Entertaining 2011 Trivia Quiz

Answer: U2

U2 grossed nearly $300 million worldwide and performed 44 sold out shows on the 2011 leg of their "360°" tour, which had started in 2009 to promote their album "No Line on the Horizon". The second and third place concert tours in 2011 vary depending on the source; "Billboard" had Bon Jovi in the second spot and Take That in the third spot, while "Rolling Stone" had them reversed.

Answer: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

The "Harry Potter" series was based on seven novels, with the last novel being made into two films, one in 2010 and the other in 2011. The opening weekend for the final "Harry Potter" film brought in $168 million, beating the record set by "The Dark Knight" in 2008, and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide by the end of 2011.

The top three films for 2011 were all sequels; "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" came in second with $1.1 billion in receipts, and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" came in third with $1 billion in receipts.

Answer: The Help

Kathryn Stockett's novel "The Help" was actually released in 2009 and hit the best seller list in both 2009 and 2010, but it dominated the top of the list in 2011, spending fifteen weeks at number one as compared to the second place novel, Sara Gruen's "Water for Elephants" which spent eight weeks at number one. "The Help" was a story about African-American maids working for white families during the Civil Rights era in the Deep South.

The film "The Help" was released in August, 2011, and received four Academy Award nominations, with Octavia Spencer winning the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Minny Jackson.

Answer: Adele

As the "Los Angeles Times" put it, "To the surprise of virtually no one, Adele's "21" is officially the top-selling album of 2011", selling over fifteen million copies worldwide. The album remained in the "Billboard" Top Ten throughout the year from its release in early 2011, and Adele went on to win all six categories in which she was nominated at the Grammy Awards held in early 2012.

Answer: Oprah Winfrey

During its run, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" was the highest-rated talk show in American television history and picked up 47 Daytime Emmy Awards along the way. Memorable moments over the years included a rare interview with Michael Jackson, a couch-jumping Tom Cruise, Liberace's final television performance and a giveaway of new cars to everyone in the audience during one show.

The final show was broadcast on May 25, 2011.

Answer: Friday

Rebecca Black's parents paid a Los Angeles music production company, ARK Music Factory, to produce a music video for her, and the video became an Internet phenomenon after Michael J. Nelson (of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" fame) called it "the worst video ever made" on his "Twitter" account.

The song "Friday" was written by Clarence Jey and Patrice Wilson of ARK Music Factory, and while the simplistic lyrics drew criticism as did Black's voice, Simon Cowell had nice things to say (for a change), crediting Black for creating so much controversy in a week.

Answer: Game of Thrones

Based on the "A Song of Ice and Fire" fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, "Game of Thrones" follows several plot lines on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos set in a somewhat medieval world. The show received positive reviews and became a fan favorite but was criticized for its nudity and violence.

The first season was nominated for thirteen Emmy awards and won two: one for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Peter Dinklage who protrayed Tyrion Lannister and one for Outstanding Main Title Design.

Answer: Amy Winehouse

Dying at the age of 27, Amy Winehouse joined an infamous group of talented musicians who left the world at that age: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain, to name a few. Winehouse achieved worldwide fame with her Grammy Award-winning 2006 album "Back to Black", but she was frequently in the news for her drug use and erratic performances.

She was found dead in her London apartment, and the cause of death was ruled to be accidental alcohol poisoning due to binge drinking.

Answer: South Park

Stone and Parker worked with Robert Lopez, the co-creator of "Avenue Q" to produce "The Book of Mormon", which debuted on Broadway on March 24, 2011. The plot of "The Book of Mormon" followed two Mormon missionaries as they tried to preach to uninterested natives in a Ugandan village. Critics responded positively to the show, with some noting that not only was organized religion being lightly lampooned but so were traditional Broadway shows.

The Mormon church had measured criticism of the show but took out advertising in the playbills. "South Park" on the other hand, went after several religions, most famously Scientology.

Answer: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Released in late 2011, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" picks up where "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" left off and features many of the same characters. The game was criticized as being formulaic at times with a "muddled narrative" but it won rave reviews for its "visual spectacle" and "utterly addictive multiplayer [mode]" according to "IGN" video game reviews.

Its predecessor, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2", was the best-selling game of the list in 2009, and "Call of Duty: Black Ops" took the top spot in 2010.