150 Fun Facts About Pop Music

MTV launched in August 1981 by playing which song as its very first clip?

'Video Killed the Radio Star' by the Buggles opened MTV at 12:01 a.m. on August 1, 1981, although the single, by then nearly two years old, had climbed no higher than number 40 on the US chart.

Which artist is often referred to as the 'King of Pop'?

Michael Jackson's publicists embraced 'King of Pop' around 1989, the year Elizabeth Taylor called him 'the true king of pop, rock and soul' at the Soul Train Music Awards.

Which pop star calls her fans 'Little Monsters' and is known to them as 'Mother Monster'?

Lady Gaga had 'Little Monsters' tattooed on herself as a dedication, and in 2012 botanists at Duke University named a fern species Gaga monstraparva, 'little monster', in honour of her fans.

Which pop artist released the album '1989', named after their birth year?

Taylor Swift, born in December 1989, released her fifth studio album 1989 in October 2014, marking her full pivot from country to pop.

Which pop artist co-founded the record label OVO Sound?

Drake co-founded OVO Sound with producer Noah '40' Shebib and manager Oliver El-Khatib; the name shortens October's Very Own, the banner he had used for his early mixtapes and blog.

Which country singer wrote and first recorded 'I Will Always Love You', Whitney Houston's 1992 hit?

Dolly Parton wrote it in 1973 as a farewell to her mentor Porter Wagoner when she left his show; Houston's version was recorded for The Bodyguard.

Which pop artist's 2017 album is titled '÷' (Divide)?

Ed Sheeran's ÷ put all 16 of its tracks in the UK top 20 in one week of March 2017, nine of them in the top 10, which led the chart's compilers to limit each lead artist to three entries.

Who has been dubbed both the 'Queen of Latin Pop' and the 'Queen of Telenovelas'?

Thalía earned the second crown through 1990s telenovelas such as Marimar and María la del Barrio, which aired in well over a hundred countries alongside her Latin pop hits.

Which pop artist is known for the song 'Baby One More Time'?

Britney Spears rejected the first concept for the '...Baby One More Time' video and asked for a school setting that would reflect her fans' lives; the debut single went on to top the Hot 100.

Which act was the first to reach 20 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100?

The Beatles scored their 20th Hot 100 number one with 'The Long and Winding Road' in June 1970, two months after Paul McCartney announced he was no longer working with the band.

Which 1982 album became a global phenomenon and remains one of the best-selling records ever?

Thriller, Michael Jackson's sixth studio album, surged after his televised moonwalk in May 1983 and the title-track video; Jackson won a record eight Grammys at the 1984 ceremony.

Which British girl group of five took 'Girl Power' mainstream in the mid-1990s with 'Wannabe'?

Spice Girls' 1996 debut 'Wannabe' spent seven weeks at number one in the UK, and the group were in Japan when they heard it had reached the top.

Which female artist reached a record 35 Grammy wins at the February 2025 ceremony?

Beyoncé passed conductor Georg Solti's 31 in 2023 and reached 35 awards at the February 2025 ceremony, more than any artist, male or female.

Disco took shape in early-1970s underground venues such as the Loft and the Sanctuary in which US city?

New York hosted David Mancuso's Loft parties from Valentine's Day 1970: invitation-only nights in his own home rather than a commercial club; the polished soul of Philadelphia fed the new sound.

Which singer, dubbed the 'Queen of Pop', is known for reinventing her image since the early 1980s?

Madonna set the pattern at the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, emerging from a giant wedding cake in a bridal gown and rolling across the stage to 'Like a Virgin'.

Which group launched its international career by winning Eurovision 1974 with 'Waterloo'?

ABBA nearly entered 'Hasta Mañana' but chose 'Waterloo' because it featured Agnetha and Frida equally; at the 2005 'Congratulations' show it was voted the best song in Eurovision history.

Which 2019 hit ended 'Old Town Road's 19-week Hot 100 reign and won Record of the Year?

'Bad Guy' sat at number two for nine weeks behind 'Old Town Road' before finally replacing it in August 2019; Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas had recorded it in his small bedroom studio.

Olivia Rodrigo became the youngest artist to debut at number one on the Hot 100 with which 2021 single?

'Drivers License', released when Olivia Rodrigo was 17, spent eight straight weeks at number one; its runaway success made her drop a planned EP and record a full album, Sour.

Which 2022 album by a former One Direction member took Album of the Year at the 65th Grammy Awards?

