Why does a song get stuck in our heads? Readers reply

The Guardian’s Readers Reply series on 1 February 2026 asked why a song sometimes gets stuck in our heads, prompted by a question from Laura Ashton of Haslemere, Surrey.

The item describes the question as part of a series exploring an “ancient, vexed musical conundrum.” Ashton supplied a teasing lyric — “I know a song that’ll get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your nerves. I know a so … you get the gist!” — and asked, “Why does a song sometimes get stuck in our heads? (And good luck stopping this one now!).”

The page is framed within the Readers Reply format, which also invited contributions on other topics such as “to shred or not to shred?” and “Is it OK to throw out sensitive documents?”.

Readers are asked to post answers below the piece or to send responses and new questions to nq@theguardian.com. The notice says, “A selection will be published next Sunday.”

What is known: the question and invitation for replies have been published and a selection of responses will appear next Sunday. What is not known from this item is how readers will explain the phenomenon or which replies will be chosen for publication.

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