22: Why Can't I Stop Singing? (Top Ten Catchiest Songs)

The topic of catchy songs is one of my favorites and something that has been discussed with family and friends for as long as I can remember. 

This list could have been gigantic but I decided to keep things mainstream and limit artists to one song. My main criteria should be obvious: how memorable a song is and how likely it is to get "stuck" in my head. I gave bonus points to songs that I like singing and songs that have stood the test of time. I included some newer songs in the Honorable Mentions list at the end. 

I would love to hear your suggestions or comments, here or on FB :) 

10. Journey - Any Way You Want It (1980)

Having a guitarist/songwriter as talented as Neil Schon guaranteed Journey's success. His driving, mathematically perfect melodies soar across the band's entire catalog. What makes the band one of a kind and true gods of pop rock are Steve Perry's vocals. His performance here, across a layered and varied vocal delivery, is flawless. I think of this song often, as does Homer Simpson, as a perfect example of Rock Music(TM) for planet earth's time capsule. I've been dancing and dumbing out to this song for my entire life and I'm still not sick of it. It really feels like a created-in-the-lab earworm set loose on the unsuspecting and soon boogieing general public. 

9. Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun (1983)

Year after year I meet people who know this song by heart but know nothing about the band or where the song came from. Year after year I obnoxiously explain how the band is from Milwaukee, had a bunch of college radio hits, and is somehow STILL going. If we were doing a list of the ten most unique radio hits of all time, this could wind up near the top. To produce a song this unique and this catchy is almost unbelievable to me. The instrumentation, melody, vocal delivery, and oddness of the song's transitions all grab your attention on separate levels. Long, long after you want this song out of your head, it will remain. 

8. They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse in Your Soul (1990)

My god, was seven year old Jack blessed beyond reason by the presence of this album in his upbringing. We had the first four TMBG albums on constant repeat in the family minivan. We all have different favorites to this day, but I think of "Birdhouse" as the band's catchiest and accessible song. The band's entire career has been based on matching catchy pop melody with an off-topic attitude approaching randomness. Can you imagine a more successful creation in that vein than this song? Gorgeous melody, weird but pleasant instrumentation, and in my opinion the best lyrics the band ever wrote. Where else in pop music are you going to get lyrics like this stuck in your head?:

"There's a picture opposite me of my primitive ancestry, which stood on rocky shores and kept the beaches shipwreck free. Though I respect that a lot, I'd be fired if that were my job. After killing Jason off and countless screaming Argonauts. Bluebird of friendliness; like guardian angels it's always near."

7. Tom Cochrane - Life Is a Highway (1991)

My readership is mostly family who knew this song needed to be on the list. From the summer of 1992 when the song was a radio smash until my most recent visit to Chicago when my nephew Oliver was dancing and singing to the "Cars" version, I've been surrounded by people enjoying this song to excessive levels. My friend Mitchell would put it on loop (very loud) when he would begin celebrating the start of a weekend, complete with vocal ad-libs on the chorus, "Yes I do, Yes I do, Yes I do NOW!" It was a staple in the Gremmer family during my childhood, and while I was truly disgusted to see a cover version is now the main way people are hearing the song, I'm just glad it is still in the rotation. It really is one of the most memorable and uniquely framed pop songs of all time...and it even sorta rocks. 

6. Ace of Base - The Sign (1993)

Here we have the band (and fricking album) that necessitated the one song per band rule. What an incredible collection of polished and almost painfully catchy pop tunes. I had a very hard time ranking and rating the Ace of Base singles for this list, but I went with "The Sign" when I realized it was a perfect song and I didn't need any further research. I love this album (duh) and it is my go-to reference point for how far pop music has fallen. You just don't hear songs like this anymore. Where this song is vibrant and organic, today's pop music is flat and homogenous. Ace of Base had personality in melody, production, and subject matter. Today's pop stars have personality in wardrobe. "The Sign" approaches desert island levels of enjoyment for me; it puts me in a good mood passively, makes me appreciate great songcraft and performance actively and forcefully drives me bounce my head or even consider shaking my lower region 😳😳

5. Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe (2012)

It was incredibly difficult to only pick one Carly song for this list, she has at least five songs I'd consider my all time favorites. I went with "Call Me Maybe" because, similar to "The Sign" above, it is a perfect song. While the production and delivery brings to mind late 80s pop, there's a timelessness to both the lyrics and the melody that would have made this a hit in every decade. I could keep writing but I'm listening to the song :) 

