the stage name 'The Weeknd'?
Answer: Abel Tesfaye
💡 Abel Tesfaye chose 'The Weeknd' after leaving home on a weekend and never coming back. He dropped the 'e' to avoid confusion with a Canadian band called The Weekend.
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