Guess the song by emoji
Twenty songs, reduced to three emoji apiece β no lyrics, no album art, just the vibe. Same format as the movie pack: five gimmes to get you nodding along, then it gets harder. Titles and artists only, spanning six decades of stuff that got stuck in everyone's head at some point. Tap a riddle to flip it over; the answer comes with one line of trivia, because knowing the title without knowing why it's interesting felt like half a job.
Round one: three-second gimmes (1β5)
1. π§ββοΈππΊ
Thriller β Michael Jackson β Fourteen minutes of choreographed zombies, and somehow still the best-selling album ever made.
2. πππͺ©
Dancing Queen β ABBA β The most purely joyful three minutes and fifty seconds in pop history, and I won't be taking questions.
3. ππβοΈ
Happy β Pharrell Williams β One word, twenty-four hours of music video filmed in real time, and it still shows up at every wedding reception.
4. ππΈπ
Shape of You β Ed Sheeran β The most-streamed song of its entire decade, written by a guy with an acoustic guitar who somehow made a club banger.
5. πππ‘
Blinding Lights β The Weeknd β An '80s synth pastiche that stuck around on the charts so long it broke the chart's own longevity record.
Round two: now it counts (6β14)
6. ππ€β‘
Bohemian Rhapsody β Queen β Six minutes long, no chorus, and every label executive said it would never get radio play. It got all the radio play.
7. πΉπ§πΈ
Sweet Child O' Mine β Guns N' Roses β That opening riff started as Slash noodling around as a warm-up joke. The band made him keep it.
8. πποΈπ€
I Will Always Love You β Whitney Houston β Dolly Parton wrote it as a quiet country goodbye; Whitney turned it into the loudest ballad of the decade.
9. πΊπ©π«
Uptown Funk β Bruno Mars β Mark Ronson produced it, Bruno Mars fronted it, and the credits still spark arguments about who actually made it a hit.
10. ππ₯π
Rolling in the Deep β Adele β A breakup anthem so massive it outsold the relationship that inspired it, several times over.
11. βοΈππ
Take On Me β a-ha β That pencil-sketch music video took months of hand-drawn rotoscoping, one frame at a time, before computers made that unnecessary.
12. πππ
Poker Face β Lady Gaga β Reportedly written in about ten minutes, and it's been living rent-free in everyone's head since 2008.
13. πΈππ€³
Hey Ya! β OutKast β A breakup song so bouncy that half the people dancing to it at prom never clocked what it was actually about.
14. π ββοΈππΆ
Shake It Off β Taylor Swift β Her full pop pivot, and the critics she was singing about mostly just helped keep it at number one longer.
Round three: full deep-cut mode (15β20)
15. π¨π΅π―οΈ
Hotel California β Eagles β Fans have spent decades decoding this as a metaphor for everything from a mental hospital to Satanism. The Eagles just say it's about excess.
16. π§΄ππΈ
Smells Like Teen Spirit β Nirvana β Named after a deodorant brand spray-painted on a wall, and about as related to the actual lyrics as that sounds.
17. π€ππ‘οΈ
Killing Me Softly With His Song β Roberta Flack β A hit in the '70s, then a hit all over again in the '90s for the Fugees. Two generations, same devastating chorus.
18. π―ββοΈπ π€
Wannabe β Spice Girls β Reportedly recorded in one take, and still the fastest-selling debut single by a girl group the UK charts have ever seen.
19. πββοΈππ
Born to Run β Bruce Springsteen β He spent six months obsessing over the mix of this one track alone. The album nearly did not survive the perfectionism.
20. π£οΈβπ
Respect β Aretha Franklin β Otis Redding wrote and recorded it first. Aretha rearranged it, spelled it out letter by letter, and made it permanently hers.
Still want more
That's the pack β hopefully your inner music-trivia nerd made it through intact. If riddles aren't your speed, the full emoji quiz hub has streaks, a mystery emoji, and an arcade wing that never runs out. Or if movies are more your era than music, there's a whole other pack of 20 films rendered in emoji waiting for you too.