A new study has unveiled the musical releases that have grated on listeners' nerves the most in 2025, with pop sensation Sabrina Carpenter's hits taking the dubious top spots.
The Science of Irritation: How the 'Annoyingness Index' Works
Researchers from the platform Seat Pick compiled the year's most popular songs from official charts and TikTok playlists before subjecting them to a unique 'annoyingness index'. This analytical tool scored each track across four measurable components: repetition, shrillness, harmonic dullness, and lyrical filler density. The latter specifically tracks the overuse of non-lexical vocables like 'yeah', 'la', and 'uh'.
Each component generated a score between 0 and 1, which were then combined using a weighted formula to calculate a final 'Annoying Score' out of 10. The formula assigned 30% of the weight to repetition, with brightness, harmonic dullness, and filler density each accounting for 20%, and a baseline of 10%.
The Top Offenders: From Pop to Viral TikTok Hits
The results pinpointed Sabrina Carpenter's singles 'Sugar Talking' and 'Tears' as the most annoying releases of the year. Both tracks scored 4.6 out of 10, meaning they are likely to irritate 46 per cent of listeners.
Seat Pick was quick to note that this finding comes despite Carpenter's phenomenal year, which included significant streaming numbers, strong social media traction, and major awards like a Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance and iHeartRadio's Pop Artist of the Year.
The list of irritating tunes continues with Lady Gaga's 'The Dead Dance' (4.58), followed by Jimin's 'Who' (4.55), David Guetta and Sia's collaboration 'Beautiful People' (4.52), and Luke Dean's 'Make Believe' (4.51). Ed Sheeran's 'Azizam' also featured in the top ten.
On TikTok, the most annoying trending track was deemed to be 'Dame Un Gurr' by Fantomel and Kate Linn, scoring 4.57. Other viral irritants included 'She Twerkin' by Ca$h Out and 'Illegal' by PinkPantheress.
The Least Annoying and the Resurgent Classics
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Rosalia's 'Memoria' was crowned the least annoying song of the year with a score of just 3.07, followed by her track 'La Perla'. Anne-Marie's 'Depressed' and Drake's 'Gimme a Hug' also ranked as some of the least irritating listens.
The study also highlighted a surprising comeback. Despite first charting in 2015, Jess Glynne's 'Hold My Hand' saw a major resurgence in 2025 after featuring in a Jet2Holiday advertisement. Its subsequent use in over 3.4 million TikTok videos cemented its place as one of the year's most noticeable—and to many, annoying—tracks, with a 42.1% likelihood of irritating listeners.
Seat Pick concluded by acknowledging the subjective nature of musical taste, stating plainly that "'Annoyance' is listener subjective." The research serves as a data-driven snapshot of the tracks that divided opinion in a year otherwise celebrated for its record-breaking releases and viral hits.
