The Five Catchiest, Most Annoying Songs We Hate And Love

By Elana Goodwin on August 1, 2014

That one song (you know which one I’m talking about) comes on the radio or pops up on your Pandora/Spotify and your first reaction is “Ugh — not this song again! but then 10 seconds into the song, you’re singing along and tapping your feet to the music. You hate it but it’s just so damn catchy.

There are a lot of those kinds of songs out there — the ones that are super annoying but you also kind of love that won’t leave your head after you hear them.

Here’s a list of some of the catchiest, most annoying songs out there.

Photo Credit: soundmagonline.com

“Call Me Maybe” – Carly Rae Jepsen. Canadian singer-songwriter Jepsen co-wrote the song for her EP album and the tune was released as her lead single from it in September 2011.

The song gained a lot of attention when pop stars Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber heard it while in Canada and tweeted about it. The two celebrities even teamed up with a bunch of famous friends like Ashley Tisdale, Big Time Rush members, and other pals for a lip dub video of the song which went viral.

Many other teams and groups went on to do various lip dub and parody versions of the track as well. The upbeat tune is one that got stuck in many people’s heads as it reached No. 1 on charts across the world and still pops up infrequently on music channels today.

Though people often grumble when hearing the initial strains of the song, it isn’t long before they’re asking along with Jepsen, “Call me maybe?”

“Tubthumping” – Chumbawamba. You may not know this song by its actual name as many know it more by one of its main lyrics: “I get knocked down.”

Chumbawamba, a British punk band, released the song in 1997, and it’s still a fairly popular party/drinking song today. The song’s catchiness factor is also what makes it annoying; it’s fairly repetitive, which can make it easy to sing along to (even if you’re drinking to it) but that repetition also makes you want to “get knocked down” and not “get up again.”

“500 Miles (I’m Gonna Be)” – The Proclaimers. This song came out in the UK in 1988 and in the US in 1993 and is sung by Scottish twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid, who make up The Proclaimers.

The song has been used in various advertisements, movies, and TV shows, most notably the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother.”

Photo Credit: Tumblr

On HIMYM, one of the main characters had a cassette tape with the song on it jammed in his car tape player and because of this, it became the car road trip anthem, with two main characters going through stages of being sick of it and loudly singing along as they travel to their destination.

The song was used several times throughout the nine-season show as a long-running gag. One of the most annoying but also best things about the tune is the fact that you have to put on an accent when you sing along, otherwise you’re just singing it wrong.

“Talk Dirty” (Feat. 2 Chainz) – Jason Derulo. Derulo, an American singer-songwriter, released this song as his second single from his album “Tattoos” in January 2014.

Talk Dirty” is full of innuendo, and is well, dirty, and 2 Chainz’s rap is highly sexualized and vulgar. Yet, the song dominated airwaves across the US and still pops up frequently on various music-playing stations and apps.

Derulo helped pen the catchy lyrics which include the line “been around the world, don’t speak the language.”

The most annoying and catchy part of the song though, comes from the saxophone solo which has a klezmer-y (read: Fiddler on the Roof-esque) sort of feel to it, as it was sampled from Israeli music group Balkan Beat Box and used in the Derulo song.

“Pocketful of Sunshine” by Natasha Bedingfield. The catchy tune was released in 2008 by the British singer-songwriter.

The song’s been used in TV shows, video games, promos, movies and was used in the comedy “Easy A,” in which Emma Stone receives a card that plays the song when opened. Stone’s character then goes through the process of hating it (“worst song ever”), to listening and singing a few words, to singing it in the shower, to full-out belting the chorus of “take me away.”

The song relies heavily on repetition with very slight changes to the verses before the chorus but is really super easy to sing along to which is one of the best and yet most annoying things about it. Once you’ve listened to the song, you’ll have it stuck in your head all day and you’ll wish something would give you “a sweet escape.”

The catchiest, most annoying songs honorable mentions go to “Barbie Girl” by Aqua; “What Does the Fox Say?” by Ylvis; “Friday” by Rebecca Black;  ”Gangnam Style” by PSY; “You’re Beautiful” by James Blunt; “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction, and “We Can’t Stop” by Miley Cyrus.

Follow Uloop

Apply to Write for Uloop News

Join the Uloop News Team

Discuss This Article

Get Top Stories Delivered Weekly

Back to Top

Log In

Contact Us

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Add a Photo

Please select a photo to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format