Michael Jackson
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97 free Michael Jackson trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
15 free Michael Jackson trivia questions with answers. Test your knowledge of the King of Pop with our comprehensive Michael Jackson trivia quiz. From his groundbreaking Thriller album to his revolutionary dance moves, this 97-question quiz covers the essential facts about one of music's greatest legends. See how well you know Michael Jackson's incredible career and cultural impact.
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Q 01Which album was Michael Jackson's solo debut, released at age 13?
Got to Be There
Got to Be There came out on Motown while he was still the Jackson 5's lead singer, and it did not end the group: he went on recording and touring with his brothers until 1984.
Q 02Which character did Michael Jackson play in the film musical The Wiz?
The Scarecrow
The Scarecrow part put Jackson on set with the film's music supervisor, Quincy Jones, who offered during the shoot to produce his next solo album and went on to make three with him.
Q 03Which dance move did Michael Jackson debut during his 'Billie Jean' performance on Motown 25 in 1983?
The Moonwalk
The Moonwalk was a street-dance step known as the backslide long before Jackson performed it during 'Billie Jean' on Motown 25; that one routine gave the move its new name and worldwide fame.
Q 04In what U.S. state was Michael Jackson born?
Indiana
Indiana was home until fame arrived: the large family shared a two-bedroom house in Gary, their father a crane operator, before the Jackson 5's Motown deal took them to Los Angeles.
Q 05With whom did Michael Jackson co-write the 1985 charity single 'We Are the World'?
Lionel Richie
Jackson wrote 'We Are the World' with Lionel Richie in January 1985 for USA for Africa; Quincy Jones produced the all-star recording, which raised money for Ethiopian famine relief.
Q 06Which Jackson single, sung with a gospel choir, did Siedah Garrett co-write?
Man in the Mirror
Man in the Mirror came from a songwriters' meeting where Quincy Jones asked for hits; Garrett took the brief to co-writer Glen Ballard, and it became the fourth of Bad's record five US number ones.
Q 07Which Michael Jackson song features a guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen?
Beat It
'Beat It' got its solo for free: Eddie Van Halen recorded it as a favour to producer Quincy Jones and took no payment for the session.
Q 08What was the title of Michael Jackson's final studio album released during his lifetime?
Invincible
Invincible reportedly cost $30 million to make, the most expensive album on record, and its release was soured by Jackson's public feud with his own record company.
Q 09Which Michael Jackson ballad shares its name with the charity foundation he launched in 1992?
Heal the World
Heal the World gave its name to the foundation he set up in 1992, and he sang it with a children's choir at the Super Bowl halftime show the following January to promote the cause.
Q 10Which 1991 Michael Jackson album was his first since the 1970s made without producer Quincy Jones?
Dangerous
Dangerous ended a three-album run with Quincy Jones as Jackson turned to new jack swing producer Teddy Riley; in January 1992 Nirvana's Nevermind knocked it off the top of the US album chart.
Q 11Which of these Michael Jackson songs comes from his tenth studio album, released in 2001?
Butterflies
Butterflies was written by Marsha Ambrosius of the British duo Floetry, whom Jackson's manager introduced to him; the ballad reached number 14 in the US.
Q 12The song 'Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough' is a hit from which Michael Jackson album?
Off the Wall
Off the Wall opens with the song, the first chart-topper Jackson wrote himself; it won his first Grammy, but he was so upset the album earned no more that he vowed to outdo it.
Q 13What colour was the leather jacket Michael Jackson wore in the Thriller video?
Red
Red leather with black stripes, it was designed by the director's wife, Deborah Nadoolman, who had dressed the hero of Raiders of the Lost Ark; it sold for $1.8 million at auction in 2011.
Q 21Which director made Captain EO, the 1986 Disney 3D film starring Michael Jackson and produced by George Lucas?
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola directed the 17-minute space fantasy for the theme parks; Disney brought the attraction back in 2010 as a tribute after Jackson's death.
Q 22Which sketch show lured viewers away from the 1992 Super Bowl halftime, prompting the NFL to book Jackson for 1993?
