Why Do Some Songs Get Stuck In Our Head ('Earworms')?

Sometimes we listen to a catchy song - it could even be subconsciously - and then it just gets stuck there.

(This actually happened to me just a few days ago - scroll down for that story)
We can't get it out of our heads, to say it with Kylie Minogue's words, which is one of the catchiest "earworms" ever.
I German, we call these songs "Ohrwurm" (Ear Worm) - It's just like a worm that digs deeper in your head!

But other languages actually have a similar description for this effect:

In French, you also call it an Ear Worm (ver d’oreille), the russians say that a "song sticks" (ПЕСHЯ ПPИЧЕПИЛАСЪ), and in spanish it's "canción pegadiza" - an infectious song.

And what exactly happens in our heads when we have caught an Earworm?

Studies have shown that the same part of our brain that gets stimulated when we listen to music, is also active when we imagine music.
That's why the song re-plays in our head over and over, just as if we'd never stopped listening to it.

But why is it that some songs, or even just a very short melody plays in our head over and over?

The answer is still being researched, but scientists suggest that this phenomenon happens especially when we are bored, our brains are not very stimulated and we are in a happy/ content mood.

We mostly catch an "Earworm" while listening to music in the car, doing repetitive work, waiting for something, cleaning, or sitting on the train - whenever we are not mentally busy.

And it's even more likely that a song we already know gets stuck in our head - there's a 60% chance, compared to the 24% of a song we've never heard before becoming an earworm.
Mostly, it will be a song that we like - but sometimes, it also happens with a tune that we strongly dislike.
Researchers sugggest that the "earworm effect" probably happens whenever we have a strong positive or negative emotional connection to the song. (That's also the reason why a lot of the times, a World Cup song or anything associated with sports becomes an earworm - weassociate strong emotions with it)
Lyrics also play an important part in this - songs appear to be much more likely to get stuck in our head if they have catchy lyrics, compared to an instrumental song or a song in a language we don't understand.

Zeigarnik-Effect

The Zeigarnik Effect is a theory that suggests that we remember aborted thoughts or tasks better than something we've finished.
That's because our brain mentally ticks off a finished tasks and is more likely to forget about it.
And the same thing happens with songs: When we catch an earworm, we only get a part of a song stuck in our head, it's almost never the whole track from start to finish.
So sometimes, we feel like listening to that specific song helps us to get rid of the never-ending loop in our head!

Structure of an Earworm-Song

Basically, a song that's prone to become an earworm has to fulfill 2 conditions: it has to be simple and melodic, and we have to listen to it several times.

And scientists have discovered another interesting fact: There are certain aspects of a melody of a song that make it more likely to become an earworm.

When a song has a simple but rhythmic melodic pattern, and it starts rising, then lowers and rises again, it appears to be more catchy to us.

Nursery rhymes, like twinkle twinkle little star are a great example for this.
The study was conducted by interviewing thousands of people about their most frequent earworms.
Then, those song titles were compared to tracks that had never been named as an earworm - but were similar in popularity and position on the charts lists.
This was found out in November 2016 by researchers of the University of London.

Personal Experience

I actually got the idea for this topic because just the other day, I somehow had the song "whenever, wherever" by Shakira stuck in my head.

I don't even know why, I didn't consciously listen to it - but somehow, it just ended up being played over and over again in my head.
I'm not even a big fan of shakira's music or anything, but it just happened somehow while I was on my laptop working.

So I know what I had to do - I searched the song on spotify and blasted it through my speakers!

My neighbors were probably thinking I was jamming to 2000's hits or that I was a big shakira fan, but whatever.

After that, I felt better and focused back on my work.

But the day after, the earworm returned ...

Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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