Popular music is filled with craptastic annoying tunes, how do millions of people buy these albums or love these tracks??
When I (rarely) get a top 40’s track stuck in my head, it’s gross, I don’t even like the artist or track, but I have the chorus stuck in my head which makes me listen to the track because of my “cognitive itch.” What is a cognitive itch?
This is kind of scary because popular music is produced with specific type of properties that cause these “cognitive itches.” Okay, it might sound absurd to some, but if you really think about it, there are very common factors with most popular music: repetitive basic chorus & melodies (which makes it easier for us to “memorize” it. Isn’t that quite horrible? It’s like creating subliminal TV advertisements, making us want to buy or do something without us consciously knowing! Oh, but of course there are those who genuinely like these type of music.
This BBC article will teach you more about it 
