12 Controversial Songs That Were Stolen

6. 'All About That Bass' - Meghan Trainor

Where It Was (Allegedly) Stolen From: 'Happy Mode' - Koyote

The status of the linked court case is unclear right now, so we'd better stick a big fat disclaimer right here; it has yet to be proven that any similarities in Trainor's 2006 tune are the result of deliberate plagiarism. That's despite a claim by songwriter Joo Young Hoon who said back around 2014 that he was "consulting with a specialized lawyer."

Trainor's legal team would no doubt argue that it is unprovable that she had even heard the K-pop ditty, which wasn't much of a hit outside of Korea. This is one of those rare cases where the Internet stitches an artist up more than it helps them; it used to be so much easier to convincingly claim you'd never heard a song before the Internet came along.

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Contributor

Freelance writer, contributing to The Huffington Post and a variety of blogs. Banned from Crufts, inventor of the Gareth Bale salary outrage calculator and one-time consumer affairs advocate. Resident of Manchester, UK.

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Contributor

WhatCulture's former COO, veteran writer and editor.