The Most Annoying Songs: 43 Obnoxious Tracks

Download Article

Lose your mind with these grating tunes

Co-authored by Eric McClure

Last Updated: September 5, 2025 Fact Checked

Download Article

ARTICLE

VIDEO

Whether you need tunes to mess with your friends or family on a road trip or you’re in a heated debate over whether “Who Let the Dogs Out?” is more annoying than “Crazy Frog,” you might be looking for a list of the world’s most obnoxious songs. Lucky for you, we’ve compiled what we found to be the 45 worst offenders of all time. While we are going to be a bit snarky here, try to remember that every artist is really just trying their best—even if their best occasionally ends up worse than nails on a chalkboard. (Also, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying any of these songs. After all, what counts as “annoying” is totally subjective.)

1

"Dance Monkey" — Tones and I

Download Article

Often touted as one of the worst songs ever made, this tune is so annoying that even the author of the song doesn’t like it. Tones and I (Toni Watson) said in an interview from March of 2022, “I loathe that song a lot of the time. A lot of times I don’t want to sing it.”^{[1]
X
Research source} From the generic sound to the repetitive, high-pitched singing, it’s a perfect storm of everything that makes a song annoying.

2

“Who Let the Dogs Out?” — Baha Men

Download Article

Bahamian junkanoo band Baha Men aren’t actually responsible for this annoying hit—the song was originally written and produced by Anslem Douglas (it’s also terrible, but in a much more Flamenco-inspired way); Baha Men were simply hired to perform an updated version.^{[2]
X
Research source}
- Fun fact: “Who Let the Dogs Out” was originally titled “Doggie.”^{[3]
  X
  Research source}

3

“My Humps” — The Black Eyed Peas

Download Article

Fergie et al. may have thought they were cooking when they landed on the metaphor of “humps” and “lady lumps” for the curves of a woman’s body, but someone should have turned the stove off before they finished whatever this was. It’s not only annoying, it’s also incredibly weird. And not in a good way.

4

“We Are the World” — USA for Africa

Download Article

USA for Africa was a supergroup founded to create charity tunes for Africa. At the time, there was a terrible famine going on in Ethiopia so a bunch of artists got together to make a song as a call to donate. Hats off to Lionel Richie and his friends for doing some good in the world, but the song itself was like a used car jingle on steroids.

5

“Macarena” — Los Del Rio

Download Article

Iconic early ’90s dance hit? Yes. Annoying enough to make you want to jump out of a moving car? Absolutely.
- Fun fact: Despite every bit of common sense and intuition, “Macarena” is actually a love song. The word “Macarena” is an obscure name for a woman in Spain, and the opening line of the song, “Dale a tu cuerpo alegría, Macarena,” translates to “Give your body some joy, Macarena.”^{[4]
  X
  Research source}

6

“Photograph” — Nickelback

Download Article

It’s hard to be too upset about “Photograph.” For one, it gave us one of the most iconic memes of all time. On top of that, Nickelback probably gets more hate than they really deserve.^{[5]
X
Research source} That said, “Photograph” is so memeable because it’s an aggressively irritating tune.
- Fun fact: Lead singer Chad Kroeger has a pretty good attitude about the “look at this graph” memes. He thinks stuff like this “contributes to our longevity,” which is pretty hard to dispute considering we’re still talking about this today!^{[6]
  X
  Research source}

7

“Fancy Like” — Walker Hayes

Download Article

If some works of art are greater than the sum of their parts, “Fancy Like” is a phenomenal example of what the opposite of that looks like. This Applebee’s-sponsored country hip-hop mix has absolutely nothing redeeming about it. The fact that it’s an advertisement disguised as a country pop tune just makes it even worse.

8

“Mambo No. 5” — Lou Bega

Download Article

Like “Macarena,” there’s something iconic and fun about “Mambo No. 5” that makes part of you love it. The part of you that actively listens, though…that’s another story. After a minute or two, “Mambo No. 5” quickly turns into a deeply annoying pop song.

