Why some songs get stuck in your head

Almost all of us get songs stuck in our heads from time to time but why do certain tunes have the 'stick factor'-. The first large-scale study, led by Dr Kelly Jakubowski at Durham University, may have some answers to this musical stickiness. Bad Romance The study has shown that songs that get stuck in your head - called earworms or involuntary musical imagery - are usually faster, with a fairly generic and easy-to-remember melody but with some unique intervals such as leaps or repetitions that set it apart from the "average pop song". Prime examples of earworms named in the study include Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, Don't Stop Believing by Journey and perhaps not surprisingly Can't Get You Out Of My Head by Kylie Minogue. Radio time It is often assumed that songs that get more radio time and have more recently featured in the charts are more likely to be reported as earworms. The current study has also confirmed this idea by testing it scientifically for the first time. However, there has previously been limited evidence about what makes the actual song catchy regardless of popularity or how often people may have heard it Writing a 'sticky' song Lead author Dr Kelly Jakubowski from the Department of Music at Durham University, said: "Our findings show that you can to some extent predict which songs are going to get stuck in people's heads based on the song's melodic content.