Harry's House takes its title from Hosono House, a 1973 album by Japanese musician Haruomi Hosono that Harry Styles heard during a stay in Japan; its single 'As It Was' topped the Hot 100 for 15 weeks.

What was BTS's first all-English song, the first Hot 100 number one by an all-South Korean act?

'Dynamite' was made as an upbeat lift for listeners during the COVID-19 pandemic, after BTS had to postpone a world tour; released in August 2020, it earned the group their first Grammy nomination.

Sabrina Carpenter's 2024 hit 'Espresso' was the lead single from which album, her sixth?

Short n' Sweet is named for Sabrina Carpenter's briefest relationships, which she said hit her hardest, with a nod to her own height; 'Espresso' won Best Pop Solo Performance at the 2025 Grammys.

Who won Best New Artist at the 67th Grammy Awards in February 2025?

Chappell Roan was dropped by Atlantic Records in 2020 and went home to Missouri, where she worked at a drive-through, before 'Good Luck, Babe!' and her debut album made her a star.

Which 2011 album won Album of the Year at the 2012 Grammys?

21, named for Adele's age when she wrote it, won Album of the Year at the 2012 Grammys and sold more than 31 million copies, the biggest album of the 2010s.

Which singer headlined the Super Bowl LVII halftime show in 2023, confirming a pregnancy right after?

Rihanna had turned down the 2019 halftime show in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick; her 2023 set in Glendale, Arizona was her first live performance in five years, and the baby was her second child.

Which Cowboy Carter song made Beyoncé the first Black woman to top Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart?

'Texas Hold 'Em' entered the chart at number one in February 2024; Beyoncé said the album was born of an experience years earlier in which she did not feel welcomed in country music.

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, 149 shows over 21 months, played its final night on December 8, 2024 in which city?

Vancouver closed a tour that had opened in March 2023 in Glendale, Arizona, which renamed itself Swift City for the first shows and started a run of host cities paying tribute.

Which actor played a satirical Uncle Sam during Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl LIX halftime show?

Samuel L. Jackson narrated the February 2025 show in New Orleans as a satirical Uncle Sam; it averaged 133.5 million viewers, then a halftime record, and Serena Williams crip-walked during 'Not Like Us'.

Which 1984 music film won the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score?

Purple Rain won Prince the Oscar for Best Original Song Score in 1985; its title track and two other songs were recorded live at a Minneapolis club show in August 1983.

Whitney Houston's performance of which song at Super Bowl XXV in 1991 became a top-20 hit single?

'The Star-Spangled Banner' was sung in Tampa ten days into the Gulf War; released as a charity single it reached the top 20, and reissued after the September 11 attacks it climbed to number six.

Michael Jackson first moonwalked on TV at a 1983 special for which label's 25th anniversary?

At Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, taped in March 1983, Jackson mimed 'Billie Jean', the only non-Motown song on the show, while the single sat midway through seven weeks at number one.

Live Aid, the July 1985 famine benefit, was held at Wembley and which US venue?

John F. Kennedy Stadium, Philadelphia, hosted the American half; Phil Collins played both shows on the same day by flying Concorde across the Atlantic after his Wembley set.

Elton John's 'Candle in the Wind 1997' was rewritten as a tribute to whom?

Bernie Taupin reworked his 1973 Marilyn Monroe lyric for Diana, Princess of Wales, and Elton John performed the new version publicly only once, at her Westminster Abbey funeral on 6 September 1997.

Which 1977 disco soundtrack won the Album of the Year Grammy in February 1979?

Saturday Night Fever's Bee Gees songs were written in little more than a weekend at a studio in France; the double album went on to sell over 40 million copies.

The Backstreet Boys formed in 1993 in which US city?

Orlando was home to Lou Pearlman, an airship entrepreneur who, fascinated by the money New Kids on the Block were making, advertised in the local paper for a boy band of his own.

Which boy band's No Strings Attached sold a record 2.4 million US copies in its first week in 2000?

NSYNC named No Strings Attached for their break from manager Lou Pearlman and posed as marionettes on its cover; its first-week sales record stood for 15 years.

A 12-year-old Justin Bieber's early YouTube clips included a 2007 talent-contest cover of which artist's 'So Sick'?

Ne-Yo's 'So Sick' had topped the Hot 100 in 2006; Bieber's mother posted his contest performance for family and friends, and manager Scooter Braun later clicked on one of his videos by accident.

Which 8 Mile track was the first hip-hop song to win the Oscar for Best Original Song?

'Lose Yourself' won while Eminem was asleep at home with cartoons on for his daughter, sure he would lose; co-producer Luis Resto accepted.

