Being heart broken, feeling heartbreak—the terms seem like clichés until you experience heartbreak for yourself. Then the clichés can be oddly comforting. They let you know you’re not the only one to feel this way. Other times you may feel lost and confused, then you read something, watch something, talk to a friend, or yes, listen to a song and suddenly you have words for how you feel. Suddenly you understand what happened to you.
Chances are, you found this article because you’re experiencing a heartbreak and are looking for people who have been there before. Lyrics like, “As painful as this thing has been, I just can’t be with no one else,” may sound confusing and contradictory… unless, that is, you’re been there before. Then they make perfect, painful sense. And it may be easy to mock lyrics from older songs like, “Don’t you remember, you told me you loved me baby? You said you’d be coming back this way again baby. Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh baby.” But then again, if you’ve experienced that particular type of deception, it may be something you can relate to.
Whatever it is you’re feeling or seeking, we put together this list of classic heart break songs and songs about heartbreak to help you find people and situations you can relate to. Listen to it on Spotify or browse the list below to find a variety of songs from a variety of genres and moments in time, all about heartbreak.
Songs About Heartbreak and Broken Hearts:
1. Lover You Should’ve Come Over, Jackson C. Frank
Favorite Lyric:
“When I’m not drinking bay, you are on my mind.
When I’m not sleeping you know you’ll find me crying.”
2. Love Is a Losing Game, Amy Winehouse
Favorite Lyric:
“Over futile odds
And laughed at by the gods
And now the final frame
Love is a losing game”
3. “Heart of Glass,” Blondie
Favorite Lyric:
“Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out had a heart of glass
Seemed like the real thing, only to find
Mucho mistrust, love’s gone behind”
4. Sound of Your Memory, Willie and Lukas Nelson
Favorite Lyric:
“Ever since I met you my life’s been a song
A sad song, a love song with hate in between“
5. And So It Goes, Billie Joel
Favorite Lyric:
“And every time I’ve held a rose
It seems I only felt the thorns
And so it goes, and so it goes
And so will you soon I suppose”
6. Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now, The Smiths
Favorite Lyric:
“In my life
Why do I give valuable time
To people who don’t care if I live or die?”
7. That’s How I Got to Memphis, Tom T. Hall
Favorite Lyric:
“If you love somebody enough, you follow wherever they go.
That’s how I got to Memphis. That’s how I got to Memphis.”
8. Ex Factor, Lauren Hill
Favorite Lyric:
“I keep letting you back in
How can I explain myself?
As painful as this thing has been
I just can’t be with no one else.”
9. Break My Heart Sweetly, John Moreland
Favorite Lyric:
“There’s a scar on my soul
So let me down easy
Break my heat sweetly
Like you always do.”
10. I Get Along Without You Very Well, Nina Simone
Favorite Lyric:
“I’ve forgotten you just like I should
Of course I have
Or maybe, except to hear your name
Or someone’s laugh that’s just the same.”
11. We Can’t Be Friends, Loren Scafaria
Favorite Lyric:
“I wanna hear your band;
I wanna give it advice;
I wanna meet your girlfriend, she sounds nice;
I wanna take you home;
I wanna feel my age;
I wanna freak you out on a different stage;
I wanna show my teeth;
I wanna keep you fed;
I wanna get you drunk and let it go to your head
So I guess this means we can’t be friends”.
12. Total Eclipse of the Heart, Bonnie Tyler
Favorite Lyric:
“(Turn around)
Every now and then I get a little bit nervous
That the best of all the years have gone by
(Turn around)
Every now and then I get a little bit terrified
And then I see the look in your eyes
(Turn around, bright eyes)
Every now and then I fall apart”
13. Heartbreak Hotel, Elvis Presley
Favorite Lyric:
“Well, since my baby left me
Well, I found a new place to dwell
Well, it’s down at the end of Lonely Street
At Heartbreak Hotel
14. Piece of My Heart, Janis Joplin
Favorite Lyric:
“Didn’t I make you feel
Like you were the only man?
Didn’t I give you everything
A woman possibly can?
Honey, you know I did.”
15. He Called Me Baby, Candi Stanton
Favorite Lyric:
“He called me baby, baby
All night long.
Lord, I feel so empty
Since he’s been gone.
Now I lie here and I die here
Until the dawn.
I miss my baby, baby, baby
All night long.”
16. Buddy, Willie Nelson
Favorite Lyric:
“Laugh with me, buddy
Jest with me, buddy
Don’t let her get the best of me, buddy”
17. It Must Have Been Love, Roxette
Favorite Lyric:
“It must have been love but it’s over now
It must have been good but I lost it somehow”
18. Hope She’ll Be Happier, Bill Withers
Favorite Lyric:
“Maybe the darkness of the hour
Makes me seem lonelier than I am,
But over the darkness I have no power,
Hope she’ll be happier with him.”
19. Foolish Games, Jewel
Favorite Lyric:
“You took your coat off, stood in the rain,
You’re always crazy like that.”
20. The Tracks of My Tears, The Miracles
Favorite Lyric:
“So take a good look at my face
You know my smile looks out of place
If you look closer it’s easy to trace
The tracks of my tears”
21. Sober, Childish Gambino
Favorite Lyric:
“And now that’s it’s over, I’ll never be sober
I couldn’t believe, but now I’m so high”
22. I’d Rather Go Blind, Etta James
Favorite Lyric:
“I would rather, I would rather go blind boy
Than to see you, walk away from me child.
