9 Annoyingly Catchy Songs the Internet Won’t Let You Forget

Love them or hate them, you can’t get them out of your head.

(Photo: Harsh Sahani/The Quint)

It's torture; when you try to forget something but it keeps haunting you. And no, I am not talking about a painful love.

This morning, I made the mistake of logging in to Youtube, and guess what? Five new versions of Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You were out.

My first reaction was to bang my head against the wall to try and beat it out of my head, but I knew that wouldn’t help.

But it did remind me of the few other songs that the Internet won't let you forget. Love them or hate them, you can’t help but hum along. *sigh*

1. Shape Of You - Ed Sheeran

I actually loved this song, until there was a Bhangra version, IIT students version, Minecraft version, Dentist version, Barack Obama version, Resident Evil version, Odissi version, father-daughter version, mother-daughter version, optometry version (wait, what?)….and the list goes on till infinity.

It’s like a new clause under Internet rule no 34. “If it exists, there is a Shape Of You parody of it.”

2. Pen Pineapple Apple Pen - Pikotaro

The original song was written and performed by Pikotaro AKA Japanese comedian Kosaka Daimaou. It has over 63 million views on Youtube and counting. Don’t ask me why.

The popularity of this song is like an urban legend. It gets passed on from person to person, without anyone ever really getting why they are doing so.

3. Friday - Rebecca Black

This song is the perfect example of how someone takes the advice of ‘write honest lyrics’ way too seriously. And to think she actually released a whole album after the notorious fame this song gave her. Oh, and if you manage to shake this off, she has a song for ‘Saturday.’

4. The Fox (What Does The Fox Say?) – Ylvis

In 2013, Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis raised an important question that no else had ever dared to ask – What Does The Fox say?

At once the Internet was taken by storm. It went was as viral as viral can get. With its bizarre lyrics along with trippy visuals, this song the makes you ask ‘what were the artists really high on?’

Even after a good Samaritan solved the mystery by actually recording a fox sound, this wild music video went on...Ring Ding Ding Ding Ding Di Ding!

5. Kolaveri Di - Anirudh, Dhanush

Dhanush and Anirudh, who are now stars in their own right, debuted with a question that sort of gave us all an existential crisis in 2011. Not just in India, but the whole world was asking – Why this kolaveri di? Till date, we don't know the answer.

While it has been parodied majorly in the Indian languages, did you know there are Turkish versions of this song as well?

6. Gangnam Style – PSY

Thanks to this song, the Gangnam street in South Korea is famous the world over. And how can we forget the notorious hook step that had the dance clubs across the world jumping up and down?

7. Eye to Eye - Taher Shah

This falls on the rather niche side of the Internet videos, but hey, now that you have discovered it, welcome to a whole new world of obscure. It apparently took the artist Taher Khan 30 years to pen down these lyrics.

8. Sunday Morning Love You – Bhim Niroula

If you are looking to confess your feelings, but can’t find the courage, please let Bhim Niroula encourage you with a week's worth of ‘love you’s. It's never too much love, ey?

9. Baby – Justin Beiber

Call it a guilty pleasure or whatever, but you really can’t get it out of your head. Back when Justin Bieber really was a ‘Baby’. Perhaps that's why the Netizens were a bit too savage towards the pop star, giving the video over 7 million dislikes – making it one of the most disliked videos on YouTube.