Thursday, December 31, 2020

346 earworms

Do you often wake up with a song stuck in your head?

This is the third year that I noted every morning what song was stuck in my head when I first woke up, and I tallied the results. I usually have music in my head all day, like my own personal internal radio station, but mornings are the easiest to pin down. The results don't always overlap with that I actually like listening to, and are only tangentially related to what I listen to often. It seems like some songs are just more adhesive than others.
(You can fin the 2019 and 2018 lists on the link.)



This year there were 346 mornings when I woke up with a song in my head, which is more than ever before. I noted 149 different songs, returning with more or less frequency (compared to last year's 137, and 2018's 150).
The Top 5 is as follows:

First place with 15 mornings (a personal record):
(I actually like this one a lot, and in my opinion it is musically better than either Let it go or Into the Unknown.)


Second place with 13 mornings:
(I made the mistake of watching Greatest Showman, which is an awful movie, but the soundtrack is super enjoyable, and apparently was designed to stick forever and ever from now on. From now on...)


Third place with 12 mornings:
(Told ya)


Shared third place with also 12 mornings:


Fourth place with 10 mornings:
(It's all in the name... This person makes a mash-up of the year's pop hits every December, and 2019 was especially well done.)


Fifth place, 9 mornings:
(I'll talk about this album below)


Shared fifth place, also 9 mornings:
(Yep)


Sixth place, which is not technically Top 5, but I was very happy to wake up with this on 7 mornings:


The numbers by albums: Onbiously, Greatest Showman took the cake, with 58 mornings total (Other side 13, Greatest Show 12, From now on 9, Million dreams 7, This is me - Come alive - Rewrite the stars 4, Tightrope 4, Never enough 1). 

Second place goes to Birds of Prey, which was definitely my favorite soundtrack this year. I listened to it a lot, as it is great for confidently stomping around town. I woke up to it on 33 occasions, evenly distributed, which signals the quality of the album, methinks. (Feeling good 9, Joke's on you 5, Hit me with your best shot 4, I'm gonna love you 3, Smile 2, Sway with me 2, Lonely gun 2, Bad memory 2, Man's world 1, Experiment on me 1, Diamonds 1, Danger 1).

Third place goes to Hamilton, etched into my brain forever, popping up on 20 mornings. It is closely followed by 17 mornings of Moana (You're welcome 6, Shiny 5, We know the way 4, How far I'll go 2), and 16 of DJ Earworm, prominently featuring 2010 and 2017. The musical numbers of Magicians made an appearance on 14 mornings (One day more 7, Here I go again 5).

There are always days when my brain just goes to weird musical places. One of these WTF mornings was this lovely song, linked to me by the friend, listened to once (I was greatly amused), and then crawling back from the depths of my memory several weeks later. The other was a little tune with lyrics by a very creative friend of mine, Fanni Sütő

Who else has this thing with taking up to songs? What sticks in your head most often?...

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