So you see, I love you so much
That I don’t want to watch you leave me baby.
Most of all, I just don’t, I just don’t want to be free.”
23. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, The Platters
Favorite Lyric:
“Now laughing friends deride
Tears I cannot hide
So I smile and say
When a lovely flame dies,
smoke gets in your eyes.”
24. Un-break My Heart, Toni Braxton
Favorite Lyric:
“Un-break my heart
Say you’ll love me again
Undo this hurt you caused
When you walked out the door
And walked out of my life”
25. Superstar, Carpenters
Favorite Lyric:
“Don’t you remember, you told me you loved me baby?
You said you’d be coming back this way again baby
Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh baby
I love you, I really do”
26. Love of My Life, Queen
Favorite Lyric:
“Love of my life, you’ve hurt me
You’ve broken my heart, and now you leave me.”
27. What Becomes of the Brokenhearted, Jimmy Ruffin
Favorite Lyric:
“As I walk this land with broken dreams
I have visions of many things
But happiness is just an illusion
Filled with sadness and confusion.”
28. All I Want, Kodaline
Favorite Lyric:
“But If you loved me
Why did you leave me
Take my body
Take my body
All I want is
All I need is
To find somebody
I’ll find somebody”
29. You Were Mine, Dixie Chicks
Favorite Lyric:
“Sometimes I wake up crying at night
And sometimes I scream out your name
What right does she have to take you away
When for so long you were mine”
30. Yesterday, The Beatles
Favorite Lyric:
“Why she had to go I don’t know she wouldn’t say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.“
31. Crying, Roy Orbison
Favorite Lyric:
“I was all right for awhile
I could smile for awhile
But I saw you last night
You held my hand so tight
As you stopped to say, Hello”
32. I Fall to Pieces, Patsy Cline
Favorite Lyric:
“You want me to act like we’ve never kissed
You want me to forget
Pretend we’ve never met.
And I’ve tried and I’ve tried
But I haven’t yet.“
33. Against All Odds, Phil Collins
Favorite Lyric:
“So take a look at me now
Well there’s just an empty space.”
34. Losing You, Solange
Favorite Lyric:
“I love him but every day I’m learning.
All my life I’ve only been pretending.”
35. Losing You, Solange
Favorite Lyric:
“We use to kiss all night but now there’s just no use
I don’t know why I fight it, clearly we are through
Tell me the truth boy, am I losing you for good?“
36. Standing In the Doorway, Bob Dylan
Favorite Lyric:
“I got no place left to turn
I got nothin’ left to burn
Don’t know if I saw you if I would kiss you or kill you
It probably wouldn’t matter to you anyhow”
37. The Winner Takes It All, ABBA
Favorite Lyric:
“The judges will decide
The likes of me abide
Spectators of the show
Always staying low
The game is on again
A lover or a friend
A big thing or a small
The winner takes it all.”
38. Rolling in the Deep, Adele
Favorite Lyric:
“The scars of your love remind me of us
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all.
The scars of your love they leave me breathless,
I can’t help feeling, we could have had it all.”
39. I Wish It Would Rain, The Temptations
Favorite Lyric:
“Sunshine, blue skies, please go away
A girl has found another and gone away
With her went my future, my life is filled with gloom
So day after day I stay locked up in my room
I know to you, it might sound strange
But I wish it would rain.”
40. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, Al Green
Favorite Lyric:
“And how can you mend a broken heart?
How can you stop the rain from falling down?
How can you stop the sun from shining?
What makes the world go round?”
41. Goodbye My Lover, James Blunt
Favorite Lyric:
“Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.”
42. Nothing Compares 2 U, Prince
(original by Sinéad O’Connor)
Favorite Lyric:
“All the flowers that you planted mama
In the back yard
All died when you went away.”
43. Hard to Love a Man, Magnolia Electric Co.
Favorite Lyric:
“It was hard to love a man like you
Goodbye was half the words you knew
While you was waiting for me not to call
I sent my love, I sent my love.“
44. One Less Bell to Answer, The 5th Dimension
Favorite Lyric:
“Since he left my life’s so empty
Though I try to forget it just can’t be done
Each time the doorbell rings I still run.”
45. Silver Springs, Fleetwood Mac
Favorite Lyric:
“I follow you down until the sound
Of my voice will haunt you
(Give me just a chance)
You’ll never get away from the sound
Of the woman who loves you
(Was I just a fool)”
46. You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory, Johnny Thunders
Favorite Lyric:
“Feel so restless, I am,
Beat my head against a pole
Try to knock some sense,
down in my bones.”
47. “I Want You,” Elvis Costello
“I’m going to say it again ’til I instill it.
I know I’m going to feel this way until you kill it.”
48. “Broken Hearted People,” Guy Clark
Favorite Lyric:
“So take me to a barroom driver, set me on a stool.
If I can’t be her man I’m damned if I’ll be her fool.”
49. “To Hear You Say You’re Mine,” Candi Staton
Favorite Lyric:
“I remember you telling me, that you would love me and treat me tenderly.
But all you’ve ever given is just plain misery.”
50. “Dreaming with a Broken Heart,” John Mayer
Favorite Lyric:
You roll out of bed and down on your knees
And for a moment you can hardly breathe
Wondering was she really here
Is she standing in my room?
No, she’s not
‘Cause she’s gone, gone, gone, gone, gone.”
