Why some songs get stuck in your head

What an earworm actually is

You hear a jingle at the grocery store or a chorus in someone's TikTok, and three hours later it is still looping in your head. Psychologists call it involuntary musical imagery. Most people just call it an earworm.

It is one of the most common mental experiences there is. It usually involves a short fragment, not the whole song, and it often shows up with songs you do not even like that much.

Read also: The Mandela Effect: why so many people remember it wrong and Why do we yawn when we see someone else yawn?.

What sticky songs have in common

Kelly Jakubowski and colleagues asked about 3,000 people which songs got stuck in their heads most often, then compared those tracks with songs that were just as popular on the charts but never came up as earworms.

The sticky ones tended to be faster, with a melodic shape that is common and easy to sing, rising and then falling. At the same time, they had something slightly unusual, like an unexpected leap or more repeated notes than a typical pop song. Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" topped the list. Chart success and having heard the song recently also raised the odds.

Source: Jakubowski et al., Dissecting an earworm, Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 2017.

Why recent listening matters most

Researchers at Western Washington University ran a series of studies on songs that stick. The clearest factor was recent, repeated exposure: the more a song had played over the previous days, the more likely it was to come back on its own. That is why the song from last night's game or the playlist on your commute is the usual suspect.

Low-effort moments make it worse. Driving a familiar route, showering or folding laundry leave the mind free enough for the loop to start.

Source: Hyman et al., Going Gaga, Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2013.

How to make it stop

The same research points to a few practical moves:

• Listen to the whole song. Earworms are usually a fragment on repeat. Hearing the ending can close the loop.
• Pick a task with the right difficulty. In the Western Washington studies, moderately challenging puzzles like anagrams cut down on the song coming back. Too easy leaves room for the song; too hard makes you give up, and it comes back.
• Do not fight it head-on. Trying hard not to think about the song tends to keep it around.

The chewing gum trick

One of the most unexpected fixes came from the University of Reading, in England. Participants listened to well-known songs and then counted how often the tunes popped back into their heads. Those who chewed gum reported fewer intrusive thoughts about the music than those who did not.

The authors' explanation is that chewing ties up the muscles and circuits we use when we silently sing along, the so-called inner voice. Without that quiet rehearsal, the song has less room to repeat. The effect is modest, but it is cheap and easy to try.

Source: Beaman et al., Want to block earworms from conscious awareness? B(u)y gum!, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2015.

Music, memory and emotion

Music hits memory and emotion at the same time, which helps explain why certain lines come back without warning. If you want to go further, read why great music gives you chills.