99 Fun Facts About Twenty One Pilots

Twenty One Pilots come from which city?

Columbus, Ohio, is Tyler Joseph's birthplace, and the band formed there in 2009, first playing clubs and venues around the city.

Which Arthur Miller play gave Twenty One Pilots their name?

All My Sons follows a businessman who knowingly ships faulty plane parts that kill 21 pilots, and Joseph said its moral dilemma inspired the band's name.

Tyler Joseph started making music after finding which instrument, an old Christmas gift, in his closet?

Keyboard: the forgotten Christmas gift from his mother got Joseph started, and he taught himself by mimicking melodies he heard on the radio.

How did Tyler Joseph and original bassist Nick Thomas first meet?

Playing youth basketball as kids, they became friends, and Joseph invited Thomas to join as bassist just before the band's first performance.

Where did Twenty One Pilots record their self-titled debut album?

The basement of a house they shared served as the studio, and after the album's December 2009 release the band began touring their home state.

How did Tyler Joseph's mother help with the band's early marketing?

Handing out tickets outside Ohio State was the band's grassroots marketing, and it began as they toured to support their first album.

Josh Dun nearly moved to which city before joining Twenty One Pilots?

Nashville was the plan until drummer Chris Salih, leaving the band to focus on work, offered Dun his spot in 2011.

Where was Josh Dun working when he met Chris Salih, who introduced him to Tyler Joseph?

Guitar Center is where Dun met drummer Chris Salih, and in 2010 Dun also toured as a fill-in drummer with House of Heroes.

Which instrument did Josh Dun take lessons in before teaching himself drums?

Trumpet lessons came first at school; Dun then taught himself drums by imitating records on an electronic kit, and he still plays trumpet in the band.

Josh Dun of Twenty One Pilots married which former Disney Channel star in 2019?

Debby Ryan, star of Disney Channel's Jessie, married Dun in Austin, Texas, on 31 December 2019, years after the pair first dated.

How was Tyler Joseph educated as a child?

Homeschooled as a child, Joseph got his first real taste of music from the Christian rap-rock group DC Talk.

What was Twenty One Pilots' second self-released album, later taken out of print?

Regional at Best has been out of print since 2012, after the band signed, and several of its songs were re-recorded for their major-label debut.

Which label signed Twenty One Pilots in 2012?

Fueled by Ramen, an Atlantic Records subsidiary, announced the signing during one of the band's shows at Lifestyle Communities Pavilion.

What was the duo's major-label debut album, released in January 2013?

Vessel re-recorded five songs from the band's self-released 2011 album, a record Joseph called a 'glorified mixtape'.

What was Twenty One Pilots' first charting single?

Holding On to You got the band's first official music video, a black-and-white clip directed by Jordan Bahat.

In September 2021, Twenty One Pilots played an interactive virtual concert inside which online game?

Roblox players voted in real time on the order of the songs, and Joseph and Dun joined fans in a live chat after the show.

Twenty One Pilots opened for which band on its 2013 Save Rock and Roll arena tour?

Fall Out Boy were back from a hiatus that began at the end of 2009, and that 2013 arena tour took their comeback album on the road.

What was Twenty One Pilots' 2014 headlining world tour called?

Quiet Is Violent ran from September to November 2014, and the band blended fans' show requests from different cities into its route.

The character who gave the fourth album its name was described by Tyler Joseph as representing what?

Joseph applies black paint to parts of his body to get into character on stage.

During the Stressed Out era, where did Tyler Joseph wear black paint on stage and in videos?

His hands and neck got the black paint, which also shows up in the Stressed Out video.

Which was the first single from Twenty One Pilots' fourth album, released in March 2015?

Fairly Local arrived the same day the album was announced, about six weeks before Stressed Out came out as a promotional single.

Which Justin Bieber single kept Stressed Out from reaching number one on the Hot 100?

Love Yourself held the top spot, so Stressed Out stalled at number two, still the duo's first US top ten hit.

Who produced Stressed Out?

Mike Elizondo recorded Stressed Out with the duo at Can Am studios in Los Angeles and later co-produced their 2025 album.

Which Grammy did Stressed Out win in February 2017?

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance was the win, while Stressed Out lost Record of the Year to Adele's Hello.

What did Twenty One Pilots do before walking on stage to accept their 2017 Grammy?

Stripped to their underwear, they kept a promise the pair had made to each other in their early days as a local band.

Heathens was released in 2016 as the first single from which film's soundtrack?

Suicide Squad's soundtrack single leaked online, so the label released it on 16 June 2016, ahead of its planned 24 June date.

In 2016, Twenty One Pilots became the third rock act with two simultaneous Hot 100 top fives, after Elvis and which band?

The Beatles and Elvis Presley had done it before; Twenty One Pilots managed it with Heathens at number four and Ride at number five.