9

“We Built This City” — Starship

Download Article

A strong contender for the worst synth-pop tune of the 1980s, “We Built This City” is uniquely annoying for being both empty and meaningless (what does the lyric “Marconi plays the mamba” mean, exactly?) and cheap corporate rock with a cringey message. It’s so annoying that Rolling Stone readers voted it the worst song of the 1980s.^{[7]
X
Research source}

10

“Shape of You” — Ed Sheeran

Download Article

It’s a deeply repetitive song that was played almost everywhere for a year. It also contains some deeply silly lyrics, like “I’m in love with the shape of you / We push and pull like a magnet do.” Yikes.

11

“Thunder” — Imagine Dragons

Download Article

If you love listening to a guy comically pronounce the word “thunDER” over and over again, this is the song for you. For everyone else, it was one of the most annoying rock tunes of 2017.

12

“Mickey” — Toni Basil

Download Article

The shrill vocals and the cheerleader chanting don’t really add up to a listenable tune. Yes, the hook is iconic, but if you actually listen to the song for more than 15 seconds, you’ll be done with the track for the rest of your life.

13

“Blue (Da Ba Dee)” — Eiffel 65

Download Article

It’s fun, silly nonsense, but the cyber-pop techno beat really wears you down after a listen or two. The strange lyrics also shift from “fun and abstract” to “this is kind of annoying” very quickly.

14

“Call Me Maybe”— Carly Rae Jepsen

Download Article

Hey, I just met you. And this is crazy. But here’s a song. With an obnoxious tempo.
- “Call Me Maybe” certainly seemed like prime one-hit-wonder fodder at the time, but Jepsen’s later work has been especially well-reviewed and beloved. It’s a good reminder that every artist who makes an annoying song is really just doing their best to create something meaningful.^{[8]
  X
  Research source}

15

“Baby” — Justin Bieber ft. Ludacris

Download Article

It may not be the single most annoying song of all time, but “Baby” gets a special boost for earning a particularly unique achievement: the single most disliked video on YouTube in all of YouTube’s history.^{[9]
X
Research source}

16

“Cotton Eye Joe” — Rednex

Download Article

Techno-fiddle music was a fresh genre when Rednex debuted this song in 1994, but it quickly grew to one of the most obnoxious pop tunes of all time. It’s also one of the first “we also have a dance for you to do to this song” pop tunes. We’d like to think this is where Soulja Boy got his inspiration for the “Crank That” jig.
- “Cotton Eye Joe” might be one of the most enigmatic songs on this list, but we did a deep dive on the origin, controversy, and themes of this song if you’re interested.

17

“Barbie Girl” — Aqua

Download Article

We will happily admit that there is a plasticity and whimsy to “Barbie Girl” that makes it a lot of fun, but that fun certainly has its limits. After 2-3 listens, “Barbie Girl” quickly emerges as a frontrunner in the “getting on your nerves” contest.

18

“Friday” — Rebecca Black

Download Article

This viral hit from (then) teenage singer Rebecca Black blew up in 2011. While it is undoubtedly one of the most annoying songs of all time, we do have to give Rebecca Black serious props. She handled the fallout like a champ, worked on her craft, and went on to be one of the most innovative and fascinating pop artists of the 2010s and 2020s. Seriously, her later work is just incredible.

19

“Crazy Frog” — Axel F

Download Article

It almost feels like cheating to include “Crazy Frog” because it was originally commissioned as a jingle for a ringtone company and the artist was sort of jokingly trying to make a song that imitated the noise of a two-stroke engine, but it is technically a worldwide hit.^{[10]
X
Research source}

20

“Blurred Lines” — Robin Thicke

Download Article

It’s creepy. Actually…that’s not really fair to the song. It’s very creepy. It’s also not particularly good. You can’t dance to it, it’s not catchy, and it happens to be a complete rip-off of a Marvin Gaye song.^{[11]
X
Research source}
- The story has a semi-happy ending at least. Gaye’s estate sued Thicke and Pharrel for copyright infringement and ended up winning 7.4 million dollars (which is actually the most money ever awarded in a copyright lawsuit).^{[12]
  X
  Research source}

21

“The Big Day” — Chance the Rapper

Download Article

It starts out innocently enough as Chance’s feature croons about being happy about the day. Then, Chance repeats the material. The beat speeds up a little, a bass drum kicks in, and what follows is one of the most confusing, obnoxious, and head-scratching songs ever made.
- The record this song appeared on, which is also titled The Big Day, is widely accredited as one of the worst hip-hop records of all time. The fallout was so bad that it ultimately led Chance to take a break from music, transition to appearing on TV as a judge on The Voice, and sue his ex-manager.^{[13]
  X
  Research source}