In Living Color
In Living Color's live Fox special pulled millions of viewers from the 1992 halftime; Jackson's show the next year made the audience grow between halves for the first time.
Q 23Jackson died in 2009 of acute intoxication from which drug?
Propofol
Q 14What was the name of the pet chimpanzee Michael Jackson took on tour in Japan?
Bubbles
Bubbles shared Jackson's Tokyo hotel suite on the 1987 Bad tour and took tea with the mayor of Osaka; grown too strong to keep as a pet, he was later moved to an ape sanctuary in Florida.
Q 15Which director, hired after Jackson saw An American Werewolf in London, made the 1983 Thriller video?
John Landis
John Landis got the nearly 14-minute film made by selling a making-of documentary to MTV and Showtime, after Jackson's label, sure the album had peaked, offered only a fraction of the cost.
Q 16Which star duetted with Michael Jackson on both 'The Girl Is Mine' and 'Say Say Say'?
Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney recorded 'Say Say Say' with Jackson first, though it came out a year after 'The Girl Is Mine', the duet chosen to launch Thriller in 1982.
Q 17Which Jackson single hit US number one in three weeks in 1991?
Black or White
Black or White stayed at number one for seven weeks, while its video caused a storm: after complaints about the violent final four minutes, Jackson had them cut from later broadcasts.
Q 18The 'Smooth Criminal' white suit and fedora pay tribute to which dancer in 1953's The Band Wagon?
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire wore the white suit and fedora in The Band Wagon's 'Girl Hunt' ballet; Jackson, who dedicated his 1988 memoir to him, restaged the look as a 1930s gangster number.
Q 19Michael Jackson named his California ranch after the magical land in which children's story?
Peter Pan
Peter Pan's Neverland, home of the boy who never grows up, gave the ranch its name; Jackson first saw the property in 1983, when the 'Say Say Say' video was filmed there, and bought it in 1988.
Q 20Which Jackson 5 single became the group's first Billboard Hot 100 number one in January 1970?
I Want You Back
'I Want You Back' began as a song written for Gladys Knight & the Pips; Motown boss Berry Gordy had it reworked for the Jackson 5, and it reached number one on January 31, 1970.
Propofol is a surgical anaesthetic that Jackson was being given at home to help him sleep; the Los Angeles coroner ruled his death on June 25, 2009 a homicide.
Q 24'Scream', the lead single from Michael Jackson's HIStory, was a duet with which of his siblings?
Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson joined him on the track, produced with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis as a retort to tabloid coverage and released as a double A-side with 'Childhood'.
Q 25Which Michael Jackson single was the UK Christmas number one of 1995?
Earth Song
Earth Song spent six weeks at number one in Britain over Christmas 1995 and sold over a million copies there, yet it was never released as a commercial single in the United States.
Q 26Who directed the 2009 documentary This Is It, assembled from rehearsal footage for Jackson's cancelled residency?
Kenny Ortega
Kenny Ortega was directing the stage show itself, and the rehearsal tapes had been shot for Jackson's private library; he turned them into a film after fans wrote asking to see the concerts.
Q 27Which singer wrote 'You Are Not Alone' for Jackson in 1995?
R. Kelly
R. Kelly wrote 'You Are Not Alone' and sent Jackson a demo; the pair co-produced it, and in September 1995 it became the first single ever to debut at number one on the Hot 100.
Q 28Which producer led the team that reworked eight vault tracks for the posthumous 2014 album Xscape?
Timbaland
Timbaland led the producers who 'contemporized' the vault recordings chosen by Epic chairman L.A. Reid; the title comes from one of the songs because that was Jackson's own way of naming an album.
Q 29Michael Jackson's 1996 short film Ghosts was co-written by which horror novelist?
Stephen King
Stephen King worked on the story with Jackson and Mick Garris when it began in 1993 as a tie-in to the film Addams Family Values; that deal fell through, and the film emerged three years later.
Q 30'Rock with You' was first offered to which singer, who turned it down for her solo album?
Karen Carpenter
Karen Carpenter passed on 'Rock with You' for a solo album that was then shelved; the album came out only in 1996, thirteen years after her death, while Jackson's version went to number one.