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.
30 of 70 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
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
Cover versions by Doctor and the Medics in 1986 and Gareth Gates in 2003 also reached number one in the UK.
Q 03Which band took 'Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)' to number one in the US in 1972?
Looking Glass
Writer Elliot Lurie was delighted when the song became a plot point in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in 2017.
Q 04'Play That Funky Music', a 1976 US number one, was the only Top 40 hit for which Cleveland-area band?
Wild Cherry
The band had been a hard-rock cover act before disco arrived; the record sold 2.5 million copies in the US.
Q 05Which Canadian singer had a worldwide hit in 1974 with 'Seasons in the Sun'?
Terry Jacks
It is an English adaptation by Rod McKuen of Jacques Brel's 1961 song 'Le Moribond'; Jacks rewrote about a sixth of the words for a friend dying of leukaemia.
Q 06'Seasons in the Sun' is an English-language adaptation of a 1961 song by which Belgian singer-songwriter?
Jacques Brel
The Kingston Trio recorded the first English version in 1964, and that is the recording Terry Jacks heard and built his own on.
Q 07'The Night Chicago Died', a US number one in 1974, was recorded by which British group?
Paper Lace
It describes a fictional shoot-out between Chicago police and Al Capone's gang, and opens with a synthesizer imitating a police siren.
Q 08Which American act took 'Billy Don't Be a Hero' to number one in the US in 1974?
Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods
Listeners assumed it was about Vietnam, but the marching band and soldiers in blue suggest the American Civil War, and the band once wore Union uniforms on Top of the Pops.
Q 09Starland Vocal Band's 1976 number one 'Afternoon Delight' took its title from what?
A restaurant's happy-hour menu
Bill Danoff was eating at Clyde's with bandmate Margot Chapman when he saw the menu; the song went on to win 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
The Best New Artist Grammy became so associated with careers that stalled that people started calling it a curse.
Q 11Ram Jam's 1977 hit 'Black Betty' reworked a work song usually credited to which bluesman?
Lead Belly
Nobody agrees what the title refers to: a whiskey bottle, a whip, and a prison transfer wagon have all been proposed.
Q 12'Hooked on a Feeling', the 1974 'ooga chaka' number one, was recorded by a group from which country?
Sweden
The song had already been a US top five hit for B. J. Thomas in 1969, and it found a third life on the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack.
Q 13Blue Swede's 'Hooked on a Feeling' borrowed its chanted intro from a 1971 cover by which British singer-producer?
Jonathan King
Blue Swede also altered the words to remove anything that could be read as a drug reference.
Q 21Anita Ward's 1979 hit 'Ring My Bell' was originally written for which eleven-year-old singer?
Stacy Lattisaw
The record is known for its Synare electronic drum, which plays a decaying high-pitched tone on the first beat of every bar.
Q 22'Pop Muzik', a 1979 US number one credited to M, was the project of which English musician?
Robin Scott
The baby on the single's picture disc is Scott's daughter Berenice, who grew up to be a musician herself.
Q 23Ray Dorset wrote 'In the Summertime' in about ten minutes while working in a lab for which company?
Timex
The recording was originally only two minutes long, so the producer played it twice and put a motorcycle sound in the middle to stretch it.
Q 14'My Sharona' was named after a real teenager who went on to become what?
Doug Fieger's girlfriend
It was Capitol's fastest-selling debut single to go gold since the Beatles' 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' in 1964.
Q 15How many weeks did the Knack's 'My Sharona' spend at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979?
Six
It has since sold more than ten million copies, putting it among the best-selling singles ever.
Q 16'Video Killed the Radio Star' by the Buggles became famous in 1981 for being what?
The first thing MTV ever aired
It was also the millionth video MTV played, in February 2000, and the last one shown when MTV Music UK closed at the end of 2025.
Q 17Which producer, later behind Frankie Goes to Hollywood, was in The Buggles with Geoff Downes?
Trevor Horn
Despite topping charts in Britain, Australia and Japan, the single only reached number 40 in the United States.
Q 18'Popcorn', a 1972 worldwide hit for Hot Butter, was originally composed in 1969 for which electronic instrument?
The Moog synthesizer
The title combines 'pop' for pop music with 'corn' for kitsch, and it has since been covered by everyone from the Muppets to Crazy Frog.
Q 19'Convoy' (1975) was credited to C. W. McCall, a character voiced by which advertising man?
Bill Fries
Co-writer Chip Davis went on to found Mannheim Steamroller, and the song inspired Sam Peckinpah's 1978 film Convoy.
Q 20Rick Dees, who sang the 1976 US number one 'Disco Duck', worked at the time as what?
A Memphis radio DJ
His own station refused to play it and fired him for merely mentioning it on air; a rival station hired him and let him play it.
Q 24'Wildfire', a 1975 US top three hit about a girl and her lost horse, was recorded by which singer?
Michael Martin Murphey
The Western Writers of America voted it one of the top 100 Western songs of all time, and Murphey re-recorded it with Cody Johnson in 2025.
Q 25Pilot's 1974 hit 'Magic' was inspired by a sunrise seen from a hill in which city?
Edinburgh
Paton also said his wife had remarked that she had never seen a daybreak, which fed the idea.
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
Carrack later sang for Squeeze and Mike + the Mechanics, but Ace never repeated the trick.
Q 27Which English band had a worldwide hit in 2000 covering 'Dancing in the Moonlight'?
Toploader
Writer Sherman Kelly composed the song while recovering from a brutal 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
Holmes deliberately wanted a song that some stations would ban to generate publicity, and cited 'Sixteen Tons' and Suddenly, Last Summer as inspirations.
Q 29Shocking Blue, whose 'Venus' topped the US chart in February 1970, came from which country?
Netherlands
Bananarama's 1986 cover reached number one in six countries, giving the song a second life.
Q 30Shocking Blue's 'Venus' is based on 'The Banjo Song', a reworking of which Stephen Foster tune?
Oh! Susanna
The opening guitar riff also owes something to the Who's 'Pinball Wizard'.