4. Weezer - Buddy Holly (1994)

I've made lists similar to this one for my own amusement many times over the years. I have one I made in Thailand in 2013 where "Buddy Holly" took the top spot for catchy songs. I had been studying pop music in a sweltering jungle shack for hours on end, hunched over a laptop, sweat pouring from the space between my bouncing head and my Thai "Beats by Drey" headphones. I'm comfortable with it falling to the number four spot here only because the overall quality of the songs on this list is pretty mind boggling. "Buddy Holly" is catchy on absolutely every level, I'd argue more so than any other pop song in American history. It has memorably odd post-rock verses, gorgeous and varied background vocals throughout, perhaps the most instantly catchy chorus of all time...it even had a "catchy" music video! Rivers Cuomo was in his early twenties when he wrote the songs on this album but they have a maturity that sets them apart. This song especially doesn't feel like it could have been (or ever would have been) written by any other band. 

3. Tom Petty - Free Fallin' (1989)

There are so many days I just want to put this song (and album) on and drive off into the sunset. Perhaps the most appealing song in the history of pop music. This is easy listening, classical music in the form of pop-rock. The simple lyrics manage to magically be heartfelt without being cheesy, both personal and relatable. The melodies are simple, as is the instrumentation, which makes the flourishes of harmony and subtle track changes shine. The song has a peaceful, carefree approach to loss and hints at the growth that can come from it. I love this song on so many levels. It reminds me of my mom. It reminds me of how talented and fucking cool Tom Petty IS. And, more than anything else, I love singing along to it. It feels like that is what it was written for. 

2. Starship - We Built This City (1985)

Holy fuck was it agonizing to choose between this song, my runner-up for the catchiest song of all time, and my eventual choice for the catchiest. Even as I write this and relisten, I ask myself, "HOW is this not #1?!" Every. single. element. is tightly crafted and bonded with the next. The song's melody transitions from a pleasant and bouncy verse to an almost painfully catchy pre-chorus to the iconic and irresistable chorus. I feel incredibly lame and white writing this, but I actually get chills when I hear, "Marconi plays the mamba. Listen to the radio. Don't you remember?" Seriously. This song somehow has a conduit directly to my brain's pleasure center. I can't hear its punchy organ chords without wanting to go rollerskating and spy on my sister and her friends. It may not be cool, it may have its value obscured by its genre and era, but "We Built This City" is an A+, god-tier pop song that I'm proud to say I will never tire of. 

1. Backstreet Boys - I Want It That Way (1999)

I'm fast approaching forty years old. I've taken so much joy in exploring music of every genre and era. I consider myself a music snob of high second-tier level. I take pride in supporting and slamming out to the most obscure and inaccessible death and black metal on the planet. "I Want It That Way" is the catchiest, and by that measure, best song of all time. With just over three and a half minutes of music, songwriter Max Martin (with Andreas Carlsson) crafted a pop song that is both ballad and anthem, both incredibly of the time it was created and timeless. The top-notch instrumentation and production ensures the song will appeal to virtually anyone. The melodies - all of them - are the best pop music has ever had to offer. The vocal arrangement compliments the individual strengths of the "boys" incredibly. Instead of being cheesy or trite, there is such a beauty to the flow and form of the song, you feel at peace, lucky even, just to be listening to the group perform. I have this song stuck in my head constantly. I used the word "perfect" to describe several songs on this list, meaning songs without any flaws. "I Want It That Way" is perfect in different way: in the sense of pop music taking its final form, achieving apex level transcendence of being, becoming melody itself. I have a singular memory of riding around rural Thailand on our motorbike, singing this song on a loop and waving to people like an idiot for hours. It was a confluence of several perfect things at once and somehow deepened my appreciation for what I already considered a "perfect" song.

[Blogger's note: This choice for #1 enraged my wife and started a huge fight. Thanks a lot, internet.]

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Foster the People - Pumped Up Kicks (2010)

the Beatles - Eight Days a Week (1964)

Katy Perry - I Kissed a Squirrel (2008), Last Friday Night (2011)

Fountains of Wayne - Stacy's Mom (2003)

Bon Jovi - Livin' on a Prayer (1986)

the Outfield - Your Love (1985)

Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers - Why Do Fools Fall in Love? (1956)

Huey Lewis and the News - If This Is It (1984)

Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive (1977)

Don Henley - Boys of Summer (1984)

Oasis - Champagne Supernova (1995)

David Bowie - Modern Love (1983)

The Cars - You Might Think (1984)

Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy (1988)

Taylor Swift - We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (2012)

Madonna - Like A Prayer (1989)

As always, thank you for reading some or all of this. Lots of love to you and your family from mine 💓💛💜💚💙