2011 Music
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50 free 2011 Music trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The top songs of 2011 were built for dance floors and car radios: shuffling club anthems, stadium-sized pop choruses, rap singles stacked with guest verses, and a handful of ballads that stopped everyone in their tracks. It was also the year a much-mocked homemade video became a hit in its own right and a streaming service changed how Americans listened. This quiz works through Billboard's year-end Hot 100 and the moments around it. Expect questions on who sang what, who dropped in for a verse, which old tunes were sampled, what happened on the big award nights, and which bands and legends bowed out. It is for anyone who had these songs on repeat, for quiz hosts who need a ready-made round on the year, and for younger players curious about what filled the charts back then. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so even a wrong guess leaves you with a story.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which British singer's Rolling in the Deep was named Billboard's number-one Hot 100 song of 2011?
Adele
Adele co-wrote it with producer Paul Epworth, reportedly in a single afternoon after a breakup, and it held number one for seven straight weeks.
Q 02Which teenage singer's debut single Friday went viral in 2011 and was widely parodied by comedians?
Rebecca Black
Rebecca Black recorded Friday with ARK Music Factory at 13, and by June 2011 its video had more than 166 million views and 3.2 million dislikes.
Q 03Which Lady Gaga single debuted at number one in February 2011 as the Hot 100's 1,000th chart-topper?
Born This Way
Born This Way was only the nineteenth song to enter the Hot 100 at number one, and it also opened at the top in Australia and New Zealand.
Q 04Katy Perry's Teenage Dream tied which Michael Jackson album's record of five Hot 100 number-one singles in 2011?
Bad
Bad, from 1987, had been the only album with five chart-toppers until Teenage Dream became the first by a woman to match it.
Q 05Adam Levine and Christina Aguilera, rival coaches on which TV talent show, teamed up for 2011's Moves like Jagger?
The Voice
The Voice hosted the song's first performance in June 2011, and the Maroon 5 single finished ninth on Billboard's year-end Hot 100.
Q 06Which TV show's cast passed Elvis Presley in February 2011 for the most songs placed on the Billboard Hot 100?
Glee
Glee had placed eighty singles on the chart in 2010 alone, though fewer than a quarter of its entries lasted more than one week.
Q 07Which Grammy-winning singer was found dead at her home in Camden, London, in July 2011?
Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse was 27, and her death prompted comparisons with other musicians who died at that age, known collectively as the 27 Club.
Q 08Which singer revealed her pregnancy on stage at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards after performing Love On Top?
Beyoncé
Beyoncé's reveal set a Twitter record of 8,868 tweets per second and helped the broadcast draw 12.4 million viewers.
Q 09Which duo behind 2011's Party Rock Anthem are the son and grandson of Motown founder Berry Gordy?
LMFAO
LMFAO are Redfoo and his half-nephew Sky Blu, and Party Rock Anthem finished second on Billboard's year-end Hot 100 for 2011.
Q 10Far East Movement's Like a G6, one of Billboard's top songs of 2011, is named after what kind of vehicle?
A private jet
A private jet: the writers were trying to outdo the Gulfstream IV, known as a G4, and only later learned that a Gulfstream G650 already existed.
Q 11Which Honolulu-raised singer topped the Hot 100 in January 2011 with Grenade and later hit with The Lazy Song?
Bruno Mars
Bruno Mars co-directed The Lazy Song's video himself, sharing the screen with five dancers in chimpanzee masks.
Q 12Which rapper sang her 2011 hit Super Bass on The Ellen DeGeneres Show with viral child duo Sophia Grace & Rosie?
Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj saw Super Bass finish eighth on Billboard's 2011 year-end Hot 100, and Taylor Swift was among the stars who covered it.
Q 13Which rapper from Miami earned his first Hot 100 number one in 2011 with Give Me Everything?
Pitbull
Pitbull shared the milestone with Afrojack and Nayer, who also scored their first chart-topper; guest singer Ne-Yo already had one.
