Guess the Song Quiz: Name the Hit From the Clue

This guess the song quiz gives you a clue about each hit, its year, artist and story, and asks you to name it. Expect songs by Queen, Michael Jackson, Pharrell Williams, John Lennon, Adele, Ed Sheeran and The Weeknd. Ten questions, 90 seconds.

Start Guess the Song Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 90 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 90s

Rock
Clue: Queen's six-minute 1975 single that moves from ballad to opera to hard rock. Which song is it?
Pop
Clue: a 1983 Michael Jackson hit about a woman who claims he is the father of her child. Which song is it?
Pop
Clue: Pharrell Williams's feel-good 2013 song from the film Despicable Me 2. Which song is it?
Classics
Clue: John Lennon's 1971 song asking listeners to picture a world without countries or possessions. Which song is it?
Pop
Clue: Adele's 2011 breakup anthem and the first single from her album 21. Which song is it?
Funk
Clue: Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars's 2014 funk hit that spent 14 weeks at number one in the U.S. Which song is it?
Latin
Clue: Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's 2017 Spanish-language hit that became YouTube's most-viewed video. Which song is it?
Pop
Clue: Ed Sheeran's 2017 single that became the first song to pass 3 billion streams on Spotify. Which song is it?
Movies
Clue: Survivor's 1982 hit written for the film Rocky III. Which song is it?
Records
Clue: The Weeknd's synth-pop single that Billboard named its top Hot 100 song of all time in 2021. Which song is it?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Clue: Queen's six-minute 1975 single that moves from ballad to opera to hard rock. Which song is it?
Answer: Bohemian Rhapsody
Bohemian Rhapsody was written by Freddie Mercury and topped the U.K. chart for nine weeks. Record executives thought it was too long for radio, but a DJ played it anyway.
Q2: Clue: a 1983 Michael Jackson hit about a woman who claims he is the father of her child. Which song is it?
Answer: Billie Jean
Billie Jean was one of the singles from Thriller and spent seven weeks at number one in the U.S. Jackson first performed the moonwalk to it.
Q3: Clue: Pharrell Williams's feel-good 2013 song from the film Despicable Me 2. Which song is it?
Answer: Happy
Happy was nominated for an Oscar and spent 10 weeks at number one in the U.S. Its music video was one of the first to run for 24 hours.
Q4: Clue: John Lennon's 1971 song asking listeners to picture a world without countries or possessions. Which song is it?
Answer: Imagine
Imagine was the title track of Lennon's second solo album, recorded partly at his home in England. It is often played at moments of remembrance around the world.
Q5: Clue: Adele's 2011 breakup anthem and the first single from her album 21. Which song is it?
Answer: Rolling in the Deep
Rolling in the Deep won Grammys for Record and Song of the Year. Adele has said the title comes from a slang phrase, roll deep, meaning to have someone always on your side.
Q6: Clue: Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars's 2014 funk hit that spent 14 weeks at number one in the U.S. Which song is it?
Answer: Uptown Funk
Uptown Funk was one of the biggest singles of the 2010s and won the Grammy for Record of the Year. It drew on Minneapolis funk and 1980s soul.
Q7: Clue: Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's 2017 Spanish-language hit that became YouTube's most-viewed video. Which song is it?
Answer: Despacito
Despacito was the first YouTube video to pass 5 billion views, in 2018. A remix featuring Justin Bieber spent 16 weeks at number one in the U.S.
Q8: Clue: Ed Sheeran's 2017 single that became the first song to pass 3 billion streams on Spotify. Which song is it?
Answer: Shape of You
Shape of You was originally written with Rihanna in mind. It was the most streamed song on Spotify for several years.
Q9: Clue: Survivor's 1982 hit written for the film Rocky III. Which song is it?
Answer: Eye of the Tiger
Sylvester Stallone asked Survivor for the song after he could not get permission to use Queen's Another One Bites the Dust. It spent six weeks at number one in the U.S.
Q10: Clue: The Weeknd's synth-pop single that Billboard named its top Hot 100 song of all time in 2021. Which song is it?
Answer: Blinding Lights
Blinding Lights spent a record 90 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. Its 1980s-style synths were inspired by bands like a-ha and Depeche Mode.

Guess the Song Quiz – Name That Hit

Some songs are so famous that a single detail is enough to name them: a year, a film, a band or the story behind the music. This quiz turns those details into clues. Instead of playing the music, it describes each hit and asks you to pick the right title from three choices, so it works anywhere, even with the sound off.

The songs come from different decades and genres. There are rock classics from the 1970s and 1980s, pop hits from the 2010s, a film anthem, a Latin crossover and a synth-pop smash. Several of them broke records for sales, streams or weeks at number one, and each answer tells you a little about how the song was made.

Knowing the stories behind songs makes listening more fun. Bohemian Rhapsody was almost too long for radio, Eye of the Tiger was written because of a refused license and Shape of You was first meant for another singer. Details like these are the sort of thing that wins trivia nights.

Music quizzes are also a great way to discover songs from other eras. If one of the answers is new to you, the explanation gives you enough to look it up and add it to your playlist.

Read each clue carefully, look for the year and the artist and trust your ears.

What This Quiz Teaches

This quiz is great for music fans, party games and anyone who loves a good song story.

How to identify famous songs from their history and artist
Which songs broke records on YouTube, Spotify and the Billboard Hot 100
The film connections behind Happy and Eye of the Tiger
Why Bohemian Rhapsody nearly never reached the radio
Where the title Rolling in the Deep came from
Which 1980s bands inspired Blinding Lights

Quick Facts About Hit Songs

White Christmas by Bing Crosby is often listed as the best-selling single of all time.
Old Town Road by Lil Nas X spent 19 weeks at number one in the U.S. in 2019.
The Beatles' Hey Jude ran for more than seven minutes, very long for a 1968 single.
Bohemian Rhapsody returned to the charts after appearing in the 1992 film Wayne's World.
Shazam, the song-recognition app, launched in the U.K. in 2002 as a phone service.
Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You first reached number one in the U.S. in 2019, 25 years after its release.