22

“Thong Song” — Sisqo

Download Article

Sisqo prefaces “Thong Song” by saying, “This thing right here / Is lettin' all the ladies know / What guys talk about / You know, the finer things in life.” Well, ladies, we promise you that this is exclusively a Sisqo thing. Nobody else sits around talking about thongs all day. It’s not necessarily the worst song on this list, but it’s such a weirdly written song and it’s dedicated to a subject that needed exactly zero songs written about it, so we’re including it here.
- A note on the music video: This is one redeeming element of the whole fiasco. There’s a moment early on in the song where Sisqo drives to a beach, gets out, and proceeds to bunny hop like a little kid pretending to be a velociraptor. You can see it here. It’s only a few seconds long, but it’s a pretty glorious few seconds.

23

“What’s New Pussycat” — Tom Jones

Download Article

Putting aside the fact that no grown man should be referring to a woman as “pussycat,” Tom Jones’s ballad is repetitive, trashy, and annoying. He doesn’t even croon on this track the way he normally does; instead, he does this weird looping tone thing where he sings like he’s on a roller coaster.
- It isn’t all bad, in the end. While the song itself is awful, its creation did inspire John Mulaney to do something so unhinged that it would eventually end up being a very funny bit in one of his early stand-up specials.

24

“I’m a Slick Rick” — Nick Cannon

Download Article

It’s frankly incredible that Nick Cannon thought this song deserved to be heard by the world. This weird combination of “Teach Me How to Dougie” and Slick Rick’s “Children’s Story” is a diss track aimed at Eminem. What’s weird though, is that Nick spends more time talking about touching himself than he does insulting Eminem.
- Referencing Slick Rick’s “Children’s Story” is the first and last time an actually good song will be referenced in this article.

25

“Ascension Millennium” — Corey Feldman

Download Article

Child actor Corey Feldman tried to rebrand himself as a pop-rock musician in the late ’90s, with his efforts culminating with 2016’s Angelic 2 the Core. The record is often cited as one of the worst albums ever made, and “Ascension Millennium” is one of the most annoying songs on that record, so it deserves a special shoutout.

26

“We’re All Water” — Yoko Ono

Download Article

Yoko Ono gets a lot of undeserved hate. She’s actually a very well-reviewed and critically adored visual artist, and her only crime was just being John Lennon’s wife when he already wanted to leave the Beatles (people preferred blaming the “weird” Asian girl for the Beatles’ breakup than the actual band—she wasn’t involved in the breakup at all).^{[14]
X
Research source} That said, her song “We’re All Water” is pretty rough. It’s a sort of dull back-road country bluegrass bop that involves a lot of yelling.
- We’re not going to count Yoko yelling into a microphone as a song. It’s performance art. It’s very easy to look at certain performance art and go “oh, that’s terrible,” but the way you appraise performance art is much different than the way you talk about traditional music, so she gets a pass there.

27

“Off White” — Lil Pump

Download Article

Containing powerful lyrics such as “White rice, Fortnite, pew, pew / Pew, pew, red light” and “I lost my six pack (Six pack) / Woo, where iCarly at?” Lil Pump’s “Off White” is a strong contender for the worst hip-hop song of all time. From the meaningless lyrics to the terrible flow and the beat that sounds like it was made on a Nintendo 64, there’s just absolutely nothing redeeming about the song.

28

“Disco Duck” — Rick Dees And His Cast of Idiots

Download Article

You ever watch more than 15 minutes of old Disney cartoons and find yourself thinking, “The Donald Duck guy is kind of a bit much.” Well, “Disco Duck” is that just in song form.

29

“Baby Shark” — Various Artists

Download Article

We’re not including it in the main list because it’s not really a “normal” song, but holy smokes, this will get on your nerves after more than a handful of rotations.

30

“The Song That Never Ends” — Shirley Jones & Lambchop

Download Article

Yes, it’s from a children’s show. Yes, it’s not a song released by a serious commercial artist. Yes, it’s annoying and repetitive enough to include in our list.

