80 Fun Facts About 2022 Pop Culture

At the 2022 Academy Awards, Will Smith walked on stage and slapped which comedian?

Minutes later Smith won Best Actor for King Richard, making for one of the strangest hours in Oscar history.

For how long did the Academy ban Will Smith from its events after the slap?

Smith had already resigned his Academy membership before the ban was announced in April 2022.

Which film won Best Picture at the 2022 Oscars, the first winner distributed by a streaming platform?

The Apple TV+ film also earned Troy Kotsur an Oscar, making him the first deaf man to win an acting award.

Which film took home the most awards (six) at the 2022 Oscars?

Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi epic swept the technical categories, from score to visual effects.

Regina Hall and Amy Schumer co-hosted the 2022 Oscars with which other comedian?

It was the first time the ceremony had hosts at all since 2018.

Which show won Outstanding Drama Series at the 2022 Emmys?

Ted Lasso took its second consecutive Comedy Series prize on the same night, hosted by Kenan Thompson.

At 26, Zendaya became the youngest two-time acting Emmy winner in 2022 for her role in which series?

She was also the first Black woman to win Lead Actress in a Drama twice.

Which program led all shows with 10 Emmy wins in 2022, including Creative Arts awards?

Jennifer Coolidge won her first Emmy for playing Tanya in the Hawaii-set first season.

Lee Jung-jae became the first Asian actor to win Lead Actor in a Drama Series for which show?

Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk also won for directing, another first for an Asian nominee.

After an Omicron postponement, the 2022 Grammy Awards were held in which city?

It was the first Grammys ceremony ever held in Las Vegas, with Trevor Noah returning as host.

Who won Album of the Year at the 2022 Grammys for We Are?

The bandleader from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert came in with eleven nominations, the most of anyone.

'Leave the Door Open' won both Record and Song of the Year at the 2022 Grammys. Who recorded it?

The retro-soul duo is Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak.

Who won Best New Artist at the 2022 Grammys?

Her debut album Sour and its single 'Drivers License' had dominated the previous year.

Which team won Super Bowl LVI in February 2022?

They won at their own SoFi Stadium, the second straight year a team lifted the trophy at home, with Cooper Kupp named MVP.

Who joined Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and Mary J. Blige headlining the Super Bowl LVI halftime show?

50 Cent and Anderson .Paak made surprise appearances during the set.

How much did Elon Musk pay to buy Twitter, a deal that closed in October 2022?

He tried to back out in July, then closed on October 27 with the tweet 'the bird is freed' and fired the top executives the same day.

What did Elon Musk carry into Twitter's headquarters the day before the takeover closed?

He captioned the video 'let that sink in' and changed his bio to 'Chief Twit'.

Which engineer built Wordle for his partner and sold it to the New York Times in 2022?

The price was described only as 'low seven figures'; his partner had trimmed the word list to about 2,000 familiar words.

How many guesses does a player get in Wordle?

Everyone gets the same word each day, which is why the emoji-grid results took over social media.

The televised Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard defamation trial took place in which US state?

The judge allowed cameras in the courtroom over Heard's objections, and the livestream became a global obsession.

How much in compensatory damages was Johnny Depp awarded in his 2022 case against Amber Heard?

Heard was awarded $2 million on her counterclaim; the pair settled in December with Heard paying $1 million.

Which 1985 Kate Bush song went to number one in the UK after featuring in Stranger Things season 4?

It reached number three on the US Hot 100, beating its original 1985 peak of number 30.

Kate Bush's revived 2022 hit was the lead single from which 1985 album?

It was her fifth studio album; the song had originally peaked at number three in the UK.

How old was Kate Bush when she became the oldest female artist to top the UK singles chart in 2022?

The 37-year gap between release and number one was also a record, as was the 44 years between her two chart-toppers.

In the Stranger Things season 4 finale, Eddie Munson plays which Metallica song to lure the demobats?

The season is set in March 1986, the year the song came out, and the finale ran two and a half hours.

What name do the Hawkins kids give the villain of Stranger Things season 4?

The name comes from Dungeons & Dragons, like the earlier monsters.

In October 2022, who became the first artist to hold all ten spots of the Hot 100 top 10?

'Anti-Hero' led the pack at number one after Midnights set a new single-day streaming record.

Midnights, released in October 2022, was which number studio album for its creator?

A surprise '3am Edition' with extra tracks dropped three hours after the standard release.

