Some days, getting a song stuck in your head can be a pleasure, as you hum along to a tune and joyfully go about the world. Other times, the last thing you want is to have an annoyingly repetitive track playing on a loop in your mind. This is especially true if you have a lot on your mind, or if you’re facing some stressful challenges in the day. Pop music is particularly well known for its ability to entrench melodies into the minds of the masses in an addictive, almost scientific manner. Needless to say, these songs can also be overly sappy and romantic, which touches a nerve with people from all corners of the earth. Although there are billions of songs out there in the world, there are a couple that was designed to be able to get stuck in the listener’s head. Our list here looks at 50 of the peskiests tunes of them all, which you should avoid like the plague if you don’t want to be humming them in your head for the rest of the day.
The Proclaimers — “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” (1988)
“I’m Gonna Be Me” is one of the biggest earworms in history, and has become a cultural phenomenon in the time since it was released over thirty years ago. The track is taken from the Proclaimers’ 1988 album ‘Sunshine on Leith’, and the band has never been able to produce another hit as popular. It’s the kind of song that truly gets stuck in your brain right from the first line, and carries you along with it all the way to the end.
Axel F — “Crazy Frog” (2005)
The song itself was nothing to write home about, but the remix ignited a fire among the young, and ended up being played in nightclubs everywhere you went at the time. We blame the Swedish group who decided to make the remix for it now being one of the most played songs of all time.
No greater storm hit the radio in the early 2000’s as the “Crazy Frog” remix, which was used for many promotional campaigns for cell phone services around the world.
Starland Vocal Band — “Afternoon Delight” (1976)
“Afternoon Delight” has got to be one of the most rehashed, overplayed songs in all of history.
The track was extremely sexually suggestive for its time when it first hit the airwaves, hence why it captured the imagination of people from all walks of life. On closer inspection, the lyrics don’t seem to make much sense, and we can’t believe that it is still so popular, that it even managed to be used for an opening monologue for SNL back in 2013.
Europe — “Final Countdown” (1986)
We’ve even got the chorus stuck in our heads while writing this.
Watching the music video will certainly drum up some images of the decade it was released in, and it’s impossible not to feel nostalgic about it, even if the song does end up occupying space in your head for a few hours after.
The symbol of the 1980’s, “Final Countdown” has closed down many dancefloors around Europe and is one of those songs that never quite seems to grow old.
Barry Manilow — “Copacabana” (1978)
The public disagreed, and it ended up becoming a monster hit, charting in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
Released as the final single for his ‘Even Now’ album in 1978, “Copacabana” was a mellow choice according to critics, meant to quietly close out the album cycle. Needless to say, it still gets extensively shared on playlists on streaming platforms to this very day.
Our “main man” Barry has a lot of great hits out in the world, but that doesn’t mean he also hasn’t had a few missteps in his career.
Rednex — “Cotton Eye Joe” (1994)
We’d like to think that this song should have stayed back in the past, mostly because it lyrically talks about the cotton swab test people do when they get checked for an STI. Sorry if we just burst your bubble about this dastardly catchy little tune!
The internet is a funny place, and so many old tracks seem to find their way back into the mainstream a generation after they were released thanks to meme and TikTok culture.
Tom Jones — “What’s New Pussycat” (1965)
Welsh singer Tom Jones might have caught the attention of the world with “Sex Bomb”, another one of his monster pop hits, and we won’t fault the song for its attempts to liberate a generation that mostly wasn’t even allowed to mention the word in public.
We do give him a bit of stick, however, for “What’s New Pussycat”, which doesn’t quite translate as well into the modern-day context, and wasn’t always pleasant to hear after a long day.
Cher — “Believe” (1988)
Over and over again. It might have been annoying, but it was groundbreaking nevertheless.
We can’t fault her for exploring the depths of her soul in the music, but wonder about the heavy autotune use in her voice. Apparently, it was intentional, and it was one of the first times in history that it had been used on a worldwide #1 single.
Cher went full philosophical in her Eurodance hit “Believe”, which essentially asks the listener if they believe in life after love.
Eiffel 65 — “Blue” (1988)
We’re sure there will be another remix of it coming out in the 2020’s.
The song was a monster hit for Eiffel 65, who up until then had been completely unknown in the music industry. Years later, Flo Rida sampled the song for “Sugar”, another monster hit, proving that the track even transcends multiple generations of listeners.
“Blue” does not have the most intelligent lyrics in history, but there’s no denying that the melody gets stuck in your head even from first listen.
Baha Men — “Who Let The Dogs Out” (2000)
Where were you when “Who Let The Dogs Out” was playing on radio and TV stations everywhere? Once you hear this one, you won’t be able to forget it. This is the case because of its infectious beat, but also because of the fact that “woof, woof” is part of the lyrics. Please don’t shoot the messenger on this one.
If you’re over 30, you’ll definitely remember this. If not, it might be time for a subtle introduction.
