Among the new words added to this year’s update of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary (bucket list, f-bomb, game changer, man cave) is “Earworm”: a song or melody that keeps repeating in one’s mind. The example given on the website is “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen. Ya think?
According to Merriam-Webster, the first known use of the word was in 1802. (Hard as I try I can’t think of a song from 1802 nearly as catchy as “Call Me Maybe”)
The German word “ohrwurm” (literally translated as “earworm”) has the same definition, and certainly this is a case of English co-opting one more useful word from another language.
Now, while we’re at it…
The German language has a word for a song that is popular for a short time and then seems to disappear from favor. It’s an Eintagsfliege (One-day-fly), named for the sort of flies that live only a few hours (in English: Mayflies). We need to Englishize (Englishify?) this word to describe all our flash in the pan songs, many of which began their life cycle as the most inescapable of earworms.
Every Moment Has A Song 