Music Quiz Theme Ideas (18 Rounds with Example Songs)

A music quiz with random songs works. A music quiz with themed rounds works a lot better: every round has its own flavour, people who "don't really know music" get to shine on their topic, and building the playlists becomes much easier. Here are 18 themes that work well at home, with who each one suits, a few example songs to get you started and a rough difficulty rating. For a 45-minute quiz, three or four of these are plenty.

Before you choose

Three things to keep in mind:

• Mix difficulties. Open with an easy round (summer anthems, Disney) and save a harder one for the end (intros, covers).
• Think about who's playing. Kids in the room? Disney and cartoons. Grandparents? Classic Eurovision and 60s–70s pop.
• 8–10 songs per round. The examples below are starters; fill the rest with songs your group will know.

If it's your first time hosting, start with our guide on how to host a music quiz at home.

Easy rounds to warm up

1. Summer anthems

Songs that were inescapable for one summer. The perfect opener: almost everyone gets a few and the energy goes up straight away.

• Who it suits: any group.
• Examples: "In the Summertime" (Mungo Jerry), "Summertime" (DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince), "Summer of '69" (Bryan Adams), "Despacito" (Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee), "Cruel Summer" (Bananarama, or the completely different Taylor Swift song, which makes a nice trick question).
• Difficulty: easy.

2. Disney and Pixar

Songs from animated films. A sure thing with kids, and the adults who grew up on The Lion King won't drop a point either.

• Who it suits: families.
• Examples: "Hakuna Matata" (The Lion King), "Under the Sea" (The Little Mermaid), "You've Got a Friend in Me" (Toy Story), "Let It Go" (Frozen), "We Don't Talk About Bruno" (Encanto).
• Difficulty: easy. Make it harder by asking for the film too.

3. Cartoon themes

Opening themes from TV cartoons. This round reveals everyone's age.

• Who it suits: nostalgic millennials and kids.
• Examples: Pokémon, SpongeBob SquarePants, DuckTales, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• Difficulty: easy. Naming the show is enough.

4. Wedding disco

The songs that get the whole family on the dance floor, including the uncle who never dances.

• Who it suits: everyone, especially family parties.
• Examples: "Mr. Brightside" (The Killers), "Sweet Caroline" (Neil Diamond), "Come On Eileen" (Dexys Midnight Runners), "Livin' on a Prayer" (Bon Jovi), "Y.M.C.A." (Village People).
• Difficulty: easy. Bonus point if the team does the dance.

Medium rounds

5. Movie soundtracks

Songs famous for a film. Score the song and the film separately.

• Who it suits: adults and film fans.
• Examples: "My Heart Will Go On" (Céline Dion, Titanic), "Eye of the Tiger" (Survivor, Rocky III), "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" (Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes, Dirty Dancing), "Stayin' Alive" (Bee Gees, Saturday Night Fever), "Ghostbusters" (Ray Parker Jr.).
• Difficulty: medium.

6. TV themes

Theme tunes from TV series. Many are recognisable in two notes.

• Who it suits: adults who watch a lot of telly.
• Examples: "I'll Be There for You" (The Rembrandts, Friends), the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme, "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" (Gary Portnoy, Cheers), The Simpsons theme (Danny Elfman), the Game of Thrones theme (Ramin Djawadi).
• Difficulty: medium. Naming the show is enough.

7. By decade

One round per decade, or a mixed round where teams have to name the decade (or the exact year, if they're brave).

• Who it suits: mixed generations; everyone has their strong decade.
• Examples: "Dancing Queen" (ABBA, 1976), "Billie Jean" (Michael Jackson, 1983), "Wannabe" (Spice Girls, 1996), "Crazy in Love" (Beyoncé, 2003), "Rolling in the Deep" (Adele, 2010), "Uptown Funk" (Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars, 2014).
• Difficulty: medium if the decade is enough; hard if they need the exact year.

For decade-specific lists, see our 80s songs everyone knows. This is also the round that fits Track Attack's “Song and year” mode best, where each player builds their own line of songs in year order.

8. Eurovision

Winners and cult classics from the contest. A big hit in the UK, Ireland, Australia and anywhere else people throw Eurovision parties.

• Who it suits: fans and older players.
• Examples: "Waterloo" (ABBA), "Making Your Mind Up" (Bucks Fizz), "Love Shine a Light" (Katrina and the Waves), "Euphoria" (Loreen), "Zitti e buoni" (Måneskin).
• Difficulty: medium. Ask for the country too to make it harder.

9. Britpop

The mid-90s guitar boom. Expect at least one argument about Blur versus Oasis.