Whose album topped Billboard's 2022 year-end album chart, the first all-Spanish record ever to do so?

Un Verano Sin Ti spent 13 weeks at number one and became the first Spanish-language album nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys.

How many weeks did Harry Styles's 'As It Was' spend at number one on the Hot 100 in 2022?

That made it the longest-running US number one ever by a British act, and it was the best-selling global single of 2022.

Which Beyoncé album, led by 'Break My Soul', was released in July 2022?

The house-and-disco record was her seventh studio album and later helped make her the most-awarded artist in Grammy history.

At the 2022 Met Gala, Kim Kardashian wore a dress originally worn by which star?

She said she lost 16 pounds in three weeks to fit into it, wore the original for about five minutes on the steps, then changed into a replica.

Who plays the title role in Netflix's Wednesday, released in November 2022?

The show racked up 341 million hours in its first week, a record for an English-language Netflix series.

Wednesday Addams's viral dance scene is set to 'Goo Goo Muck' by which band?

The star choreographed the routine herself; online, fans re-cut it to Lady Gaga's 'Bloody Mary'.

Which director helmed four episodes of Wednesday's first season?

Christina Ricci, the 1990s film Wednesday, joined the cast as a series regular.

House of the Dragon is adapted from which 2018 book by the creator of Game of Thrones?

Its August 2022 premiere drew over 10 million viewers on day one, the biggest in HBO's history.

House of the Dragon depicts the Targaryen civil war known by what name?

The story unfolds nearly 200 years before Game of Thrones, with Paddy Considine as King Viserys I.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show aired its final episode in May 2022 after how many seasons?

Jennifer Aniston, Billie Eilish and Pink appeared on the finale, two years after toxic-workplace allegations rocked the show.

Which title won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2022?

A stage-crasher hijacked the acceptance speech to thank his 'Reformed Orthodox rabbi Bill Clinton'.

The 2022 Game of the Year winner featured worldbuilding by which fantasy author?

FromSoftware's open-world epic sold 13.4 million copies in its first five weeks.

Top Gun: Maverick was released how many years after the original Top Gun?

It became Tom Cruise's first film to cross $1 billion and the second-highest-grossing release of the year.

Which film was the highest-grossing release of 2022 worldwide?

James Cameron's sequel arrived 13 years after the original and became the third-highest-grossing film of all time.

Everything Everywhere All at Once became the highest-grossing film ever for which studio?

The multiverse comedy with hot-dog fingers went on to win seven Oscars, including Best Picture, the following March.

Who played Bruce Wayne in The Batman, released in March 2022?

Matt Reeves's film uses Nirvana's 'Something in the Way' twice and grossed over $772 million.

A 2022 meme saw groups of teenage boys attend Minions: The Rise of Gru dressed in what?

The film grossed $940 million and set an Independence Day weekend box-office record.

Steve Lacy's TikTok-fuelled number one 'Bad Habit' comes from which album?

It was the first song ever to top the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop and Hot Rock & Alternative charts at the same time.

Which 'Unholy' co-singer became the first openly transgender soloist to top the Hot 100?

The song went viral on TikTok a month before release and later won the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.

Rihanna's 'Lift Me Up', her first solo release in six years, was recorded for which 2022 film?

Written with Tems and Ryan Coogler as a tribute to Chadwick Boseman, it debuted at number two.

In September 2022 the NFL named Rihanna as halftime headliner and which company as new sponsor, replacing Pepsi?

Her February 2023 performance was her first live show in five years, and she revealed a second pregnancy on stage.

Britney Spears's first new music in six years, released in August 2022, was a duet with which artist?

'Hold Me Closer' mashes up 'Tiny Dancer', 'The One' and 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart' and debuted at number six in the US.

Queen Elizabeth II died on 8 September 2022 at which residence?

Her death in Scotland triggered Operation Unicorn, the Scottish variant of the long-planned Operation London Bridge.

At its longest, roughly how long was the queue to see the Queen lying in state in Westminster Hall?

Waits topped 25 hours and an estimated 250,000 people filed past the coffin.

The Queen's state funeral was the first held in Britain since whose, in 1965?

The broadcast became one of the UK's most watched ever, surpassing William and Catherine's wedding.

Which country won the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Turin?

Kalush Orchestra's televote total of 439 points was the highest in the contest's history; Sam Ryder gave the UK a rare second place.

Which French player scored a hat-trick in the 2022 World Cup final and still ended up on the losing side?

