1970s One-Hit Wonders Trivia
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70 free 1970s One-Hit Wonders trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This 1970s one-hit wonders trivia quiz is about the songs everyone still knows by acts almost nobody can name. It runs from Norman Greenbaum and Shocking Blue at the start of the decade, through Looking Glass, Carl Douglas, Paper Lace and Starland Vocal Band, to the Knack, the Buggles and Rupert Holmes as the seventies ran out. Most questions ask you to match the hit to the artist, but there are plenty on the stories behind the records too: the disco novelty written by a Memphis DJ, the number one inspired by a happy-hour menu, the British chart-topper that featured a mother and son, and the song about a mine cave-in that radio stations tried to ban. If you want the broader picture, BrainPickle's one-hit wonders quiz covers every decade; this one stays in the seventies. Every answer is checked against the Wikipedia article for the song, and each question carries a citation. No lyrics are quoted, so it is safe to use as a pub quiz round.
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Q 01Who had a worldwide 1974 number one with 'Kung Fu Fighting'?
Carl Douglas
It went on to sell eleven million copies and topped Channel 4's UK poll of the greatest one-hit wonders in 2000 and again in 2006.
Q 02Who wrote and recorded 'Spirit in the Sky', a 1970 US hit that later topped the UK chart?
Norman Greenbaum
Norman Greenbaum wrote and sang 'Spirit in the Sky', a US top-five hit and UK number one in 1970; Doctor and the Medics (1986) and Gareth Gates (2003) later took it back to UK number one.
Q 03Which band took 'Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)' to number one in the US in 1972?
Looking Glass
Looking Glass, a New Jersey band formed at Rutgers University, took 'Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)' to number one in the US in August 1972; guitarist Elliot Lurie wrote and sang it.
Q 04'Play That Funky Music' (1976) was the only Top 40 hit for which Ohio band?
Wild Cherry
Wild Cherry, led by Rob Parissi, formed in Mingo Junction, Ohio, as a hard-rock cover act; 'Play That Funky Music' topped the US chart in September 1976 and was the band's only Top 40 hit.
Q 05Which Canadian singer had a worldwide hit in 1974 with 'Seasons in the Sun'?
Terry Jacks
Terry Jacks, from Winnipeg, took 'Seasons in the Sun' to number one in the US and UK in 1974; his version reworks Rod McKuen's English adaptation of a 1961 French-language chanson.
Q 06'Seasons in the Sun' adapts 'Le Moribond', a 1961 song by which singer-songwriter?
Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel wrote and recorded 'Le Moribond' in 1961; Rod McKuen's English adaptation was first recorded by the Kingston Trio a decade before the 1974 hit version.
Q 07'The Night Chicago Died', a US number one in 1974, was recorded by which British group?
Paper Lace
Paper Lace, a group from Nottingham, took 'The Night Chicago Died' to number one in the US in August 1974; it describes a fictional shoot-out between Chicago police and Al Capone's gang.
Q 08Which American act took 'Billy Don't Be a Hero' to number one in the US in 1974?
Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods
Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods, from Cincinnati, took 'Billy Don't Be a Hero' to number one in the US in June 1974, beating the original British version, which had topped the UK chart earlier that year.
Q 09Starland Vocal Band's 1976 number one 'Afternoon Delight' took its title from what?
A restaurant's happy-hour menu
A restaurant's happy-hour menu: Bill Danoff borrowed the title from the 'Afternoon Delights' appetizer menu at Clyde's of Georgetown; the song topped the US chart in July 1976 and won a Grammy for Best Arrangement for Voices.
Q 10Starland Vocal Band beat which band, whose 1976 debut is among the best-selling debuts ever, to Best New Artist?
Boston
Boston, whose self-titled 1976 debut sold over 17 million copies in the US, lost Best New Artist at the 1977 Grammys to Starland Vocal Band, a result often cited when the award is called a curse.
Q 11Ram Jam's 1977 hit 'Black Betty' reworked a work song usually credited to which bluesman?
Lead Belly
Lead Belly recorded 'Black Betty' a cappella in 1939 and the song is usually credited to him; what the title means is disputed, with a whiskey bottle, a whip and a prison transfer wagon all proposed.
Q 12'Hooked on a Feeling', the 1974 'ooga chaka' number one, was recorded by a group from which country?
Sweden
Sweden: the group was from Stockholm and its version topped the US chart in April 1974; B. J. Thomas had taken the song to the US top five in 1969, and the 'ooga chaka' cut later appeared in Reservoir Dogs.
Q 13The 1974 'Hooked on a Feeling' took its 'ooga chaka' intro from whose 1971 cover?
Jonathan King
Q 21Anita Ward's 1979 hit 'Ring My Bell' was originally written for which eleven-year-old singer?
Stacy Lattisaw
Stacy Lattisaw: writer-producer Frederick Knight wrote 'Ring My Bell' as a teen pop song for the eleven-year-old, then reworked it for Anita Ward, whose version topped the US chart in June 1979 with its Synare drum 'pew'.
Q 22'Pop Muzik', a 1979 US number one credited to M, was the project of which English musician?