• Who it suits: anyone who was a teenager or twenty-something in the 90s.
• Examples: "Wonderwall" (Oasis), "Don't Look Back in Anger" (Oasis), "Song 2" (Blur), "Common People" (Pulp), "Bitter Sweet Symphony" (The Verve).
• Difficulty: medium.

10. Sports anthems

World Cup songs, Olympic themes and stadium favourites.

• Who it suits: football fans and anyone who remembers a big tournament summer.
• Examples: "Three Lions" (Baddiel, Skinner & The Lightning Seeds, Euro 96), "World in Motion" (New Order, Italia 90), "Waka Waka" (Shakira, South Africa 2010), "La copa de la vida" (Ricky Martin, France 98), "We Will Rock You" (Queen).
• Difficulty: medium.

11. Duets

Two-voice songs. One point per artist: you need both names.

• Who it suits: everyone.
• Examples: "Under Pressure" (Queen & David Bowie), "Islands in the Stream" (Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton), "Shallow" (Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper), "Señorita" (Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello).
• Difficulty: medium; getting both names is the hard part.

12. One-hit wonders

Artists everyone remembers for exactly one song.

• Who it suits: adults; it also sparks good debates about whether they "really" only had one hit.
• Examples: "Macarena" (Los del Río), "Ice Ice Baby" (Vanilla Ice), "Tubthumping" (Chumbawamba), "Mambo No. 5" (Lou Bega), "Somebody That I Used to Know" (Gotye).
• Difficulty: medium. The title comes easily; the artist, not so much.

13. Songs with names

Songs whose title is a person's name. Just announcing the theme is already a decent hint.

• Who it suits: everyone.
• Examples: "Jolene" (Dolly Parton), "Roxanne" (The Police), "Layla" (Derek and the Dominos), "Hey Jude" (The Beatles), "Valerie" (The Zutons, made famous by Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse).
• Difficulty: medium.

14. Video games

Music from classic video games. No lyrics, so a different kind of memory kicks in.

• Who it suits: gamers of any age.
• Examples: the Super Mario Bros. theme (Koji Kondo), The Legend of Zelda theme (Koji Kondo), "Korobeiniki" (the Tetris music), Green Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog, the Pokémon theme.
• Difficulty: medium. Naming the game is enough.

15. Lyrics read aloud

No music at all: someone reads the lyrics out in a deadpan newsreader voice and teams guess the song.

• Who it suits: everyone; this is the round with the most laughs.
• Examples: "Bohemian Rhapsody" (Queen), "Wannabe" (Spice Girls), "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Rick Astley), "Don't Stop Believin'" (Journey).
• Difficulty: medium. Start with a line from the middle, not the chorus.

16. Christmas songs

Perfect for a December party, and harder than it looks if you play the less obvious bits.

• Who it suits: office parties and family Christmas.
• Examples: "All I Want for Christmas Is You" (Mariah Carey), "Last Christmas" (Wham!), "Fairytale of New York" (The Pogues ft. Kirsty MacColl), "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (Band Aid), "Merry Xmas Everybody" (Slade).
• Difficulty: easy with the choruses, medium with the intros. More ideas in our music games for Christmas and New Year's Eve.

Hard rounds to finish

17. Intros

Only the first 3–5 seconds. Save it for the end and play it for double points.

• Who it suits: music buffs.
• Examples: "Billie Jean" (Michael Jackson), "Sweet Child o' Mine" (Guns N' Roses), "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Nirvana), "Another One Bites the Dust" (Queen), "Superstition" (Stevie Wonder).
• Difficulty: hard. With intros this famous, closer to medium; with less iconic songs, very hard.

18. Covers

Play a cover and ask who did it first, or the other way round.

• Who it suits: music buffs.
• Examples: "I Will Always Love You" (Dolly Parton; covered by Whitney Houston), "Hallelujah" (Leonard Cohen; Jeff Buckley), "Tainted Love" (Gloria Jones; Soft Cell), "Hurt" (Nine Inch Nails; Johnny Cash), "Torn" (Ednaswap; Natalie Imbruglia).
• Difficulty: hard. Plenty of people don't know some of these are covers, which is exactly the fun.

Putting the rounds together

• Spotify or YouTube plus pen and paper: one playlist per theme, in order, and one answer sheet per team. Mark after each round.
• With an app: Track Attack lets you search any public Spotify playlist or paste a Spotify or Deezer link, so you can search "Disney", "Eurovision" or "summer hits" and play.
• Mix it up: three written themed rounds, then a buzzer final with songs from all of them.

One last tip: ask each guest to suggest a theme before the party. Less work for you, and everyone gets a round to show off in.