Which 1998 single's vocal distortion was so widely copied it became known as the 'Cher effect'?

'Believe' got its robotic warble from Auto-Tune pushed to an extreme setting; to protect the trick, its producers at first claimed they had used a vocoder.

In January 1992 Nirvana's Nevermind knocked which Michael Jackson album off the top of the Billboard 200?

Dangerous was toppled by an album whose label had shipped just 46,251 copies to US stores, hoping it might eventually sell 250,000; Nevermind took the top spot on 11 January 1992.

The Beatles drew 73 million viewers in February 1964 with their first appearance on which TV show?

The Ed Sullivan Show booked the band after its host saw crowds of screaming fans greet them at Heathrow Airport in late 1963, as they flew home from a tour of Sweden.

In which Mississippi town was Elvis Presley born in 1935?

Tupelo, Mississippi: Elvis Presley was born there in 1935, and three years later the family lost their home after his father Vernon was jailed for altering a cheque; they moved to Memphis in 1948.

Which Dua Lipa song was Billboard's number one song of 2021 without ever topping the weekly Hot 100?

'Levitating' peaked at number two but stayed on the Hot 100 for 77 weeks, passing LeAnn Rimes's 'How Do I Live' as the longest-charting hit by a woman, and that staying power won it the year.

Which former Menudo member topped the Hot 100 for five weeks in 1999 with 'Livin' la Vida Loca'?

Ricky Martin joined the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo at the age of 12; the group replaced its singers as they grew up, so he had to start again as a soloist before topping the charts.

According to Grove, in which country did the term 'pop music' originate in the mid-1950s?

Grove traces 'pop music' to mid-1950s Britain, where it described rock and roll and the youth styles it influenced; in early-1960s England it competed with the term 'beat music'.

From about 1967, 'pop' was increasingly used in opposition to which other genre label?

Rock came to stand for authenticity and artistic ambition, while pop was cast as commercial and ephemeral; until the late 1960s the two words had meant roughly the same thing.

The cheap portable radios that carried 1960s pop to teenagers were named after which electronic component?

Transistor radios replaced bulky, fragile vacuum-tube sets; pocket models such as Sony's 1957 TR-63 let teenagers take pop music out of the family home and listen wherever they went.

A 2012 study of 464,000 recordings found pop since 1955 had grown more uniform and what else?

Louder: Joan Serrà's team found average volume rising from 1955 to 2010, alongside less varied note sequences and timbres; record makers compete to master releases ever louder, a contest known as the loudness war.

Which teenage star turned the Mexican folk song 'La Bamba' into a 1958 US hit?

Ritchie Valens, born Richard Valenzuela, spoke little Spanish and learned the 'La Bamba' lyrics phonetically; his label boss had shortened his surname to widen his appeal.

What name is given to the escapist, party-themed pop that dominated the charts around 2010?

'Recession pop' was already an Irish newspaper headline in 2009 and went viral on TikTok in 2024 as a nostalgic label for the party hits, such as the Black Eyed Peas' 'I Gotta Feeling', of the Great Recession years.

Which song displaced 'The Twist' atop Billboard's greatest Hot 100 songs of all time?

'Blinding Lights' took the all-time crown in November 2021 after 90 weeks on the chart, a year after the Grammys gave it no nominations at all, a snub that led the Weeknd to boycott the awards.

Which 1994 holiday song first topped the Hot 100 in December 2019?

'All I Want for Christmas Is You' could not even enter the Hot 100 in 1994, because Mariah Carey's label never sold it as a single; later rule changes let it chart, and it finally reached number one in 2019.

Which 2010 Katy Perry album produced five Hot 100 number ones, matching 1987's Bad?

Teenage Dream sent five singles to number one, from 'California Gurls' to 'Last Friday Night'; a sixth, 'The One That Got Away', stalled at number three, one hit short of a new record.

Mark Ronson's 'Uptown Funk', a 14-week Hot 100 number one, featured which singer?

Bruno Mars sang 'Uptown Funk', which grew out of a studio jam with Ronson and his band and held the Hot 100's top spot for 14 straight weeks in early 2015.

Which Cyndi Lauper hit was first written and recorded by Robert Hazard from a man's point of view?

'Girls Just Want to Have Fun' began as a 1979 demo by songwriter Robert Hazard, sung from the male side; Lauper changed some of the lyrics and her 1983 version became a feminist anthem.

Which Wham! single first hit UK number one on New Year's Day 2021, 36 years after release?