Twenty One Pilots made their late-night TV debut in 2013 on which host's show?

Conan O'Brien's show hosted the duo on 8 August 2013, and they played House of Gold.

Which My Chemical Romance song did Twenty One Pilots cover for a 2016 tribute album?

Cancer, a piano ballad on My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade, got electronic textures and reordered verses in the duo's cover.

What was the name of Twenty One Pilots' 2016 tour that opened in Cincinnati that May?

Emotional Roadshow World Tour was the band's second tour for their fourth album, and it ended in June 2017 with five hometown shows.

Twenty One Pilots' album Trench is framed around which fictional city?

Dema takes its name from dakhma, the Zoroastrian 'Tower of Silence'.

In the Trench story, which colour do the rebel Banditos adopt?

Yellow is the Banditos' colour, worn by the rebels as they defy the bishops who lead the story's city.

Which Mutemath frontman co-produced and co-wrote much of Trench?

Paul Meany kept working with Joseph afterwards, co-producing the duo's 2024 and 2025 albums.

Which two songs were released together on 11 July 2018 to launch Trench?

Jumpsuit and Nico and the Niners ended a year-long public silence, arriving with the Jumpsuit video on 11 July 2018.

Which soundtrack kept Trench off US number one?

A Star Is Born's soundtrack also kept Trench at number two in the UK, finishing just under 2,000 combined sales ahead.

The Chlorine video features an alien-like creature named what?

Ned, a small antlered creature, later gave his name to the band's 2019 pop-up shop, Ned's Bayou, and its merchandise.

Which Twenty One Pilots song's fan-submitted video, livestreamed for 177 days in 2020, set the Guinness record for longest music video?

Level of Concern was written about pandemic anxiety, and its official video was filmed in the pair's homes during lockdown.

The title Scaled and Icy is an anagram of what?

Clancy is dead is the phrase hidden in the title, pointing to the protagonist of Trench, and the name also plays on 'scaled back and isolated'.

What was the lead single from Scaled and Icy?

Shy Away premiered on BBC Radio 1 on 7 April 2021, the same day the band officially announced the album.

What was distinctive about Twenty One Pilots' 2021 Takeover Tour?

The band spent a week in each city, mixing small clubs and big venues, and a more traditional arena run, the Icy Tour, followed in 2022.

Which Netflix series did Twenty One Pilots mash up with Heathens in a 2022 performance video?

Stranger Things' theme was blended with Heathens for the live performance video, released on 22 July 2022.

What was the lead single from Twenty One Pilots' 2024 album, released on 29 February?

Overcompensate came first, and because every song on the album got a music video, the release was pushed back a week.

Which instrument does Tyler Joseph strum on the Twenty One Pilots songs The Judge and We Don't Believe What's on TV?

Ukulele strums open The Judge, and the song builds layer by layer from there into a summery singalong.

Breach, released in September 2025, concluded a story arc that began with which album?

Blurryface introduced the lore, and Breach matched it by becoming only the duo's second album to debut atop the Billboard 200.

What was the lead single from Breach?

The Contract arrived three months before the album, alongside a new North American tour leg supporting both records.

As of April 2026, Twenty One Pilots' 14 Alternative Airplay number ones tied which band for second-most?

Linkin Park also had 14, and only the Red Hot Chili Peppers, with 15, had more number ones on that chart.

Twenty One Pilots' fanbase is known by what nickname?

The Skeleton Clique name comes from the band's skeleton imagery, and in 2016 fans' art covered over 100 ad panels at London's Wood Green tube station.

Which street in Twenty One Pilots' hometown was temporarily renamed after the band in 2019?

Nationwide Boulevard became Twenty One Pilots Boulevard in 2019 to celebrate two hometown shows at Nationwide Arena.

Which Damien Rice song did the duo cover in BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge in November 2018?

9 Crimes shared the Live Lounge session with stripped-down versions of My Blood and Ride, recorded during the Trench campaign.

In Twenty One Pilots' Stressed Out video, Tyler Joseph rides to meet Josh Dun on what?

A tricycle sets up the song's longing for childhood, and both men's real families appear later in the video, dressed in black.

After Twenty One Pilots shot Stressed Out at Josh Dun's childhood home, what did his parents cancel?

Their landline phone had to go to stop calls coming in at all hours, Josh Dun has said, after the place became a destination for fans.

Which relatives of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun appear on the cover of Twenty One Pilots' 2013 album?

Their grandfathers posed for the sleeve; Tyler Joseph's, pictured on the right, was later mourned in the 2018 song Legend.

What stolen item from Tyler Joseph's college days inspired a Twenty One Pilots song with no chorus?

His car radio went, along with a GPS and his CDs, after he arrived late to class and forgot to lock the door, and he could not afford replacements.

Why did an early show Josh Dun played with Tyler Joseph in Twenty One Pilots end after one song?