Q 21Which 2011 chart-topper became the first ballad with only vocals and piano to reach number one on the Hot 100?
Someone Like You
Someone Like You was written at a piano with co-writer Dan Wilson, who also plays the only instrument heard on the record.
Q 22Which country trio won Record and Song of the Year for Need You Now at the Grammys held in February 2011?
Lady Antebellum
Lady Antebellum took home five awards that night, and the trio's Just a Kiss went on to rank among Billboard's top songs of 2011.
Q 23Which jazz bassist beat Justin Bieber to the Best New Artist Grammy in a February 2011 upset?
Esperanza Spalding
Q 14Which rapper adds two verses to the single version of Katy Perry's E.T., a 2011 Hot 100 number one?
Kanye West
Kanye West is absent from the album cut; the reworked single topped the Hot 100 in April 2011 and finished fourth on Billboard's year-end list.
Q 15Which pop star joined Rihanna on the 2011 remix that lifted S&M from number two to number one?
Britney Spears
Britney Spears was the artist co-writer Ester Dean says she originally wrote S&M for, and the remix became her fifth Hot 100 chart-topper.
Q 16Which Scottish DJ produced and is featured on Rihanna's We Found Love, 2011's longest-running Hot 100 number one?
Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris saw the track spend ten non-consecutive weeks on top, overtaking Umbrella as the Barbadian singer's longest-running number one.
Q 17Which Gnarls Barkley singer climbed to number two in 2011 with a hit retitled Forget You for radio?
CeeLo Green
CeeLo Green sent the song back up the chart by performing it at the Grammys with Gwyneth Paltrow and a troupe of Jim Henson Company puppets.
Q 18Which Los Angeles band broke through in 2011 with Pumped Up Kicks, written by its frontman while a jingle writer?
Foster the People
Foster the People watched the song sit at number three for eight straight weeks; its frontman had written and recorded it in five hours.
Q 19Which group behind the 2011 hit Just Can't Get Enough headlined the Super Bowl XLV halftime show that February?
The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas brought out Slash and Usher as guests during their halftime medley.
Q 20Which singer, new to the American Idol judging panel, premiered her On the Floor video on an episode in March 2011?
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez built the track around a melody best known from Kaoma's 1989 hit Lambada, and it finished eleventh on Billboard's 2011 year-end list.
Esperanza Spalding found the double bass at a performing arts high school, having played oboe and clarinet as a child.
Q 24Which Montreal indie band surprised viewers at the 2011 Grammys when The Suburbs won Album of the Year?
Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire beat albums by Eminem and Lady Gaga to the top prize, then added Juno and Brit awards for the same record.
Q 25Wiz Khalifa's 2011 number one Black and Yellow pays tribute to the colors of which hometown city?
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh has black and gold as its official colors, shared by its football, hockey and baseball teams, and the rapper bought a car to match.
Q 26Which veteran rapper joins Lil Wayne as a guest on Chris Brown's 2011 hit Look at Me Now?
Busta Rhymes
Busta Rhymes appears with his co-stars in a graffiti-covered parking garage in the video, and the single finished 21st on Billboard's 2011 year-end Hot 100.
Q 27Which young star raps a verse on Justin Bieber's Never Say Never, the title song of the singer's 2011 concert film?
Jaden Smith
Jaden Smith was the lead in the 2010 remake of The Karate Kid, which used the track as its theme song before the concert film borrowed the title.
Q 28Which Disney Channel star fronted the Scene, the band behind the 2011 hits Who Says and Love You Like a Love Song?
Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez premiered the Who Says video on Disney Channel, and Love You Like a Love Song later earned the band its first MTV Video Music Award nomination.
Q 29Which boy band, formed on The X Factor, released the debut single What Makes You Beautiful in September 2011?
One Direction
One Direction took the song to number one in the UK and later performed it at the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.
Q 30Which Swedish streaming service, built as a legal alternative to piracy, launched in the United States in July 2011?
Spotify
Spotify had been running in several European markets since October 2008 before founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon took it across the Atlantic.