'Last Christmas' was kept off the top in 1984 by Band Aid's 'Do They Know It's Christmas?', on which George Michael also sang; it finally reached number one on 1 January 2021.

Which George Michael solo debut album won Album of the Year at the 1989 Grammys?

Faith's first single, 'I Want Your Sex', was kept off daytime BBC radio, yet the album topped the US chart for 12 weeks and won George Michael the Album of the Year Grammy.

Kylie Minogue first found fame playing mechanic Charlene in which soap opera?

Neighbours made Minogue so popular that, after she sang 'The Loco-Motion' at a football club benefit with the cast, a label signed her in 1987; Charlene's wedding drew about 20 million UK viewers.

Robbie Williams left which boy band in 1995 before launching his solo career?

Take That carried on as a four-piece after Williams left in July 1995, finished their tour and split in February 1996; the four reunited a decade later before Williams rejoined in 2010.

Which 2015 Adele single was the first song to sell a million US downloads in one week?

'Hello' sold more than a million US downloads in a week; director Xavier Dolan gave Adele a flip phone in the video because, he said, filming iPhones feels like shooting a commercial.

Whose 1990 cover of the Prince-written 'Nothing Compares 2 U' became her signature song?

Sinéad O'Connor's tears in the video were real, prompted, she said, by thoughts of her late mother; Prince had first given the song to his side project the Family in 1985.

One Direction were assembled as a five-piece in 2010 on which British TV talent show?

The X Factor's judges put five failed soloists together at bootcamp; they finished third behind Matt Cardle and Rebecca Ferguson.

Which Miley Cyrus single won Record of the Year at the 66th Grammy Awards in 2024?

'Flowers' also took Best Pop Solo Performance that night; released in January 2023 on Liam Hemsworth's birthday, it spent eight weeks atop the Hot 100.

Whose 2004 Super Bowl duet with Janet Jackson ended in the 'wardrobe malfunction'?

Justin Timberlake's apology gave the language the phrase 'wardrobe malfunction'; regulators fined CBS a record $550,000 for the broadcast, a penalty the courts later threw out.

Which Coldplay song won Song of the Year at the 2009 Grammys?

'Viva la Vida' takes its title from words Frida Kahlo painted on a watermelon in her final picture, which Chris Martin saw in Mexico; it was Coldplay's first number one in both the UK and US.

Which chart-topping band began as the high-school group Kara's Flowers before renaming itself in 2001?

Maroon 5 began as Kara's Flowers, whose 1997 album The Fourth World sold so poorly that their label dropped them; they regrouped with guitarist James Valentine and a new name.

Which Lorde single, written when she was 15, spent nine weeks atop the Hot 100 in 2013?

'Royals' took its title from a 1976 National Geographic photo of baseball star George Brett signing balls in his Kansas City Royals shirt; it won Song of the Year at the 2014 Grammys.

Which young dancer starred in the video for Sia's 'Chandelier'?

Sia spotted 11-year-old Maddie Ziegler on Dance Moms and invited her via Twitter; Ziegler went on to front the videos for 'Elastic Heart' and 'Big Girls Cry' too.

Which 2012 video was the first on YouTube to reach one billion views?

'Gangnam Style' by Psy passed a billion views in December 2012; two years later it outgrew YouTube's 32-bit view counter, forcing the site to upgrade so it could count past 2.1 billion.

Which 1995 Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men duet set a 16-week record atop the Hot 100?

'One Sweet Day' merged two tributes: Carey was writing about her late collaborator David Cole when she learned Boyz II Men had a similar song for their late tour manager; it held number one for 16 weeks.

Whose 2020 album El Último Tour del Mundo was the first all-Spanish album to top the Billboard 200?

Bad Bunny reached number one in December 2020, nine months after his album YHLQMDLG had stalled at number two, then the highest peak ever for an all-Spanish album.

Which K-pop girl group became Coachella's first Asian headliners in April 2023?

Blackpink had played Coachella's smaller Sahara tent only four years earlier, and Rosé told the crowd that coming back to top the bill was 'a dream come true'.

Which 2006 Amy Winehouse album won Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2008 Grammys?

Back to Black won Winehouse five Grammys in one night, but visa trouble kept her from the ceremony, so she performed and accepted by satellite from a London studio.

Celine Dion won the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest representing which country?

Singing for Switzerland, Dion's 'Ne partez pas sans moi' beat the UK's Scott Fitzgerald by a single point in Dublin in 1988, years before her English-language breakthrough.

Which Swedish singer won Eurovision twice, in 2012 and 2023?

