2010s Trivia: Fun Facts From The Decade

Trivia from the 2010s, all of it dateable and checkable.

Every fact below has its year in brackets, so you can read the fact out, hide the year and use it as a quiz round - or leave the year in and use it for a birthday card or a reminiscence session.

For the same decade laid out year by year, use the 2010s calendar linked at the bottom.

Years covered in the 2010s

• 2010 - A hung parliament, a volcano that stopped the planes and the first iPad. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2010
• 2011 - The royal wedding, the riots and Adele's 21. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2011
• 2012 - The Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics in one extraordinary summer. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2012
• 2013 - A royal baby, Andy Murray at Wimbledon and the horsemeat scandal. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2013
• 2014 - The Scottish referendum, the ice bucket challenge and streaming joining the chart. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2014
• 2015 - The Queen's record reign, Leicester's title run beginning and Adele's return. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2015
• 2016 - Leicester won the league, Britain voted to leave and a lot of people died. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2016
• 2017 - Grenfell, the Manchester Arena attack and a snap election that went wrong. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2017
• 2018 - A royal wedding, a heatwave and England reaching a World Cup semi-final. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2018
• 2019 - A cricket World Cup final nobody could believe and a December election. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2019
• That is every 2010s year we have written up so far: 2010 to 2019.

News facts from the 2010s

• The general election in May produced a hung parliament and a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. (2010)
• Prince William married Catherine Middleton on 29 April, and the day was a public holiday. (2011)
• The Diamond Jubilee was marked in June with a river pageant and a concert. (2012)
• Prince George was born on 22 July. (2013)
• Scotland voted to stay in the UK on 18 September, by 55 to 45. (2014)
• The Conservatives won the general election in May with a small majority. (2015)
• The EU referendum on 23 June voted to leave; David Cameron resigned and Theresa May became Prime Minister in July. (2016)
• The Manchester Arena attack on 22 May killed 22 people. (2017)
• Prince Harry married Meghan Markle on 19 May. (2018)
• Boris Johnson became Prime Minister in July and won a large majority in the December election. (2019)

More from the news

• Ash from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in Iceland grounded flights across Europe in April. (2010)
• Riots spread across English cities in August. (2011)
• The London Olympics ran from 27 July, with Danny Boyle's opening ceremony. (2012)
• Margaret Thatcher died on 8 April. (2013)
• The First World War centenary was marked, with the ceramic poppies at the Tower of London. (2014)
• The Queen became the longest-reigning British monarch on 9 September. (2015)
• Donald Trump was elected President in November. (2016)
• The Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June killed 72 people. (2017)
• The Salisbury poisonings happened in March. (2018)
• Brexit was delayed twice during the year. (2019)

Television and film in the 2010s

• Downton Abbey and Sherlock both began. (2010)
• Game of Thrones began in April. (2011)
• Netflix launched in the UK in January. (2012)
• Breaking Bad ended and box-set watching became the normal way to view. (2013)
• The Grand Budapest Hotel and Guardians of the Galaxy were the films people liked. (2014)
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens opened in December. (2015)
• Planet Earth II drew audiences that beat The X Factor. (2016)
• Blue Planet II changed how the country talked about plastic. (2017)
• Bodyguard drew the biggest drama audience in years. (2018)
• Avengers: Endgame and Joker were the films of the year. (2019)

Music in the 2010s

• 'Love the Way You Lie' by Eminem and Rihanna was the year's best-selling single. (2010)
• Adele's 21 was the best-selling album of the year and went on to be the decade's biggest. (2011)
• 'Somebody That I Used to Know' by Gotye was the year's best-selling single. (2012)
• 'Blurred Lines' by Robin Thicke was the year's best-selling single. (2013)
• 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams was the year's best-selling single. (2014)
• Adele's 'Hello' and the album 25 broke sales records on release in the autumn. (2015)
• David Bowie died on 10 January, two days after releasing Blackstar; Prince died in April; George Michael died on Christmas Day. (2016)
• 'Shape of You' by Ed Sheeran was the year's best-selling single and one of the most-streamed songs ever. (2017)
• 'One Kiss' by Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa was the year's best-selling single. (2018)
• 'Someone You Loved' by Lewis Capaldi was the year's best-selling single. (2019)

