Why Do Songs Get Stuck In Your Head?

So, you can't get that song out of your head? You probably have an earworm. Why is this happening? Well, science isn't very clear on this yet. Laci sits down and to discuss what we do know about earworms, and offers some advice on how to get rid of them.

Read More:
Can't Get it Out of My Head
"Got Kylie stuck on replay? Developed a hatred of James Blunt? Vadim Prohorov on the pesky phenomenon of the 'earworm'.

Musical Imagery: Sound of Silence Activates Auditory Cortex
"Auditory imagery occurs when one mentally rehearses telephone numbers or has a song 'on the brain' - it is the subjective experience of hearing the absence of auditory stimulation, and is useful for investigating aspects of human cognition."

Beyond Dr. Earworm
"The unusual research conducted by UC business professor James Kellaris has literally made its way around the world, garnering national and international press coverage."

Why Do Songs Get Stuck in Your Head?
"Maybe it's 'Don't Worry, Be Happy," or perhaps it's 'I Will Survive' that's been playing on an unending loop in your head today."

Watch More:
Sad Songs Are the Jam
Test Tube Wild Card
How Music Affects Your Brain

____________________

DNews is dedicated to satisfying your curiosity and to bringing you mind-bending stories & perspectives you won't find anywhere else! New videos twice daily.

[myheartiswriting]

This is only mildly related, but, when I fall in love with a new song, or have a song stuck in my head, I just play it over and over and over. So many times when I was younger my brother came into my room and screamed at me to stop playing that "song" and threatening to break my CD player if he heard me play it one more time. When I try to listen to one song the whole way through, that just isn't enough for me, I have to listen to it several times. On the upside, I have memorized the lyrics to just about every single song I have/had liked.

[SamStep]

I don't think I've ever NOT had a song stuck in my head. I'm constantly singing or humming and it drives people insane but hey, music makes the world go round.

[SnakeRiverFishing]

no one knows what it's like   to be the bad man   to be the sad man   behind blue eyes ...

[misshoneywoo]

So ear worms happen when your zoned out. Well I must be zoned out 24/7.

And my mum says try doing the 12 times table and then the songs would be out my head but nope it still plays even when I am thinking.

[pancakeassasin]

All about that bass, my gosh it won't GO AWAY!!!!

[insu_na]

Out of nowhere sometimes, some random kids show intro pops into my head, I don't know why and I can only purge it with a good dose of black metal...

[Kissarai]

I always get songs that I don't quite know all the lyrics to stuck in my head. I cure it by actively listening to the song (sometimes more than once) and it always works. Sucks when it's a song I don't like, though. 

[ShawnRavenfire]

I used to find myself singing "Crazy Train" to myself about the same time every day at work, until I finally figured out that one of the machines made a thumping sound that kind of sounded like the base at the beginning of the song.

[Kiwi_Tea]

My brain usually does one song a day...weird thing is, they're sometimes songs I haven't heard in years

[Dowlphin]

While this is obviously a highly complex issue, you can also bet that big music business is employing knowledge about how to make earworms in order to psychologically optimize pop music, so there is a difficult-to-quantify degree of this kind of influence in the whole issue of earworms. Since a lot of money is involved, there will be this kind of marketing.
Just look at the average pop music on the radio these days and you will notice that mentioned (shallow) repetitive upbeat music patterns are present en masse. Mass pop music is infamous for the lack of that certain something, depth, and I suspect this is people's instincts/intuition telling them what kind of driving forces have been behind music like that. It might be a bit like when two people are speaking the exact same words and you know one of them is insincere.

[Ceasarexthemage]

Every once in a while, that one song from Super Mario 2 plays in my head, you know, the "chose your character" tune? Normally when I am feeling rather energetic or really really bubbly.

[draggboy]

I literally almost always have some little part of a song repeating in my head. Usually quietly in the background of my conscious where I don't really notice it much. Sometimes it's melodies from two or three songs that just come in an play themselves in my mind for a minute. Hard to explain. But I feel like most of the time that I'm not already listening to music, I have a song floating around in there in the background. 

[Snowspring]

"The Good Life" by Frank Sinatra usually gets me whistling.
Oh, and I think I can help with this:
Sound is processed by the auditory cortex, so maybe how you felt when you heard it, what you felt when you heard it, basically the environment in which you had listened to it, effects you later on, since as they said in the video, the same notes or similar environment could trigger the song to be "stuck" in your head.

[little.wing.]

I only listen to music I like, therefore I just constantly hum, whistle or sing, and I love it! Not sure everybody else does, but I don't get any complaints.

[SilverAura]

I found the best way to get rid of a song stuck in my head is to listen to the song again from start to finish, then listen to as much stuff after as I can. Not entirely sure why it works but it almost always works for me.

[kght]

i long ago stopped caring about songs that get stuck in my head, if you can't beat em, join em. hell, when i sleep i always end up with some crap stuck in my head repeating a small part of it over and over. the best way is to just listen to it, and enjoy it whether you like it or not. i mean really, i am not a big fan of devo:whip it, but i can rock that shit out when i gotta (i do love devo:through being cool and other devo tracks). don't be afraid to just go with it, all it is is a song. i've even had to go through brittney spears:hit me baby one more time (the torture, the pain) but but pleasure when it resulted in my mental track switching to kylie minogue: can't get you out of my head. just go with it, your brain will switch tracks.

[DemonFrenzy]

I always ALWAYS have songs running on repeat through my head. Unless I am focusing ALL of my complete attention on doing something then I will always have music/ a song running grouch my head. And the same one can last for days with me. Even the slightest amount of free or idle attention is enough for me to have songs (usually choruses) running through my head over and over. Case in point even while writing this comment I have had the same
song running (even though its only really 20-25 seconds of it :P) through my head. Even now. It never really goes away for me. If I concentrate very hard for hours in end, the minute I stop usually some random song/ chorus starts playing right after I stop. Plus I can get some really wierd song hat I've heard years ago and never really think about start if I somehow if reminded of it, usually by something; and sadly even i don't always understand the relation between the things either lol. Right now I have Red Like Roses running grouch my head non-stop. Bur after years and years of this I honestly can't say that I'd have it any other way. It would seem wierd or un-natural/ un-settling for/to me if I isn't have them now. Sort of like how if of have music/noise around you pretty much every minute or years, and em it suddenly stops it would seem really unsettling and wrong/creepy.

[theredlioness]

I've always got something stuck in my head. Right now, I've got 'Eden Echo' by Kamelot and DNews' intro theme stuck in my head. It's really weird hearing those bleeps at the same time as "Won't you light up my life?" and "How come I want you like the soil yearns for the rain?". Makes it abnormally cheery.

[Kasumi]

I love having Vocaloid songs in my head, but any other I do not. But I also love having Traditional Japanese, Russian, and Vietnamese music in my head

[Valkriecain]

I don't get earworms. I only listen to a song in my head again if I want to. I don't get how people can't control their minds to stop it?