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Music is subjective. General popularity rarely translates to universal enjoyment.
In A Nutshell
- Sabrina Carpenter’s “Sugar Talking” and “Tears” have a 46% chance of irritating listeners, topping 2025’s most annoying songs list despite her Grammy-winning year
- SeatPick measured annoyance using four factors: repetition (30%), brightness/shrillness (20%), harmonic dullness (20%), and filler words like “yeah” and “ooh” (20%), plus a 10% baseline
- TikTok viral hit “Dame Un Grrr” by Fantomel and Kate Linn leads the platform’s most annoying songs at 45.7%, having inspired over 1.2 million user videos
- High annoyance scores don’t predict commercial failure; what researchers identify as “annoying” often represents the catchy, repetitive hooks that make songs memorable
Despite a banner year that included Grammy wins and industry accolades, emerging pop sensation Sabrina Carpenter may have managed to annoy a listener or two as well. Two tracks from her album Man’s Best Friend have a 46% chance of irritating listeners, according to an analysis examining the year’s most popular music releases.
Carpenter’s “Sugar Talking” and “Tears” earned the dubious distinction of being 2025’s most annoying songs. Researchers from the ticketing search engine SeatPick.com examined popular tracks from Apple Music and official charts, measuring qualities like repetition, high-pitched tones, unchanging harmonies, and meaningless filler words to calculate each song’s annoyance potential.
While 2025 has been celebrated for record-breaking releases and viral hits, some tracks have sparked debate over their repetitive or grating qualities.
Lady Gaga’s “The Dead Dance” secured third place with a 45.8% annoyance rating. BTS member Jimin’s solo track “Who” followed closely at 45.5%. Rounding out the top five was “Beautiful People” by David Guetta and Sia at 45.2%.
The Science Behind Musical Irritation
SeatPick created an “annoyingness index” that breaks down each song into four measurable components, plus a baseline factor. Repetition carries the most weight at 30% of the total score, detecting looping hooks and repeated melodic patterns that listener research links to fatigue. Brightness measures 20%, identifying harsh, high-frequency sounds that create a piercing sensation.
Harmonic dullness accounts for another 20% of the score, flagging songs with static or unchanging chord progressions. Filler density takes the final 20%, calculating the proportion of non-semantic syllables like “yeah,” “uh,” “la,” and “ooh” compared to actual lyrical content. A 10% baseline factor rounds out the formula.
Each track receives scores from 0 to 1 for the four components. These are combined using the weighted formula (including the 10% baseline) and scaled to create a final score between 0 and 10, then converted to a percentage. Higher percentages indicate greater annoyance potential.
Audio files were normalized and segmented before analysis, with high-overlap time windows detecting repeated fragments. Parallel spectral analysis measured frequency profiles to identify harsh or tiring sound characteristics.
Top 10 Most Annoying Songs Of 2025
| Rank | Song | Artist | Album | Likelihood people would find the song annoying (%) |
| =1 | Sugar Talking | Sabrina Carpenter | Man’s Best Friend | 46% |
| =1 | Tears | Sabrina Carpenter | Man’s Best Friend | 46% |
| 3 | The Dead Dance | Lady Gaga | The Dead Dance | 45.8% |
| 4 | Who | Jimin | MUSE | 45.5% |
| 5 | Beautiful People | David Guetta and Sia | Beautiful People | 45.2% |
| 6 | Make Believe | Luke Dean and Omar+ | Make Believe | 45.1% |
| 7 | Just Keep Watching | Tate McRae | F1 The Album | 44.7% |
| 8 | Dreamin | Dom Dolla and Daya | [Released as a Single] | 44.6% |
| 9 | Azizam | Ed Sheeran | Play | 44.1% |
| 10 | The Days | Chrystal and NOTION | [Released as a Single] | 44% |
TikTok’s Most Grating Viral Hits
Among trending TikTok songs, “Dame Un Grrr” by Fantomel and Kate Linn topped the annoyance charts at 45.7%. The track’s relentless hooks and high-energy beats have inspired over 1.2 million user-generated videos on the platform.
“She Twerkin” by Ca$h Out claimed second place at 44.1%. “ACE UP” by BubaJuice and “Illegal” by PinkPantheress tied for third at 44% each.
Jess Glynne’s “Hold My Hand” landed in seventh place at 42.1%. The track gained widespread attention through a Jet2holidays advertisement before being featured in over 3.4 million TikTok videos throughout the year.
