With the end of the year just a day away, the internet has been flooded with Best Of lists from almost every major publication. Most of them say a lot of the same stuff, which is fine. On the flip side, others have been releasing Worst Of or Most Overrated lists, attempting to bring back the era of actually critical music criticism. But what about a data-backed list of the most annoying songs of the year?
The ticket search engine SeatPick came through, revealing data from a study of viral songs from 2025. Compiled by StudyFinds.org, the data shows some interesting results, especially considering how many popular songs landed on the Most Annoying list.
The study analyzed specific factors in the year’s most popular songs and compared them against an “annoyingness index.” This index measures four components that make the total score: repetition at 30%, brightness, harmonic dullness, and filler each at 20%, plus a baseline factor at 10%. The index then predicted a song’s potential annoyingness, with higher scores indicating greater annoyance.
In popular music, elements such as repetition (loops and melodic patterns) can create listening fatigue. Brightness produces overly harsh, piercing sounds, while dullness results in songs that remain mostly unchanged and sluggish. Filler is described as sounds and words like “yeah,” “uh,” “la,” and “ooh” compared to the actual lyrical content.
Which Popular Songs Have the Potential to be the Most Annoying of the Year?
The most annoying songs of 2025 feature some big pop players in the Top 10. Sabrina Carpenter ties herself with “Sugar Talking” and “Tears”, both from Man’s Best Friend, at No. 1 and 2. The likelihood that these songs would annoy listeners is at 46%.
Lady Gaga’s “The Dead Dance”, which she released on the Wednesday season 2 soundtrack, came in at No. 3. There’s a 45.8% chance this song would be annoying, according to the annoyingness index.
The next seven songs stay between a 45.1% and 44% chance of annoyance. These include Jimin’s “Who”, David Guetta and Sia’s “Beautiful People”, Luke Dean and Omar+’s “Make Believe”, Tate McRae’s “Just Keep Watching”, Dom Dolla’s “Dreamin”, Ed Sheeran’s “Azizam”, and Chrystal’s “The Days”.
There’s also a list of the most annoying TikTok viral songs this year. Being on the fringes of social media, I’ve heard exactly one of these songs, and that’s only because it’s Nicki Minaj’s 2012 hit “Beez in the Trap”.
PinkPantheress’ “Illegal” has a 44% chance of being annoying, while Sombr’s “Undressed” comes in next at 43.3%. Sabrina Carpenter is on this list once again, with “Manchild” at a 42.1% chance of annoyance. “Beez in the Trap” also has a 42.1% score, which isn’t too bad when considering that particular Minaj era.
Overall, the data is fun to look at, but it doesn’t account for personal taste. It’s purely scientific and analytical and doesn’t take general popularity into account. There are also limitations in the study that lead to overrepresentation of certain genres and artists. Still, from a results-driven perspective, it’s an interesting look at elements that can make or break a popular song.
Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for AEG
The post Data Reveals the Most Annoying Songs of 2025 With Surprising Results appeared first on VICE.