Police shut it down after a single song, yet Josh Dun dropped his plan to chase drumming work elsewhere and joined the duo full-time.

Which Green Day album did Josh Dun of Twenty One Pilots say he hid under his bed from his parents?

Dookie had to stay hidden because his parents set strict rules on music and, he recalled, made him listen to Christian bands such as Relient K instead.

Which White Stripes song did Twenty One Pilots play at the 2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony?

Seven Nation Army saluted the White Stripes, another two-piece act, who were inducted into the Hall that year by Iggy Pop.

Twenty One Pilots recorded The Line for the second season of which animated Netflix series?

Arcane gave the duo a new stage: they went on to perform the song with an orchestra at The Game Awards in December 2024.

Whose album kept Twenty One Pilots' 2024 release off the top of the UK chart after it led midweek?

Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department overtook it by the week's end, though the duo's album did debut at number one on the UK's Official Record Store Chart.

During Twenty One Pilots concerts, drummer Josh Dun performs his trademark backflip off what?

The piano serves as his launch pad, one stunt in a show where he also plays a miniature drum set held up by the crowd.

Twenty One Pilots' Stressed Out was the first rock song to pass a billion streams on which service?

Spotify logged the milestone, and the song also gave the duo a first top-ten hit on the Hot 100, where it climbed to number two.

Which TV concert series did Twenty One Pilots play in 2022, yielding a live album the next year?

MTV Unplugged saw the duo rework songs old and new, among them a mashup of two of their most familiar tracks, before the set reached shops in April 2023.

Twenty One Pilots' breakthrough 2015 album became the first on which every single track earned what?

A gold certification for Hometown in March 2018 completed the set, and the duo's 2013 album later became the second ever to manage the feat.

Which song traditionally ends Twenty One Pilots shows, with the duo drumming on top of the audience?

Trees has deep roots: Tyler Joseph first attempted to record it when he was 17, and it was later re-recorded for the duo's major-label debut.

Why did Twenty One Pilots release Heathens about a week earlier than planned in June 2016?

It leaked online on June 15, so the single came out the next day rather than on June 24, and it went on to peak at number two on the Hot 100.

During some Twenty One Pilots shows, Tyler Joseph performs in which garment with a floral print?

A kimono suits a band that began experimenting with costumes and on-stage acrobatics to catch the attention of uninterested club crowds.

Twenty One Pilots' Trench tour opened with Tyler Joseph rising from below the stage on top of what?

A burning car lifted him into view while Josh Dun, his face hidden by a bandana, took his seat at the drums.

In February 2024, Twenty One Pilots teased an album by partly covering their old cover art in what?

Red tape appeared over four earlier covers on streaming platforms, while fans received cryptic letters and a new logo went up on billboards.

Why was Twenty One Pilots' 2024 album pushed back a week from its planned May release?

To finish its music videos, the duo took an extra week: every song on the album got one, and all but the last track's were out by release day.

What image did Twenty One Pilots post over song lyrics in July 2017 to begin a year of silence?

A closing eye delivered the blackout the duo had promised months earlier, when they said they would be going dark to focus on new music.

Tyler Joseph premiered a Twenty One Pilots Christmas single during a 2020 livestream on which site?

Twitch carried the stream; he had been reluctant to write a festive song until, he said, he experienced the holiday through a little girl's perspective.

At which English festival did Twenty One Pilots end a 2016 set early after a rough crowd surf?

Reading saw Tyler Joseph pulled under by the crowd, with his clothes ripped and belongings stolen, so the duo stopped before their usual finale.

Which charity did Twenty One Pilots' tenth-anniversary album livestream raise money for in 2023?

Make-A-Wish collected donations throughout a three-hour YouTube variety stream that marked a decade since the duo's first album for a major label.

Which symbol did both members of Twenty One Pilots have tattooed on stage to honour hometown fans?

An X went onto each of them at a hometown show in 2013; two years later Josh Dun tattooed his own first name onto Tyler Joseph's thigh on stage.

What name did Twenty One Pilots give the dragon on the cover of their 2021 album Scaled and Icy?

Trash began as an 1860s children's-book drawing by the illustrator Walter Crane, and Tyler Joseph keeps a small dragon figurine in his home studio.

In the Saturday video, Twenty One Pilots play a party aboard what craft before a sea dragon strikes?

A submarine hosts the party until the creature rams it and water floods in, yet the pair keep performing submerged while the guests panic.

The bridge of Twenty One Pilots' 2021 single Saturday features a call to Tyler Joseph from whom?

His wife, Jenna, is heard urging him to move on with the track; she wanted to re-record it because she disliked how it sounded, but he talked her out of it.

In the story told across Twenty One Pilots' albums, drummer Josh Dun portrays which character?

The Torchbearer returns in City Walls, a near ten-minute finale whose stated budget of $1 million ranks it among the most expensive promos ever shot.