Loreen, who had finished only fourth on Swedish Idol in 2004, won with 'Euphoria' and 'Tattoo', becoming the first woman to take the Eurovision title twice.

The Jackson 5 formed in 1964 in which Indiana city?

Gary, Indiana, was a steel town where Joe Jackson worked at a mill and drilled his sons through long rehearsals in the family's two-bedroom house on Jackson Street.

Which Olivia Newton-John single's 10-week Hot 100 reign was the 1980s' longest?

'Physical' topped the Hot 100 for ten weeks from November 1981; controversial for its implied sexual content, it still finished as Billboard's number-one single of 1982.

Shawn Mendes first built a following in 2013 by posting short song covers on which app?

On Vine, Mendes's six-second cover of Justin Bieber's 'As Long as You Love Me' earned 10,000 likes overnight; in 2014 'Life of the Party' made him the youngest act to debut in the Hot 100's top 25.

Diana Ross fronted which Detroit trio, scorers of twelve Hot 100 number ones?

The Supremes began as the Primettes, a sister act to the Primes, whose members went on to form the Temptations; their twelve Hot 100 number ones began with 'Where Did Our Love Go' in 1964.

Duran Duran took their name from a villain in which 1968 science-fiction film?

Barbarella's villain Dr. Durand Durand, played by Milo O'Shea, gave the Birmingham band its name in 1978; among their first gigs was a show at a city nightclub called Barbarella's.

Which 1987 Rick Astley hit became the bait-and-switch 'Rickroll' internet meme?

'Never Gonna Give You Up' started Rickrolling on 4chan; on April Fools' Day 2008 YouTube redirected every featured video to the song.

Which Tina Turner single won Record of the Year at the 1985 Grammys?

'What's Love Got to Do with It' had been turned down by Cliff Richard and recorded first by Bucks Fizz before it gave Tina Turner, at 44, her only Hot 100 number one.

Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart formed which duo behind 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)'?

Eurythmics formed in 1980 after Lennox and Stewart's previous band the Tourists split; their 1981 debut In the Garden sold little before 'Sweet Dreams' broke through in 1983.

Sam Smith's Oscar-winning Bond theme 'Writing's on the Wall' was written for which film?

Smith and Jimmy Napes wrote the Spectre theme in under half an hour and kept the demo vocal; Radiohead's own song 'Spectre', written for the same 2015 film, went unused.

Who won the first season of American Idol in 2002, launching a multi-decade career?

Kelly Clarkson had moved home to Texas after a fire in her apartment ended her first attempt at a music career; friends then talked her into auditioning, and she beat Justin Guarini in the final.

'Macarena' duo Los del Río, behind the 1990s dance craze, hail from which country?

Spain's Los del Río improvised the chorus at a 1992 party in Venezuela as a compliment to a flamenco dancer; a remix by Miami producers the Bayside Boys later made it a worldwide hit.

Who was known as the 'Queen of Disco'?

Donna Summer's 1977 hit 'I Feel Love' swapped disco's usual orchestra for a Moog synthesizer; producer Giorgio Moroder later called it the start of electronic dance music.

Which Swedish producer wrote '...Baby One More Time' and co-wrote Katy Perry's 'Roar'?

Max Martin began as the singer of a glam-metal band, It's Alive, until producer Denniz Pop spotted his gift for pop songs, gave him his stage name and became his mentor.

Pharrell Williams's 'Happy' was the sole single from which 2013 film's soundtrack?

'Happy' was written for Despicable Me 2, but Pharrell first gave it to CeeLo Green, whose label shelved his version because a Christmas album was on the way.

Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used to Know' featured which New Zealand singer?

Kimbra, born in Hamilton, New Zealand, was the last-minute replacement after another vocalist pulled out; the duet won Record of the Year at the 2013 Grammys.

Which 2024 Charli XCX album's lime-green cover launched a viral 'summer' aesthetic?

Brat's cover is just the title in plain lowercase Arial on a green chosen, Charli XCX said, to look off-trend and wrong; Kamala Harris's campaign adopted the look after the singer tweeted about her in July 2024.

Which 1971 Carole King album won Album of the Year at the 1972 Grammys?

Tapestry turned a backroom songwriter into a star: Carole King re-recorded hits she had written for the Shirelles and Aretha Franklin, and the album topped the US chart for 15 straight weeks.

Which Gloria Gaynor anthem won the only Grammy ever given for Best Disco Recording?

