The Best Pop Culture Quizzes from the 2010s

The 2010s weren't a single decade — they were five or six overlapping ones. Early-2010s post-recession optimism. Mid-decade streaming explosion. Post-2016 political whiplash. Late-decade TikTok and podcast dominance. Quizzing the 2010s means quizzing all of them at once. This is the guide.

The Umbrella Quiz

Start with our 2010s Pop Culture quiz. It's the general warm-up — Justin Bieber, the rise of Instagram, Tumblr's golden age, the ice bucket challenge, yanny/laurel, the dress that broke the internet. If you survived the decade, you should get 70%+.

Film Giants of the 2010s

The Marvel Decade

The MCU dominated. Our Marvel quiz covers the entire run through Infinity War/Endgame. Iron Man to Avengers: Endgame is almost perfectly bounded by the 2010s — Iron Man dropped in 2008 but the MCU shape-setting happened 2012+.

Star Wars Returns

The sequel trilogy dropped 2015-2019. Our Star Wars Deep Dive covers Rey, Kylo, Finn, and the lightsaber-generation debate. Bonus: Mandalorian quiz for the Disney+ era.

Hunger Games and YA Fiction

Our Hunger Games quiz covers the Katniss arc. Twilight (Twilight Saga quiz) and the broader YA renaissance defined early-2010s teen cinema.

TV's Golden Age Intensifies

Breaking Bad and After

Our Breaking Bad quiz covers the 2008-2013 AMC juggernaut. Better Call Saul quiz for the spinoff run through 2022. The antihero era peaked in the 2010s.

Game of Thrones

Our Game of Thrones quiz spans 2011-2019 — the decade's biggest TV event. Red Wedding, the burning of Shireen, the Long Night, the finale divided camp.

Streaming Originals

Stranger Things, The Crown, Narcos, Orange is the New Black all emerged. Our Stranger Things quiz is the flagship. House of Cards, Black Mirror (quiz), and Netflix's original-content explosion defined the back half of the decade.

More TV was made in the 2010s than in the previous three decades combined. "Peak TV" as a term was coined by FX's John Landgraf in 2015 — and the curve kept rising.

Music's Fragmented Decade

Taylor Swift's Complete Transformation

Country to 1989 pop to reputation to folklore. Our Taylor Swift Deep Dive covers the era changes, re-recordings, and the Eras Tour that made her a billionaire.

Hip-Hop Ascendant

Drake, Kendrick, Kanye, Nicki, Cardi, Travis, Megan. Our Hip Hop Deep Dive covers the 2010s mainstream hip-hop takeover — when the genre became the dominant popular music worldwide.

K-Pop Crosses Over

BTS broke America around 2017-2018. BLACKPINK followed. Our K-Pop Deep Dive covers the global rise.

Internet Culture Comes of Age

Our Internet Memes quiz and Viral Moments quiz are 2010s-dense. Vine, Tumblr, the Harlem Shake, Damn Daniel, yanny/laurel, the dress, Tide Pod challenge, ice bucket challenge. Every one of these was an entire week of discourse.

Sports in the 2010s

The Warriors dynasty, the Cubs breaking the curse, Leicester winning the Premier League, Messi vs Ronaldo peak years. Our NBA Deep Dive and Soccer Deep Dive cover the era.

The 2010s in Gaming

Our GTA quiz (GTA V released 2013, still played today), Fortnite quiz, Minecraft quiz, and League of Legends quiz anchor this era.

Take the 2010s Gauntlet

Play three: 2010s Pop Culture, Marvel, Taylor Swift. Your composite score is a real measure of how plugged-in you were during the decade. Over 80%? You lived it. Under 50%? You were reading books (which, honestly, maybe better).

If you want the 90s comparison, our 90s post has the equivalent guide. The decades were radically different. Both were culturally formative for the people who were 12-25 during them.