Twenty One Pilots teased Heathens the day before its release with a tweeted message written in what?

Morse code spelled out a phrase from the song's lyrics, and the finished track went on to earn three Grammy nominations.

Who hosted Saturday Night Live on the October 2016 night Twenty One Pilots were musical guests?

Lin-Manuel Miranda hosted as the duo played two songs with an orchestra, in an episode that opened with Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump.

Which band took Twenty One Pilots along as openers on legs of its Self-Titled Tour in 2013 and 2014?

Paramore had the duo open a Latin American date in 2013 and then its Australian and New Zealand shows in January 2014.

Twenty One Pilots' 2026 concert film More Than We Ever Imagined documents a show in which capital?

Mexico City hosted the February 2025 concert, and the film grossed $5.8 million in cinemas before a live album of the same night followed.

In Twenty One Pilots' stylised name, which letter is replaced by a slashed character?

O becomes ø in the stylised lowercase spelling, which is why the duo's name is so often abbreviated to TØP.

Which Caribbean genre colours Ride, the Twenty One Pilots hit that reached number five in the US?

Reggae runs through the track's shimmering riffs, which are bound together by Josh Dun's slow one-two drum beat and a dark, brooding bassline.

Twenty One Pilots' Breach set an opening-week sales record for a rock album in which format?

Vinyl LP sales in its September 2025 opening week were the biggest for a rock album since tracking began in 1991, helping it debut at number one in the US.

Which city hosted A Complete Diversion, the 2018 show that ended Twenty One Pilots' year off stage?

London's O2 Brixton Academy staged the return, where the duo played the four Trench songs already released, a few weeks before the album came out.

Which 1990s party anthem did Twenty One Pilots cover alongside their opening acts on tour in 2017?

Jump Around followed Tubthumping and No Diggity in a run of covers played with the support acts Jon Bellion and Judah & the Lion.

Which 2024 Twenty One Pilots single has a video that marked drummer Josh Dun's debut as a director?

Backslide has Tyler Joseph cycling along with a bag of hamburger buns, paying for lemonade with one of them on his way to Josh Dun's front door.

An early Twenty One Pilots track, Time to Say Goodbye, samples a hit duet by which Italian tenor?

Andrea Bocelli's duet with Sarah Brightman supplied the sample, and the track became the first of their songs that Josh Dun ever heard.

In the Arthur Miller play that named Twenty One Pilots, a factory owner ships which faulty goods?

Engine parts, defective cylinder heads built for fighter planes, cause the wartime deaths whose number gave the duo their name.

Before joining Twenty One Pilots, Josh Dun toured in 2010 as a stand-in drummer for which band?

House of Heroes needed cover while drummer Colin Rigsby took a break to be with his family, and Josh Dun even appears in one of the band's promo clips.

Which broadcaster got Tyler Joseph's first interview after Twenty One Pilots' year-long silence?

Zane Lowe spoke to him for Apple Music's Beats 1 at the singer's home studio, where they discussed the hiatus and the making of Trench.

What was the title of the solo project Tyler Joseph recorded before forming Twenty One Pilots?

No Phun Intended was taped at his family home in 2007 and 2008, with future bandmate Nick Thomas contributing to several of its songs.

The city in Twenty One Pilots' Trench story is named after the Towers of Silence of which religion?

Zoroastrianism exposed corpses in such towers for vultures to eat, and the duo said a shortage of the birds, which threatens the rite, inspired them.

Twenty One Pilots named the Trench bishop Nicolas Bourbaki after a real-life collective of what?

Mathematicians, mainly French, used Bourbaki as a collective pseudonym; in the album's story he leads the nine bishops who rule.

A sold-out 2011 show at which hometown venue first drew record labels to Twenty One Pilots?

Newport Music Hall filled up that November after months of constant touring and social media work, and the duo announced a record deal the following April.

Which Twenty One Pilots song won Best Rock Video at the 2017 MTV VMAs, a year after Heathens did?

Heavydirtysoul puts Tyler Joseph in the passenger seat of an out-of-control vehicle that plays chicken with Josh Dun and his flaming drum kit.

Which hip-hop producer made an official remix of Twenty One Pilots' Lane Boy after seeing its video?

DJ Premier heard about the duo while recording with Dr. Dre in Los Angeles, bought their album, then slowed the track down and added his trademark scratching.

Intentions, the last track on Twenty One Pilots' Breach, is a reversed version of which older song?

Truce ended the duo's 2013 major-label debut as a sparse ballad without synths, bass or drums; its backmasked form also plays over the City Walls end credits.

Which drink do Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun sip at the kerb in Twenty One Pilots' Stressed Out video?

Capri Sun pouches suit a song about missing childhood, and the scene gives way to the pair lying in bed while their families watch them sleep.