Does anyone else have music playing in their head all the time?

[WoIsMe]

I was chatting to a friend just now and I mentioned in passing that the music in my head was particularly loud today. She was really taken aback and told me that this isn't normal. It's got me wondering how many other people constantly have music playing in their head, apart from when there's external music playing. It's usually something I've listened to recently but random songs do pop in occasionally as well. I just had Symphony of Destruction by Megadeth which I don't think I've heard for years. Music is just always there in the background and it's complete songs or sometimes albums; it isn't like earworms where you get 20 seconds of something annoying playing over and over again. It also isn't mistakable for externally-played music so it isn't a condition such as MES where you get auditory hallucinations.

I know my DH has exactly the same thing and I'm pretty sure my dad did as well because he was always walking around singing random stuff like Gilbert and Sullivan songs but he never listened to anything like that. Does anyone else experience something similar or is it as unusual as my friend says?

I can’t hear music at all, if I have an ear worm it’s my narrator voice doing it and out of tune! I can’t even be in tune in my own head 🤣

I always have something. Either repetitive thoughts, or music. My mind is never still; I find it wearing, but nevertheless wouldn’t want to be without it.

I listen to audiobooks, radio programmes, podcasts, or TV to drown it out.

Yes, and never realised till now that not everyone does: who knew ?🤷‍♀️

i should have guessed though: DH and DCs often point out that I’m tapping out a tune on my fingers (as if playing the piano, tapping my toes etc. ) so I can only assume they don’t have a musical soundtrack in their heads.

Yes. I can hear a whole damn orchestra. Certain pieces of music - something playing in the background on an ad, for example - just get stuck. Some expert said to get rid of an annoying track, sing Happy Birthday to yourself two times.

I wake up with a song in my head every day , except if I'm depressed . It's actually something I look out for as a sign that my mental health is slipping .
I have musical dreams as well.
I hear songs in my head as if they are being streamed directly into my brain . Every note of every instrument and with the actual vocalist's voice.
Sometimes it's a song I love , sometimes it's an advert , sometimes a song from way back in the past .
Sometimes a song will stay for weeks and sometimes just when I wake up .
A recent particularly persistent one was How You Like That by Blackpink . It was from a Google Pixel ad and was on You tube a lot for a few weeks so understandable . It actually kept me awake .

I thought everyone had this . I know my dad does . He tends to leak his earworms and mumble/sing them out loud .
I have a mixture of music and running conversation , sometimes separately and sometimes both at the same time .

Yes.

Today has been Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and now Africa. Annoyingly it's just the one line 'I touched the rains down in Africa' going round in a loop. It's actually bless the rains, but my head is singing touched for some weird reason.

I thought everyone did.

Yes I do. Sometimes it's very annoying. I wake up after every sleep cycle (have done for many, many years) and it's so wearing when the same song is on refrain.

Absolutely! I have ADHD and am an ADHD coach for women and constantly have music playing in the background in my brain (*thank you to the person who mentioned bird house in your soul because that’s the one lipping right now!)

It may be to do with ADHDers keeping the brain stimulated- recent research has also suggested fidgeting is used by ADHDers to stimulate the brain and maintain attention when having trouble focusing.

The research on ADHD in adults and especially women has some catching up to do but hopefully this will be studied more as it is being talked about frequently on social media. There is not much in the scientific literature about it - it may relate to the term echolalia which is associated with ADHD but more so autism.

If I hear a song, it usually stays with me; but I don't have a constant sound-track.

the music never stops and I need help getting it to. I am in tears right now. Stress makes it louder and sometimes it makes me feel like I am going to lose it. I don't know how to cope with this and I just want it to stop!!! Sometimes I can't listen to music for weeks or music without lyrics because. The worst part it is just a piece of the song playing over and over. However, now that I am on concerta because I have Audh, i only have one song in my head instead of 3 at the same time. I don't know what to do.

Literally every minute of every day. And I play the drums so I'm constantly drumming on surfaces too.

I think I'm annoying.

Have you been to your GP and asked about referral for adult ADHD? It is a very common symptom, and many people find that medication for ADHD can "turn off" the music.

Every time this thread pops up there's something inexplicable playing in my private jukebox. Right now I've got 'Andy Pandy's coming to play, tralala-lalala'. I don't even notice it most of the time.

Yes,I have this too. I thought it was something that most people had until I asked a few friends and relatives. Apparently not!

😂😂😂

yes! I suspect I have ADHD, it can be a really random tune I’ve not heard and don’t particularly like sometimes too but it’s there all the time!

Not usually but I have children that sneak you tube shorts on so the tunes tend to stick. Macarena was one of the days. Yesterday was an annoying flute type tune from an advert. A woman gets in a lift and starts whistling a tune, not remotely rated to insurance. So this weird little diddly dee tune is going round and round. Someone mentioned twinkle twinkle, God I think I'd die if that stuck on an internal mental loop. Balamory is particularly brutal along with "I have an idea" from another Scottish kids TV series I've now forgotten name of.

I thought this was normal! I usually put them onto spotify if I'm wfh or just generally at home. Otherwise on headphones. Or if not possible it just goes round and round in my head. I don't think I've ever gone more than a minute or two without a song in my head.

Surely that's normal? Surely??

It's currently The Sound of the Police. Whoop whoop!

Sounds like me. I play music literally from the minute I get up until bedtime. And if a song is stuck in my head I need to hear it all the way through to make it stop.

Yes I do- especially stuff I am currently learning on the piano. Bits of it go round and round in my head non stop- it drives me mad!

Not all the time thankfully
It can be beyond annoying
Especially if my head is playing name that tune

From the second I wake up and all day long. The song I have in my head will go on repeat until something I experience changes the song, like something on the TV, or a word that reminds me of a lyric - or sometimes I have to actively change the song in my head because the one that's been going on for a few hours is annoying me.

I'm glad this thread came back, posters' listed songs have been like the brain radio searching through stations. I'm currently having a battle between Birdhouse in your Soul and Young Gifted and Black for earworm dominance.

This is an improvement on the previous earworm which was Nelly the Elephant triggered by handing DS his swimming trunks 30 mins earlier.

Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony. Round and round and round it goes…