'I Will Survive' took the Best Disco Recording award at the 1980 Grammys, the only year the category existed; the song had started life as the B-side of 'Substitute'.

Which duo's 1990 Best New Artist Grammy was revoked after it emerged they didn't sing?

Milli Vanilli's producer Frank Farian admitted in November 1990 that Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan had not sung on the record; Arista deleted the album and class actions won buyers refunds.

Vanilla Ice's 'Ice Ice Baby' lifted its bassline from which Queen and David Bowie song?

'Under Pressure' (1981) went uncredited on 'Ice Ice Baby' until the 1990 hit forced a settlement; Vanilla Ice famously insisted his version added one extra note to the bassline.

Whose 'Poor Little Fool' topped Billboard's first Hot 100 in 1958?

Ricky Nelson got the song from Sharon Sheeley, who wrote it at 15; the story goes that she drove to his house and claimed her car had broken down so that she could pitch it to him.

Which BBC chart show aired weekly from 1964 to 2006?

Top of the Pops began in a disused church in Manchester; acts mimed to their own records until the Musicians' Union objected, and the BBC then had them record new backing tracks.

The original 1979 Sony Walkman played music from which format?

Cassette tape: Sony co-founder Masaru Ibuka wanted something lighter than a bulky recorder for music on business trips, so engineers stripped down a journalists' dictation machine into the first Walkman.

Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' was the theme song of which 1997 film?

James Cameron resisted ending Titanic with a pop ballad until he heard Will Jennings's lyric sung over James Horner's demo; the song won the Oscar for Best Original Song and four Grammys.

Before pop fame, Paula Abdul was head choreographer for which NBA team's cheerleaders?

Abdul led the Laker Girls, the Los Angeles Lakers' dance squad, in the early 1980s; the Jacksons spotted her at a game and hired her for the 'Torture' video, then she choreographed Janet Jackson's 'Nasty'.

Which costumed disco group scored their biggest hit with 'Y.M.C.A.'?

Village People did not invent the 'Y.M.C.A.' arm dance: the audience on American Bandstand spelled out the letters during a January 1979 show, and host Dick Clark showed the group.

Kate Bush's 1985 single 'Running Up That Hill' charted again in 2022 thanks to which Netflix series?

Stranger Things used the song in its fourth season, sending it to number one in eight countries and past a billion streams on Spotify.

Ariana Grande's '7 Rings' borrows the tune of 'My Favorite Things', a song from which musical?

The Sound of Music songwriters Rodgers and Hammerstein are credited as co-writers of '7 Rings' because of the borrowed melody.

A viral 2020 TikTok of a man skateboarding to 'Dreams' revived that 1977 song for which band?

Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood posted his own TikTok reply to Nathan Apodaca's video, which Apodaca filmed on his way to work in Idaho after his truck broke down.

Miley Cyrus found fame on which Disney Channel series about a schoolgirl who is secretly a pop star?

Hannah Montana ran from 2006 to 2011 and gave Cyrus two number-one soundtrack albums on the Billboard 200. Her character on the show was named Miley Stewart.

'See You Again', Wiz Khalifa's 2015 tribute to actor Paul Walker, was written for which film?

Furious 7 commissioned the song for its soundtrack after Walker died in a car crash in November 2013. It spent 12 weeks at number one on the Hot 100.

Billie Eilish won an Academy Award for 'What Was I Made For?', a ballad written for which 2023 film?

Barbie director Greta Gerwig screened a rough cut of the film for Eilish before the song was written. Record producer Mark Ronson oversaw the soundtrack album.

Lizzo, the 'Truth Hurts' singer, trained for eight years as a classical player of which instrument?

Flute is the instrument Lizzo went on to study at the University of Houston, and she has named her own one Sasha Flute.

Justin Bieber's hit 'Baby', once YouTube's most-viewed video, features a verse from which rapper?

Ludacris also co-wrote the song, alongside Bieber and R&B singer Christina Milian among others.

Ariana Grande found fame as Cat Valentine on which Nickelodeon show set at a performing arts school?

Victorious premiered in March 2010 to 5.7 million viewers, and Grande's first musical release was a track on the show's soundtrack the following year.

Gwen Stefani rose to fame as the singer of which Anaheim ska-punk band behind 'Don't Speak'?

No Doubt formed in Anaheim, California, in 1986. Stefani wrote 'Don't Speak' with her brother Eric, a founding member, about her break-up with the band's bassist, Tony Kanal.

Pop star Shakira was born in Barranquilla, a city on the Caribbean coast of which country?

