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Thursday, November 3, 2016 12:58pm ET by  
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Lady Gaga's hit single 'Bad Romance' has topped an "earworm" research study

A new study, published by the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, on what makes a song an "earworm" and Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' has been named one of the biggest culprits.  

Music psychologist Kelly Jakubowski, from Durham University, explains: "We were interested because it's such a common phenomenon. People say certain songs are more catchy than others, but there wasn't a lot of scientific evidence on (this) topic."

Pacing, intervals and the structure of melody were found to be the three main contributing factors for songs that get stuck inside of our heads and Jakubowski adds: "These three factors stood out above the rest ... (the songs) need to be not too simple and not too complex. None of these have been revealed in previous research."

Tracks that follow a nursery rhyme-type structure seem to be the most effective at lodging themselves in our brains and Daniel Levitin, professor of psychology and behavioural neuroscience at McGill University in Canada who wasn't involved in the research, added:

"This is a timely and well-conducted study that adds to our knowledge of what kinds of music become earworms. The reason that we get earworms in the first place is probably because music is an evolutionary adaptation, helping us to preserve factual and emotional information in an easily memorisable medium."

The nine top songs named in the results are as follows:

  1. "Bad Romance," Lady Gaga
  2. "Can't Get You Out Of My Head," Kylie Minogue
  3. "Don't Stop Believin'," Journey
  4. "Somebody That I Used To Know," Gotye
  5. "Moves Like Jagger," Maroon 5
  6. "California Gurls," Katy Perry
  7. "Bohemian Rhapsody," Queen
  8. "Alejandro," Lady Gaga
  9. "Poker Face" Lady Gaga

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Watch Gaga in action here:

 

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