31

“4 DA TRAP” — 645AR

Download Article

Want to hear a mosquito rap about life in the streets? If so, this is the song for you. On first listen, you’ll think, “Oh, this is a parody or something, this is kind of funny.” Nope. 645AR insists he’s serious.

32

“What Does the Fox Say” — Ylvis

Download Article

Yes, “What Does the Fox Say” was a hilarious viral hit. It also wore us down to the bone after more than one listen. There are only so many times you can listen to an adult man sing, “Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding” before the joke wears out.

33

“It’s Everyday Bro” — Jake Paul

Download Article

It’s not that this song is simply annoying; it’s that it also happens to be offensively bad at the same time. Jake Paul’s attempt at making serious music did not go well. In fact, it went so poorly that it became the second most disliked video on all of YouTube, after Bieber’s “Baby.”^{[15]
X
Research source}

34

Fergie’s 2018 rendition of the National Anthem

Download Article

Sure, it’s technically a particular performance of a song, not a song as a whole, but this was that grating. Even as the camera pans around the audience at the 2018 NBA All-Star Game, you can actually see the patience leaving the bodies of everyone in the room.

35

“Keep Your Hands to Yourself” — Georgia Satellites

Download Article

Upon the first listen, “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” is just an iconic honky-tonk tune of campy Americana. Upon additional listens, you realize it’s a grating and repetitive ballad celebrating men who just can’t take “no” for an answer. Yuck.

36

“Miracles” — Insane Clown Posse

Download Article

Featuring iconic lines like, “F****** magnets, how do they work?” and “Crows, ghosts, the midnight coast,” “Miracles” is like peering into the mind of an angry child who doesn’t understand what’s going on in their 3rd grade science class. It’s also incredibly annoying sonically. The entire tune feels like it’s mixed on a single channel and the beat is like something out of a first-time producer’s demo tape.

37

“On the Floor” — IceJJFish

Download Article

We still can’t tell if IceJJFish is a terrible singer or a brilliant performance artist performing some kind of decade-long satire, but his songs are annoying either way. One YouTube commentator described his work as the “actual version of, TyPiNg LIkE tHiS” and we’ve got to say we agree. “On the Floor” is his most “popular” song, but really his entire discography deserves a slot on this list.

38

“Thirsty” — AJR

Download Article

It doesn’t sound that bad at first—it just seems like a goofy upbeat ode to fluids of all sorts. But then…the yodeling starts. And the yodeling does not stop. It might not even stop when the song ends. There’s a very real possibility the yodeling is haunting us at this very moment, mocking us from the ethereal demon hole it came from.

39

“Revolution 9” — The Beatles

Download Article

A strong contender for “worst song by a great band,” “Revolution 9” is a nonsense song full of record skipping noises, drone sounds, and cut-up movie soundtracks. It’s annoying in its pretentiousness, but it’s also terrible sonically.

40

“Video Games” — Black Out

Download Article

It earns a lower spot on our list because the artists were literal children when they made it, but boy, it might be one of the most annoying-sounding songs on the list. The poor singer just doesn’t know how to sing at a pitch beyond “nails on a chalkboard.” It doesn’t help that the entire song is basically just “I want to play video games” over and over again.

41

“PPAP (Pen Pineapple Apple Pen)” — Pikotaro

Download Article

It gets a bit of a break for being a comedy song, and it is funny. But that doesn’t relieve the tune of its overall annoyingness, and the joke tends to get old pretty fast.

42

“The 7th Element” — Vitas

Download Article

This popular meme song comes to us from Russian techno-pop artist Vitas. “The 7th Element” isn’t offensive sonically, but the lip-flickering hook is like high-pitched microphone feedback for a lot of people.

43

“4’33” — John Cage

Download Article

Experimental writer and composer John Cage penned “4’33” as an exercise in listening. The song is performed by an artist sitting at a piano bench and doing absolutely nothing for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. You know what’s more annoying than annoying songs? Being left with the madness of your own thoughts for 4 minutes and 33 seconds while staring at a guy sitting at a piano.

Expert Q&A

Search

Add New Question

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Video

Tips

The following tunes were close contenders for the top 20 worst songs of all time, but they didn’t quite crack the list:

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
“Hot Shower” — Chance the Rapper

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
“Copacabana" — Barry Manilow

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0