These days, it is almost impossible for a Top 40 song to not be overplayed by radio DJ’s, at special events, and in public areas. Radio has a tendency to overplay songs to the point to where we hate them, where we change the station when they come on, where we laugh at the mediocre lyrics of songs like Jason Derulo’s “Whatcha Say” or Katy Perry’s “E.T.”.

Then there are the songs that used to be good but were ruined by the radio (Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You”, Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera’s “Moves Like Jagger”, and Hot Chelle Rae’s “Tonight Tonight”). They were awesome the first time they were played, but then they were replayed again…and again…and again….and then eventually the songs became unbearable to listen to.

Then there are the songs that were never good to begin with, that only became worse each time the DJ pressed the play button for songs like Rihanna and Drake’s “What’s My Name?”, Enrique Iglesias and Ludacris’ “Tonight (I’m Loving You)”, and Iyaz’s “Replay”.

There are a couple artists who manage to have not one, but two, three, maybe even four or more overplayed songs. Adele tops the list as the most overplayed artist. Adele is a talented artist, but her songs “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You” manage to make many listeners change the station as soon as they hear the opening of these songs. Then there’s Katy Perry, whose songs range from dreadful (“E.T.”) to okay (“Teenage Dream”) to alright (“Firework”).  But to top off the list of most aggravating music is Ke$ha. Despite her brilliant IQ and her strong vocals, Ke$ha still manages to dress like a white trash version of Lady GaGa and produce songs that lack much substance. With titles that look more like something a teenager sends in a text rather than an actual song title, such as “Tik Tok” and “We R Who We R”, Ke$ha proves to be more of a wannabe Madonna and Lady GaGa than an actual talented performer.

Then there are the most overplayed songs of all time. These are the worst of the worst, the ones that still managed to be played at run-down Mexican restaurants (Los Del Rio’s “Macarena”), in elementary school P.E. classes (Queen’s “We Will Rock You”), and at late-night karaoke bars (Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” and Jimmy Buffet’s “Margaritaville”). These songs, which also include Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, Queen’s “We Are The Champions”, and numerous more which we all know and some hate, are so overplayed that most decent radio stations know better than to play them.

Video may have killed the radio star, but radio killed the Top 40 artists whose tracks are constantly played. These days, radios manage to actually lose listeners because of their constant addiction to overplaying. But maybe there’s hope – maybe within the near future, DJs will come to their senses and learn the meaning of the phrase “less is more”.