Colombia's Barranquilla is where Shakira was already singing and dancing at local events between the ages of ten and thirteen.

Which helmet-wearing French duo won the 2014 Record of the Year Grammy for 'Get Lucky'?

Daft Punk took on their robot personas in 1999, with Thomas Bangalter in a silver helmet and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo in a gold one.

Which singer's 2002 debut album Let Go, with 'Complicated' and 'Sk8er Boi', made her a star?

Avril Lavigne grew up in Napanee, Ontario, a town of about 5,000 people, where her father turned the family basement into a studio for her.

Which Atlanta girl group topped the Hot 100 in the 1990s with both 'Waterfalls' and 'No Scrubs'?

TLC is an acronym of its members' names, which is why Tionne Watkins, Lisa Lopes and Rozonda Thomas became T-Boz, Left Eye and Chilli.

Which pop group was put together in 1965 by television producers for an NBC sitcom of the same name?

The Monkees were conceived by producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, and NBC ordered 32 episodes months before the show first aired in September 1966.

A-ha, whose pencil-sketch video for 'Take On Me' won six MTV awards, formed in which country?

Norway's capital, Oslo, is where the trio formed in 1982. Three years later they became the first Norwegian band to score a number-one hit in the United States.

Fans of the K-pop group BTS, who match the members' charity donations, go by which collective name?

ARMY is short for Adorable Representative MC for Youth, and its members also translate the group's lyrics and posts into other languages.

Spotify, the streaming service co-founded in 2006 by Daniel Ek, began in which European country?

Sweden's capital, Stockholm, is where Spotify was founded in April 2006 and where it keeps its headquarters, on a street called Regeringsgatan.

Which singer, third on Canadian Idol in 2007, had 2012's best-selling single with 'Call Me Maybe'?

Carly Rae Jepsen saw the song take off after Justin Bieber heard it on Canadian radio and tweeted that it was possibly the catchiest song he had ever heard.

Which California band, led by Brian Wilson, released Pet Sounds and 'Good Vibrations' in 1966?

The Beach Boys formed in Hawthorne, California, around three brothers, Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, who had shared a bedroom in the family home.

A 2015 jury found that 'Blurred Lines' copied 'Got to Give It Up', a 1977 single by which soul star?

Marvin Gaye was given a posthumous songwriting credit on 'Blurred Lines' after his family won the case against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams.

Lionel Richie co-led which soul group, known for 'Easy' and 'Three Times a Lady', before going solo?

Commodores came together in 1968 at Tuskegee Institute, where Richie, a singer and saxophonist, had already formed a string of student R&B groups.

Camila Cabello released her solo hit 'Havana' after leaving which Miami-based girl group in 2016?

Fifth Harmony, often shortened to 5H, carried on as a four-piece of Ally Brooke, Normani, Dinah Jane and Lauren Jauregui.

Which singer, born Ashley Frangipane, joined the Chainsmokers on their 12-week number one 'Closer'?

Halsey is an anagram of Ashley, and also the name of a Brooklyn subway station where she spent a lot of time as a teenager.

Which rapper and singer's disco-tinged 'Say So' hit number one in 2020 after a TikTok dance craze?

Doja Cat's song was only an album track until the dance, created by TikTok user Haley Sharpe, led her label to release it as a single.

Which Gwen Stefani hit with a 'B-A-N-A-N-A-S' chant was the first US download to sell a million?

Hollaback Girl was Stefani's reply to Courtney Love, who had dismissed her in Seventeen magazine as a cheerleader. The video casts Stefani as exactly that.

Which duo had already split up when 'Bridge over Troubled Water' won Record of the Year at the 1971 Grammys?

Simon & Garfunkel won Record of the Year and Song of the Year for the single, and the album of the same name took Album of the Year.

Which countdown show, first hosted by Carson Daly, drew fan crowds big enough to close Times Square?

Total Request Live, or TRL, premiered on MTV in September 1998, and thousands of fans gathered outside its studio whenever NSYNC or the Backstreet Boys were guests.

Which singer, a five-time Grammy winner in 2003, is the daughter of Indian musician Ravi Shankar?

Norah Jones was born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar in Manhattan. Her five wins that night included Best New Artist, Album of the Year and Record of the Year.

Whitney Houston was a first cousin of which singer, the voice of Burt Bacharach's 'Walk On By'?

Dionne Warwick's aunt was the gospel singer Cissy Houston, Whitney's mother. The two cousins recorded a duet, 'Love Will Find a Way', in 1993.