Clean Bandit and Zara Larsson’s “Symphony” scored 43.1%, while Nicki Minaj and 2 Chainz’s “Beez In The Trap” registered 42.1%. Kehlani’s “Folded” rounded out the top ten at 42%.
When Chart Success Meets Listener Fatigue
Carpenter’s placement at the top of the annoyance rankings arrives during what has otherwise been a career-defining year. She took home the Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance and earned iHeartRadio’s Pop Artist of the Year honor. Her streaming numbers remain strong, and social media engagement continues to climb despite the high annoyance metrics.
Lady Gaga similarly enjoyed a successful 2025, winning Best Pop Duo Performance at the Grammys for “Die With a Smile” alongside Bruno Mars. That collaboration scored 39.4% on the annoyance index, well below her solo track “The Dead Dance.”
Jimin’s inclusion comes as BTS maintains its hiatus, which began in 2022 to allow members to complete mandatory military service in South Korea. The group plans to reunite in 2026 with new music and concerts.
10 Most Irritating TikTok Hits Of 2025
| Rank | Song | Artist | Likelihood people would find the song annoying (% |
| 1 | Dame Un Grrr | Fantomel and Kate Linn | 45.7% |
| 2 | She Twerkin | Ca$h Out | 44.1% |
| =3 | ACE UP | BubaJuice | 44% |
| =3 | Illegal | PinkPantheress | 44% |
| 5 | Undressed | Sombr | 43.3% |
| 6 | Symphony (feat. Zara Larsson) | Clean Bandit and 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% |
Researchers acknowledges several limitations. Genre conventions and recording quality affect the metrics, making direct comparisons across musical styles imperfect. Short audio clips can exaggerate repetition scores. Annoyance remains subjective and varies by individual listener preference.
The study also notes bias in the source material. The analysis used seed lists featuring popular artists, leading to overrepresentation of certain performers like Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter in the results.
Tracks scoring above 45% share common traits: melodic loops that repeat with minimal variation, sustained high-frequency content, harmonic progressions that remain largely static, and lyrics heavy on filler words rather than substantive content.
What SeatPick identifies as “annoying” through acoustic analysis might represent exactly the catchy, repetitive hooks that make a song memorable or danceable. The viral success of tracks like “Dame Un Grrr” shows that high annoyance scores don’t necessarily predict commercial failure. Whether listeners embrace or avoid these irritating tracks depends on personal taste, listening context, and tolerance for repetition.
Study Methodology
SeatPick analyzed popular songs released in 2025 to determine annoyance potential based on acoustic and lyrical properties. The study sourced songs from Apple Music charts, official top charts, and additional desk research to compile a representative sample of the year’s popular releases.
Each track underwent processing through an annoyingness index pipeline measuring four components: repetition, brightness, harmonic dullness, and lyrical filler density. Audio files were normalized and segmented, then analyzed using high-overlap time windows to detect repeated melodic or lyrical fragments associated with listener fatigue.
Parallel spectral analysis measured high-frequency dominance and harmonic imbalance, acoustic traits linked to harsh or piercing sound profiles. When lyrics were available, automated transcription was applied and a filler-word detector scored the proportion of non-semantic syllables like “yeah,” “uh,” “la,” and “ooh” relative to total lyrical content.
Each component produced a score from 0 to 1, which were combined using a weighted formula: Repetition 30%, Brightness 20%, Harmonic Dullness 20%, Filler Density 20%, with a 10% baseline bias. Final scores were scaled to a 0-10 range and converted to percentages representing the likelihood that typical listeners would find the track annoying.
Workflow-specific settings controlled segment overlap, sample rates, model selection, lexicon size, and repetition thresholds. Outputs were compiled into spreadsheets with breakdown panels showing each factor’s contribution to the overall score.
The methodology includes several caveats. Genre norms and recording styles affect metrics differently, making cross-genre comparisons imperfect. Short clips can exaggerate repetition scores compared to full-length songs. Annoyance remains subjective and varies by individual listener. The dataset shows bias toward certain artists like Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter due to their prominence in the seed lists used to compile the initial song selection.
Data was collected on November 27, 2025. The analysis examined 149 popular songs from mainstream charts and 48 trending TikTok tracks, with scores ranging from approximately 35% to the high of 46% shared by Carpenter’s “Sugar Talking” and “Tears.”
