We Are the World
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40 free We Are the World trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
On one January night in 1985, more than forty of the biggest names in pop squeezed into a Hollywood studio and recorded a single for famine relief before breakfast. We Are the World, co-written by Michael Jackson, went on to sell around 20 million copies and raise tens of millions of dollars. This quiz covers the whole story: the soloists and the order they sing in, the famous faces tucked away in the chorus, the stars who were missing, and the arguments, jokes and near-disasters of the all-night session. It also follows the record afterwards, through the charts, the trophies, the follow-up projects and the remakes. It is written for anyone who remembers the video, has watched the 2024 documentary about the session, or simply wants to test how many of those voices they can name. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which star, slated to trade lines with Michael Jackson on We Are the World, stayed away and donated a song instead?
Prince
Prince offered to play a guitar solo from a separate room, was turned down, and gave the album the exclusive track 4 the Tears in Your Eyes instead.
Q 02Stevie Wonder joked at the We Are the World session that he and which other blind singer would drive everyone home?
Ray Charles
Ray Charles would share the driving, the joke ran, if the song took more than one take, and he is the last of the 21 soloists to make his entrance.
Q 03Which Ghostbusters star, a comedian among the pop singers, sang in the chorus of We Are the World?
Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd had already sung on stage as one of the Blues Brothers, and the charity single gave him his only number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Q 04The A&M lot in Hollywood where We Are the World was recorded was built by which silent film star?
Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin began building the lot in 1917 and sold it in 1953; A&M later turned two sound stages and his swimming pool into recording studios.
Q 05What did a sign taped to the studio door ask the stars of We Are the World to leave outside?
Their egos
Their egos were to be checked at the door, a fair request with 21 soloists sharing one song and two dozen more famous names in the chorus.
Q 06Which folk-rock legend was so uneasy with his We Are the World solo that Stevie Wonder mimicked his voice to coach him?
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan looked out of his element among the pop belters, and the moment Wonder sang the line back in a Dylan voice is shown in a 2024 documentary about the night.
Q 07Which singer, who had hosted an awards show earlier that night, delivers the opening solo line of We Are the World?
Lionel Richie
Lionel Richie had won six trophies as host that evening, then went to the studio to sing the first line of the song he co-wrote.
Q 08We Are the World raised money for victims of a 1983–1985 famine that killed about a million people in which country?
Ethiopia
Ethiopia was the focus of the appeal, though the first relief jet, which left in June 1985 with food, medicine and tents, also carried supplies for neighbouring Sudan.
Q 09Which female soloist joins Michael Jackson for the first chorus of We Are the World, right after Billy Joel's line?
Diana Ross
Diana Ross takes the chorus with Jackson, who had reached the studio at 8 p.m., ahead of everyone else, to record his own solo section alone.
Q 10A 2010 remake of We Are the World, with more than 75 singers, raised funds after an earthquake in which country?
Haiti
Haiti's earthquake struck weeks before the 25th anniversary of the original session, and the remake was taped in the same Hollywood studio as the 1985 recording.
Q 11Which producer was drafted to run the We Are the World sessions, taking time out from the film The Color Purple?
Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones worried most about sharing out the solos, likening the job of fitting so much talent into one song to putting a watermelon in a Coke bottle.
Q 12Which civil rights activist and singer proposed a US famine single but had no solo on We Are the World?
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte had seen British stars record a famine single in 1984, and in June 1985 he flew to Sudan to represent the singers as the first supplies arrived.
Q 13Which rocker drove himself to the We Are the World session and gave the album a concert cover of Jimmy Cliff's Trapped?
Bruce Springsteen
Q 21Which Irish organiser of Do They Know It's Christmas told the We Are the World singers about famine camps he had seen?
Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof gave his speech before the singing began, describing camps with 15 bags of flour for 27,500 people, then stayed to sing in the chorus himself.
Q 22Which talent manager, once a producer of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, recruited the singers for We Are the World?
Ken Kragen
Ken Kragen first pictured about a dozen singers, ended up with some four dozen, and had to turn away dozens more who wanted in.
Q 23Which singer, despite his record of charity work, asked to join We Are the World and was turned down over his image?
John Denver
Bruce Springsteen turned up alone in a Pontiac GTO, and his version of Trapped, taped on his own arena dates, went on to top the Mainstream Rock chart.
Q 14Many We Are the World singers came straight to the studio from which ceremony, held earlier that same night?
American Music Awards
American Music Awards night was picked on purpose: the organisers knew pop's biggest names would already be in town, and booked the studio for after the show.
Q 15Which July 1985 benefit concert ended its Philadelphia show with dozens of stars singing We Are the World?
Live Aid
Live Aid closed its London half with Britain's own famine single and its US half with We Are the World, sung by more than 100 musicians.
Q 16Which streaming service released The Greatest Night in Pop, a 2024 documentary about the We Are the World session?
Netflix
Netflix put the film out on January 29, 2024, a day after the session's 39th anniversary, following a premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
Q 17Which singer held up the We Are the World session when her jangling jewelry kept spoiling the recording?
Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper nearly skipped the night altogether, because her boyfriend told her the single would not be a hit.
Q 18Which frontman, whose whole group sang in the We Are the World chorus, took the solo line left by an absent superstar?
Huey Lewis
Huey Lewis got the line on a fellow soloist's suggestion and recalled that his legs were shaking as he sang it straight after Michael Jackson.
Q 19Michael Jackson quit the USA for Africa board after it rejected We Are the World as the theme for which 1986 event?
Hands Across America
Hands Across America got a newly written theme instead, which sold far less, and about five million people joined a coast-to-coast human chain that broke in the desert.
Q 20The We Are the World album includes Tears Are Not Enough by Northern Lights, a supergroup from which country?
Canada
Canada's biggest names sang on it, among them Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, who turned up at the session together in a taxi.
John Denver wrote in his 1994 autobiography that the rejection broke his heart; some organisers had feared he would dent the single's pop-rock credibility.
Q 24Which comedian declined Stevie Wonder's invitation to We Are the World because he was recording Party All the Time?
Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy later admitted he felt like an idiot for staying away to finish a pop single of his own.
Q 25Which country outlaw walked out of the We Are the World session when a line in an African language was proposed?
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings walked out in protest. Accounts differ on whether he came back that night, but he is credited on the record as one of the chorus.
Q 26Which language did Stevie Wonder propose for a line of We Are the World, though the famine's victims did not speak it?
Swahili
Swahili was dropped after a heated debate in the small hours, and the singers agreed to keep the whole song in English.
Q 27Which country-pop star owned Lion Share, the Los Angeles studio where We Are the World's backing track was recorded?
Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers was also among the first stars signed up, because he shared a manager with one of the song's two writers.
Q 28Which singer's ballad One More Night kept We Are the World from reaching number one on the Hot 100 even sooner?
Phil Collins
Phil Collins held the top spot for two weeks before We Are the World displaced him, completing a four-week climb of 21, 5, 2 and 1.
Q 29Which magazine was the only media outlet allowed inside the studio on the night We Are the World was recorded?
Life
Life put seven of the singers on the cover of its April 1985 issue, while every other press organisation was barred from covering the session.
Q 30Which US president-elect sang We Are the World at the Lincoln Memorial with his wife and daughter before taking office?
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton joined Michael Jackson and other original singers on stage, prompting a New York Times critic to call him the first president to aspire to hipness.