Robin Scott
Robin Scott recorded 'Pop Muzik' under the name M; it reached number two in the UK and topped the US Billboard Hot 100 in November 1979.
Q 23Ray Dorset wrote 'In the Summertime' in about ten minutes while working in a lab for which company?
Timex
Jonathan King added the 'ooga chaka' chant to his 1971 UK top-30 cover of 'Hooked on a Feeling', and the 1974 US number one copied it note for note.
Q 14'My Sharona' was named after a real teenager who went on to become what?
Doug Fieger's girlfriend
Doug Fieger's girlfriend: Sharona Alperin, 17 when Fieger met her, became his girlfriend and posed for the single's sleeve; it was Capitol's fastest-selling debut single to go gold since the Beatles' 'I Want to Hold Your Hand'.
Q 15How many weeks did the Knack's 'My Sharona' spend at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979?
Six
Six: 'My Sharona' topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks from late August 1979 and finished as Billboard's number one single of the year.
Q 16'Video Killed the Radio Star' by the Buggles became famous in 1981 for being what?
The first thing MTV ever aired
The first thing MTV ever aired: 'Video Killed the Radio Star' opened MTV on 1 August 1981, and in February 2000 it became the millionth video the channel played.
Q 17Which producer, later behind Frankie Goes to Hollywood, was in The Buggles with Geoff Downes?
Trevor Horn
Trevor Horn formed the Buggles with Geoff Downes; after 'Video Killed the Radio Star' topped the UK chart in 1979, both briefly joined Yes, and Horn went on to produce Frankie Goes to Hollywood's 'Relax'.
Q 18'Popcorn', a 1972 worldwide hit for Hot Butter, was originally composed in 1969 for which electronic instrument?
The Moog synthesizer
The Moog synthesizer: Gershon Kingsley wrote 'Popcorn' for his 1969 album 'Music to Moog By'; Hot Butter's 1972 cover, led by Stan Free, reached the US top ten and was later covered by Crazy Frog.
Q 19'Convoy' (1975) was credited to C. W. McCall, a character voiced by which advertising man?
Bill Fries
Bill Fries, an Omaha advertising executive, created C. W. McCall for an Old Home Bread commercial campaign and voiced the character on 'Convoy'; co-writer Chip Davis went on to found Mannheim Steamroller.
Q 20Rick Dees, who sang the 1976 US number one 'Disco Duck', worked at the time as what?
A Memphis radio DJ
A Memphis radio DJ: Rick Dees was on WMPS, which refused to play 'Disco Duck' and fired him for plugging it on air; rival WHBQ hired him as the single climbed to US number one in October 1976.
Timex: Ray Dorset was a lab worker at the watchmaker when he wrote 'In the Summertime'; the recording ran only about two minutes, so producer Barry Murray played it twice with a motorbike sound in between.
Q 24'Wildfire', a 1975 US top three hit about a girl and her lost horse, was recorded by which singer?
Michael Martin Murphey
Michael Martin Murphey took 'Wildfire' into the US top five in 1975; he said the song came to him in a dream, and the Western Writers of America later voted it among the top 100 Western songs.
Q 25Pilot, the band behind the 1974 hit 'Magic', formed in which Scottish city?
Edinburgh
Edinburgh: Pilot was formed there in 1973 by David Paton and Billy Lyall, both former members of the Bay City Rollers; 'Magic' reached number eleven in the UK and number five in the US.
Q 26Ace's 1974 hit 'How Long' sounds like it's about infidelity, but Paul Carrack wrote it after discovering what?
The bassist was secretly playing with another band
The bassist was secretly playing with another band: Paul Carrack wrote 'How Long' after learning Ace's bassist Terry Comer had been moonlighting with the Sutherland Brothers and Quiver; Carrack later sang for Squeeze and Mike + the Mechanics.
Q 27King Harvest's 1972 hit 'Dancing in the Moonlight' was covered in 2000 by which English band?
Toploader
Toploader's 2000 cover of 'Dancing in the Moonlight' reached the UK top ten; writer Sherman Kelly composed the song while recovering from a gang assault in St. Croix, imagining a peaceful celebration instead.
Q 28Which future 'Piña Colada Song' star wrote 'Timothy', the Buoys' 1971 hit about a cannibalism-tinged mine cave-in?
Rupert Holmes
Rupert Holmes wrote 'Timothy' hoping a radio ban would generate publicity for the Buoys; many stations did refuse it, yet it reached number 17 in the US in 1971, eight years before his own 'Escape (The Piña Colada Song)'.
Q 29Shocking Blue, whose 'Venus' topped the US chart in February 1970, came from which country?
Netherlands
Netherlands: Shocking Blue formed in The Hague, and 'Venus' was the first Dutch record to top the US Billboard Hot 100, in February 1970; Bananarama's 1986 cover also reached US number one.
Q 30Shocking Blue's 'Venus' is based on 'The Banjo Song', a reworking of which Stephen Foster tune?
Oh! Susanna
Oh! Susanna: 'The Banjo Song', recorded by the Big 3 in 1963, set Stephen Foster's 'Oh! Susanna' lyrics to a new melody, and Shocking Blue's Robbie van Leeuwen lifted that tune for 'Venus'.