Sport in the 2010s

• Spain won the World Cup in South Africa; England lost 4-1 to Germany with a goal wrongly disallowed. (2010)
• Manchester United won a nineteenth league title. (2011)
• Super Saturday, 4 August: Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah all won gold within 45 minutes. (2012)
• Andy Murray won Wimbledon on 7 July, the first British men's champion since 1936. (2013)
• Germany won the World Cup in Brazil; England went out in the group stage. (2014)
• England were knocked out of their own Rugby World Cup at the group stage. (2015)
• Leicester City won the Premier League from 5000-1. (2016)
• Chelsea won the league; Arsenal won the FA Cup. (2017)
• England reached the World Cup semi-final in Russia, and Three Lions was back on every radio. (2018)
• England won the Cricket World Cup at Lord's on 14 July on boundary countback after a tied super over. (2019)

Everyday life in the 2010s

• The first iPad went on sale in the UK in May. (2010)
• Snapchat launched in September. (2011)
• The Olympic torch relay passed within ten miles of most of the population. (2012)
• Contactless payments started appearing on cards and in shops. (2013)
• Contactless payment limits rose and cash use started falling quickly. (2014)
• Apple Pay arrived in the UK in July. (2015)
• Pokemon Go had the whole country walking about in July. (2016)
• The new twelve-sided pound coin entered circulation in March. (2017)
• Plastic straws and single-use plastic became a national conversation after Blue Planet II. (2018)
• TikTok became the fastest-growing app among teenagers. (2019)

How to use these as a quiz round

• Read the fact without the year and ask for the year - closest answer wins the point.
• Ten facts makes a round. Mix news with television and music so nobody sweeps it.
• For a care home or reminiscence session, use the everyday life facts first - they get the most talk.
• Anyone born in 2010 turns 50 in 2060, 60 in 2070 and 70 in 2080.

Shop birthday cards

How to write it so it lands

• Hide the bracketed year and you have a guess-the-year round ready to go.
• For a card, use the year they were born rather than the decade.
• In a reminiscence session, stop on whatever gets a reaction rather than finishing the list.

Where to shop next

• Look back to 2010
• Look back to 2011
• Look back to 2012
• Look back to 2013
• Look back to 2014
• Look back to 2015
• Look back to 2016
• Look back to 2017
• Look back to 2018
• Look back to 2019
• 2010s calendar: year by year
• The 2010s: the whole decade
• 2010s party playlist
• Phone party games
• How to run a quiz night
• Decade music round questions
• Guess the year quiz
• Decade history: key events, politics and culture by era
• Decade books: best novels, authors and reading trends
• Decade calendar: every year from 1920
• Decade trivia: fun facts by era
• Decade trivia game: play for points
• Decade guides: books, films and TV by era
• Decade recipes: dishes and food trends by era
• Music by decade: albums, artists and songs
• Decade fashion: clothes, hair and accessories by era
• Nostalgia gift shop
• Retro party supplies
• Care home reminiscence quiz
• Milestone birthday cards
• Planning the party? Birthday party ideas
• How to make a balloon arch
• Photo booth prop ideas
• Wedding cards
• Wedding cards guide
• Pin badges
• All guides

Frequently asked questions

What are some fun facts about the 2010s?

A hung parliament, a volcano that stopped the planes and the first iPad. The lists above give the news, television, music, sport and everyday facts for every year from 2010 to 2019, each with its date.

What good 2010s quiz questions are there?

Any fact on this page works as a question if you read it out and ask for the year. Ten of them makes a round, and the answers are already in the brackets.

Where do these facts come from?

They are the same checked facts used on our year pages - real, dateable events only. The official UK singles chart begins in November 1952, so earlier years list popular songs rather than chart positions.

Do you sell anything to do with this decade?

We make greeting cards, art prints and pin badges in the UK, including milestone birthday cards. This page is free to read and free to copy.