Boy George fronted which band, whose 'Karma Chameleon' was the UK's biggest-selling single of 1983?

Culture Club mixed reggae, calypso and salsa into their pop, and 'Karma Chameleon' even borrowed from country music.

Prince grew up in which Minnesota city, which lent its name to the funk-pop style he pioneered?

Minneapolis stayed Prince's base: in 1987 he opened his Paisley Park studio complex in nearby Chanhassen, where he recorded for the rest of his life.

Which trio of brothers from Tulsa, Oklahoma, became teen stars in 1997 with the hit single 'MMMBop'?

Hanson first recorded 'MMMBop' for an independent album made in their hometown, then cut it again for their major-label debut, Middle of Nowhere.

Irene Cara's 'What a Feeling' won the Best Original Song Oscar as the theme to which 1983 film?

Flashdance follows a young woman who dreams of becoming a ballerina. Composer Giorgio Moroder handed the lyrics to his session drummer, Keith Forsey, and Cara helped finish them.

Ricky Martin began his music career at twelve as a member of which Puerto Rican boy band?

Menudo usually replaced its members when they turned 16 to keep the line-up fresh-faced, so every singer's place in it was temporary.

Seal's 'Kiss from a Rose' topped the Hot 100 in 1995 after appearing in which superhero film?

Batman Forever gave the 1994 single a second release, and the film's director, Joel Schumacher, shot a new video of Seal singing beside the Bat-Signal.

Phil Collins took over as lead singer of which band in 1975 after frontman Peter Gabriel left?

Genesis had hired Collins as their drummer in 1970, and he fronted the band through its most commercially successful era until he left in 1996.

Pop icon Cher won the Best Actress Oscar for which romantic comedy co-starring Nicolas Cage?

Moonstruck cast her as a widow who falls for her fiancé's hot-tempered younger brother. It also won Oscars for Olympia Dukakis and for its screenplay.

Which singer's 1997 country-pop album Come On Over is the best-selling studio album by a woman?

Shania Twain made the album with her producer and then-husband, Robert John 'Mutt' Lange. It has sold over 40 million copies worldwide.

Lily Allen built her audience in 2005 by posting demos on which website before her debut album?

Myspace won her tens of thousands of friends, which is what caught the attention of The Observer's music magazine in March 2006.

Which band's breakthrough hit 'Manic Monday' was written by Prince under the pseudonym Christopher?

The Bangles took the song to number two in the United States, where it was kept off the top by Prince's own single 'Kiss'.

Which teen singer toured US shopping malls in 1987 before 'I Think We're Alone Now' hit number one?

Tiffany was sent on the mall tour after her first single, 'Danny', flopped. The opening date was at the Bergen Mall in Paramus, New Jersey.

Which indie band's 'Heat Waves' took 59 weeks to climb to number one on the Hot 100?

Glass Animals released the single in June 2020 and saw it top the chart in March 2022. It went on to spend 91 weeks on the Hot 100, the longest run of any song up to that point.

Phil Spector's production style, heard on the Ronettes' 'Be My Baby', is known by what name?

Wall of Sound recordings used a rotating ensemble of about twenty-five session musicians, later known as the Wrecking Crew, at Gold Star Studios.

Which Australian former busker's 'Dance Monkey' spent 24 weeks at number one at home?

Tones and I wrote the song about feeling she always had to keep passers-by entertained while she was performing on the street.

Which radio host, the original voice of Shaggy in Scooby-Doo, launched American Top 40 in 1970?

Casey Kasem hosted the countdown until 1988. He later agreed to return as Shaggy only if the character went back to being a vegetarian, like Kasem himself.

Kyu Sakamoto's 1963 US number one, sung in Japanese, was retitled in the West after which dish?

Sukiyaki appears nowhere in the lyrics: the name was picked because it was short, catchy and recognisably Japanese. The real title means 'I Look Up as I Walk'.

Which Australian duo, named after an Anne Rice phrase, had a 1997 hit with 'Truly Madly Deeply'?

Savage Garden took the name from the line 'Beauty was a Savage Garden' in The Vampire Chronicles. The duo won a record ten ARIA Awards in September 1997.

Dua Lipa moved with her family to Pristina after which country declared independence in 2008?

Kosovo is where both of her parents come from, and her father, Dukagjin, was the lead singer and guitarist of the Kosovar rock band Oda.

Which new wave band's 'Rapture' was the first US number-one single to feature rap vocals?

Blondie's singer and guitarist wrote it after their friend Fab 5 Freddy took them to rap events in the Bronx in the late 1970s.