3 weird facts about tracks that get stuck in your head

It takes about three days to fade

The loop comes from what you heard recently, and more music means more loops. In one study people were played a track and about 80% ended up with it stuck, tailing off over the next three days. You heard a whole night of it on Saturday, which is why it's still going on Monday.

124 bpm is the stickiest tempo

Some tracks stick harder than others, and speed is part of why. Researchers lined up tracks people named as earworms against tracks nobody named, matched for how popular they were. The ones that stuck averaged 124 beats per minute against 116, which is house tempo. Faster records stick.

Gum works, fighting it doesn't

Putting another track on to push it out is what most people try, and it keeps the loop going longer than leaving it alone does. Chewing gum actually stops it. Your head plays the track using the same parts you use to say words, and chewing gets in the way of that.

It takes about three days to fade. 124 bpm is the stickiest tempo. Gum works, fighting it doesn't.