As music fans eagerly await the release of Spotify Wrapped this week, worldwide searches for the annual round-up have surged by 5,000% over the past month. While 2025 has been a landmark year for music, featuring record-breaking releases and viral hits, a new study suggests that some of the year’s biggest earworms have also been the most irritating.
Ticket experts at SeatPick have analysed the most popular songs of 2025 to determine which tracks listeners are most likely to find annoying. By measuring factors such as repetition, shrillness, harmonic dullness, and filler lyrics, the data reveals that Sabrina Carpenter claims the unfortunate top spot.
Carpenter’s tracks ‘Sugar Talking’ and ‘Tears’ have been identified as the joint-most annoying releases of 2025. The data indicates a 46% chance that listeners will find these songs irritating due to their repetitiveness and harmonic composition. Despite this ranking, Carpenter has enjoyed a massive year, earning accolades including Best Pop Solo Performance at the Grammy Awards and Pop Artist of the Year at the iHeartRadio Music Awards.
Lady Gaga follows closely behind, with her track ‘The Dead Dance’ ranking as the third most annoying song of the year. The study assigns the track a 45.8% “annoyingness index” based on its lyrical filler and brightness. Like Carpenter, Gaga’s commercial success remains undented, having secured a Grammy for Best Pop Duo Performance for ‘Die With a Smile’.
The most annoying song releases of 2025
| Rank | Song | Artist | Annoyance Likelihood (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| =1 | Sugar Talking | Sabrina Carpenter | 46% |
| =1 | Tears | Sabrina Carpenter | 46% |
| 3 | The Dead Dance | Lady Gaga | 45.8% |
| 4 | Tears (Alternate Ver.) | Sabrina Carpenter | 45.7% |
| 5 | Who | Jimin | 45.5% |
| 6 | Beautiful People | David Guetta and Sia | 45.2% |
| 7 | Make Believe | Luke Dean and Omar+ | 45.1% |
| 8 | Just Keep Watching | Tate McRae | 44.7% |
| 9 | Dreamin | Dom Dolla and Daya | 44.6% |
| 10 | Azizam | Ed Sheeran | 44.1% |
Rounding out the top five is BTS member Jimin with his solo track ‘Who’. The analysis suggests a 45.5% chance of listener irritation, citing repetitive hooks and high-pitched tones. This comes as fans prepare for the full BTS reunion in 2026 following the group’s hiatus for military service.
On the social media front, the study also examined the most irritating trending songs on TikTok. Topping this specific list is ‘Dame Un Grrr’ by Fantomel and Kate Linn. With high-energy beats and persistent melodic patterns, the track has a 45.7% likelihood of annoying listeners, despite—or perhaps because of—its use in over 1.2 million user-generated videos.
Notably, Jess Glynne’s ‘Hold My Hand’ ranks seventh on the TikTok list. The track, synonymous with Jet2holidays advertisements, saw a resurgence in 2025, featuring in over 3.4 million videos. The study cites the soaring vocals and repetitive chorus as key factors in “listener fatigue,” giving it a 42.1% annoyance rating.
The most irritating TikTok trending songs of 2025
| Rank | Song | Artist | Annoyance Likelihood (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dame Un Grrr | Fantomel and Kate Linn | 45.7% |
| 2 | She Twerkin | Ca$h Out | 44.1% |
| =3 | ACE UP | BubaJuice | 44% |
| =3 | Illegal | PinkPantheress | 44% |
| 5 | Undressed | Sombr | 43.3% |
| 6 | Symphony | Clean Bandit & Zara Larsson | 43.1% |
| =7 | Hold My Hand | Jess Glynne | 42.1% |
| =7 | Beez In The Trap | Nicki Minaj and Chainz | 42.1% |
| 9 | Manchild | Sabrina Carpenter | 42.1% |
| 10 | Folded | Kehlani | 42% |
To create these rankings, SeatPick utilised charts from Apple Music and official top lists before applying their specific metrics regarding audio characteristics and lyrical content.
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