Q 01/05

Which Lil Nas X hit, Billboard's top single of 2019, spent a then-record 19 weeks at number one?

A) Industry Baby

B) Old Town Road

C) That's What I Want

D) Sun Goes Down

Answer · why

B) Old Town Road

Old Town Road was recorded in a day over a beat Lil Nas X bought online for $30, and Billboard pulled it from the country chart before it conquered th...

Q 02/05

Elton John's rewritten Candle in the Wind, Billboard's top single of 1997, was a tribute to whom?

A) Marilyn Monroe

B) Gianni Versace

C) Mother Teresa

D) Princess Diana

Answer · why

D) Princess Diana

Princess Diana had died in a car crash two weeks before the single came out; the 1973 original had been written about Marilyn Monroe.

Q 03/05

Which country star wrote I Will Always Love You, Billboard's top single of 1993 for Whitney Houston?

A) Dolly Parton

B) Loretta Lynn

C) Tammy Wynette

D) Reba McEntire

Answer · why

A) Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton wrote it in 1973 as a farewell to her mentor Porter Wagoner, and Houston's cover later spent a then-record 14 weeks at number one.

Q 04/05

Which dance-craze single by the Spanish duo Los del Río was Billboard's top Hot 100 song of 1996?

A) Lambada

B) Bailamos

C) Macarena

D) Mambo No. 5

Answer · why

C) Macarena

Macarena only took off in America after Miami producers the Bayside Boys added English lyrics, and that remix then held number one for 14 weeks.

Q 05/05

Which Police song about obsessive surveillance, often mistaken for a love ballad, was Billboard's top single of 1983?

A) Message in a Bottle

B) Every Breath You Take

C) Don't Stand So Close to Me

D) Wrapped Around Your Finger

Answer · why

B) Every Breath You Take

Every Breath You Take was the Police's only Hot 100 number one, and its writer Sting has called the song sinister and ugly rather than gentle.