Argentina won 4–2 on penalties at Lusail Stadium in a match widely called the greatest final ever.

Argentina's 2022 World Cup victory was its first since which year?

Lionel Messi took the Golden Ball and Emiliano Martínez the Golden Glove.

Who was Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2022?

Before politics he was a comedian whose sitcom Servant of the People cast him as a history teacher who accidentally becomes president.

Amy Schneider's Jeopardy! streak, which ended in January 2022, lasted how many games?

Only Ken Jennings (74) has a longer streak; she went on to win the Tournament of Champions that November.

Who wrote 'We Don't Talk About Bruno', the Encanto song that topped the Hot 100 for five weeks?

It was only the second Disney animated song to hit number one, after 'A Whole New World', yet it was never submitted for the Oscar.

Which rapper, famous for 'Gangsta's Paradise', died in Los Angeles in September 2022 aged 59?

He also recorded the theme for Nickelodeon's Kenan & Kel.

Olivia Newton-John, who died in August 2022, played which character in Grease?

Her 1981 hit 'Physical' spent ten weeks at number one in the US.

Which Australian soap aired a farewell episode in 2022, only to be revived by Amazon Freevee?

The finale aired on 28 July 2022 after Channel 5 in the UK pulled its funding.

Which series ended in August 2022 holding the record for most Emmy nominations (53) without a single win?

Bob Odenkirk's Jimmy McGill went out after six seasons on August 15, 2022.

FX's The Bear, which premiered in June 2022, is set in a sandwich shop in which city?

Jeremy Allen White plays Carmy, a fine-dining chef who comes home to run the family beef joint.

Which French app with a daily two-minute window to post a front-and-back photo was Apple's 2022 iPhone App of the Year?

It grew from 21.6 million to 73.5 million users between July and August 2022 alone.

Which company bought Heardle, the Wordle-style song-guessing game, in July 2022?

The game asked players to name a song from up to 16 seconds of its intro; it was shut down in April 2023.

After Kanye West pulled out of Coachella 2022, Swedish House Mafia closed the festival with which artist?

Harry Styles and Billie Eilish took the other headline slots at the first Coachella since 2019.

Which company ended its Yeezy partnership with Ye in October 2022 after his antisemitic remarks?

Yeezy had generated about $2 billion a year, roughly 10% of the company's revenue.

Adnan Syed, freed in 2022 after 23 years, was the subject of which podcast's first season?

The 2014 season about the murder of Hae Min Lee had been downloaded more than 100 million times by 2016.

At the Venice premiere of Don't Worry Darling, Harry Styles was accused of spitting on which co-star?

Both camps denied it, but 'spitgate' capped a press tour already dogged by rumours of a feud between Pugh and director Olivia Wilde.

Which YouTube group announced in September 2022 that member Ned Fulmer would no longer work with them?

The four founders had started making videos together at BuzzFeed in 2014.

Why was there no televised Golden Globes ceremony in January 2022?

Media companies and stars were boycotting the Hollywood Foreign Press Association over its lack of membership diversity; NBC aired Sunday Night Football instead.

ABBA Voyage, the virtual residency that opened in London in May 2022, shows the band as they looked in which year?

The 'ABBAtars' perform in the purpose-built ABBA Arena at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, backed by a ten-piece live band.

Which AI chatbot did OpenAI release to the public on 30 November 2022?

It uses generative pre-trained transformer models and kicked off the mainstream generative AI boom.

Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins died in March 2022 in which South American capital?

He was due to play with the band that evening; the Foo Fighters cancelled all upcoming shows four days later.

Which Pulitzer-winning show won Best Musical at the 2022 Tony Awards?

Its win made lead producer Jennifer Hudson the 17th person ever to complete the EGOT.

Which series won Outstanding Comedy Series at the 2022 Emmys for the second year running?

The White Lotus took the most awards at the main ceremony with five, and HBO led all networks with 38 wins overall.

What was the title of the Lizzo album released on 15 July 2022?

An immersive cosmic light show called Lizzoverse accompanied it in New York and was livestreamed on Twitch.

In which magazine did Serena Williams announce in 2022 that she would 'evolve away' from tennis?

Her final singles match came at that year's US Open, a loss to Ajla Tomljanović after she had upset world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit.

On 14 June 2022, during which anniversary celebration did BTS announce a pause in group activities?

Hybe insisted it was neither a disbandment nor a hiatus; the three-CD anthology Proof had arrived four days earlier.