Not every breakup deserves a ballad, but the ones that do tend to produce some of the best music ever made. Songwriters have detailed every angle of a split, from the initial shock and tears to the eventual relief of moving forward.
Whether you need a good cry or an energetic track to help you pack your bags, this list of breakup songs has you covered.
Be sure to check out the Best Breakup Songs Playlist at the bottom of this page.
Best Breakup Songs
1. “Nobody Knows” – The Tony Rich Project
Lyric Sample: “And I just keep thinkin’ about the love that we had.”
This 1990s R&B hit is about a man who keeps the pain of a breakup to himself, going through his day looking fine while missing someone so badly he can barely function.
2. “It’s Too Late” – Carole King
Lyric Sample: “Though we really did try to make it.”
This 1971 soft rock classic is about a relationship that simply ran its course. Both people are good, neither is cruel, and they know it’s done.
Related: Best Heartbreak Songs
3. “Go Your Own Way” – Fleetwood Mac
Lyric Sample: “Loving you isn’t the right thing to do.”
Lindsey Buckingham wrote this in 1976 about his breakup with Stevie Nicks. The anger in it is real, and so is the hurt underneath it.
Related: “Go Your Own Way” Meaning
4. “Train in Vain” – The Clash
Lyric Sample: “And then you left me, said you felt trapped.”
The Clash’s 1979 song is about a woman who made promises she didn’t keep, and the man’s confusion and hurt of being left by someone who said they’d stand by him.
5. “I Will Survive” – Gloria Gaynor
Lyric Sample: “Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side.”
Gaynor’s 1978 disco classic is about an ex who shows up expecting to be welcomed back, finding instead a woman who has rebuilt herself without him
Related: Best Songs About Moving On
6. “The Scientist” – Coldplay
Lyric Sample: “It’s such a shame for us to part.”
This 2002 hit is about a relationship that failed because someone prioritized logic and work over their partner’s needs.
Related: “The Scientist” Song Meaning
7. “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” – Journey
Lyric Sample: “If we can’t go on to survive the tide, love divides.”
This 1980s rock track is about two people who still love each other but can’t make the relationship work, and are choosing to separate even though neither of them wants to.
8. “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” – Neil Sedaka
Lyric Sample: “Instead of breaking up, I wish that we were making up again.”
This 1960s pop song is about not wanting to go through with a breakup even when you know it has to happen.
9. “White Flag” – Dido
Lyric Sample: “I will go down with this ship, and I won’t put my hands up and surrender.”
Dido’s 2003 hit is about a woman who has accepted that a relationship is over, but she won’t accept that her feelings for the person have to be finished too.
Related: Best Songs with Colors in the Title
10. “Baby Come Back” – Player
Lyric Sample: “Baby, come back, you can blame it all on me.”
Player’s late-’70s soft rock tune is about a man realizing post-breakup that he was the problem, and asking for another chance now that he finally understands what he was doing wrong.
Related: Best Songs About Missing Someone
11. “Take a Bow” – Rihanna
Lyric Sample: “But, now, it’s time to go, curtain’s finally closing.”
In this 2008 R&B #1 hit, Rihanna calls out an ex who is sorry he got caught rather than sorry for what he did.
Related: Songs About Cheating
12. “Nothing Compares 2 U” – Sinéad O’Connor
Lyric Sample: “It’s been seven hours and fifteen days since you took your love away.”
This Prince-penned classic is about a split that messes someone up so much that nothing in the world fills the space the other person left.
Related: Best Cover Songs
13. “Gone” – NSYNC
Lyric Sample: “Was it somethin’ I said to make you turn away?”
This 2001 pop ballad is about the hollow feeling that follows a breakup, with everything reminding you of someone who isn’t there anymore.
14. “Pretty Wings” – Maxwell
Lyric Sample: “Found the remedy, I had to set you free.”
Maxwell’s 2009 R&B track is about letting someone go because staying together would mean holding them back.
Related: “Pretty Wings” Song Meaning
15. “Someone Like You” – Adele
Lyric Sample: “I wish nothing but the best for you, too.”
Adele’s 2011 hit ballad is about dealing with the pain of seeing her ex move on and build a family with someone else.
Related: “Someone Like You” Meaning
16. “For No One” – The Beatles
Lyric Sample: “And in her eyes, you see nothing, no sign of love behind the tears.”
Written by Paul McCartney, this 1966 track is about a relationship that has already ended emotionally before it ends officially.
Related: Songs About Missing Someone
17. “End of the Road” – Boyz II Men
Lyric Sample: “How could you love me and leave me and never say goodbye?”
Boyz II Men’s ’90s classic is about refusing to accept a breakup even after being cheated on, being too in love to walk away regardless of what the other person has done.
Related: Heartbreak Songs
18. “IDGAF” – Dua Lipa
Lyric Sample: “So I cut you off, I don’t need your love.”
Dua Lipa’s 2017 breakup hit is about having done the work of getting over someone and being totally unmoved when they show up trying to undo it.
Related: Brit Awards – Songs of the Year
19. “MacArthur Park” – Richard Harris
Lyric Sample: “I don’t think that I can take it ’cause it took so long to bake it.”
This Jimmy Webb-written 1960s tune uses eccentric culinary metaphors to describe the end of a once-in-a-lifetime relationship.
Related: “MacArthur Park” Song Meaning
20. “Black” – Pearl Jam
Lyric Sample: “All the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything.”
This 1991 rock song is about the pain of realizing the person you love will live out their future with someone else.
Related: “Black” Song Meaning
21. “Without You” – Harry Nilsson
Lyric Sample: “I can’t live if living is without you.”
One of the most famous breakup songs ever recorded, “Without You” is about the devastation of a breakup where the other person had become essential to everything.
22. “She’s Out of My Life” – Michael Jackson
Lyric Sample: “To think for two years, she was here.”
Jackson’s 1980 ballad is about a relationship that ended because he was too focused on his career to give it what it needed.
23. “Achy Breaky Heart” – Billy Ray Cyrus
Lyric Sample: “Don’t tell my heart, my achy breaky heart, I just don’t think he’d understand.”
Cyrus’ 1992 country song is about begging an ex not to tell him it’s over yet because the news will destroy him, and he needs a moment before he has to deal with it.
Related: Best One-Hit Wonders
24. “Say Something” – A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera
Lyric Sample: “Say something, I’m giving up on you.”
This 2013 pop duet is about the moment you accept that a relationship is over, and hoping you can have one final conversation before it’s officially over.
25. “Always on My Mind” – Willie Nelson
Lyric Sample: “Maybe I didn’t love you quite as often as I could have.”
This classic country tune is about the regret of not doing the little things to sustain a relationship before it fell apart.
Related: CMA – Single of the Year History
26. “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” – John Mayer
Lyric Sample: “We’re going down, and you can see it too.”
Mayer’s 2006 song is about being in a relationship that both people know is over, but neither has been able to end it yet.
27. “Don’t Speak” – No Doubt
Lyric Sample: “Don’t speak, I know just what you’re saying, so please stop explaining.”
No Doubt’s 1990s hit is about the denial stage of a breakup, knowing what’s happening and asking the other person to just not say it yet.
Related: Best Heartbreak Songs
28. “The Winner Takes It All” – ABBA
Lyric Sample: “Though it’s hurting me, now it’s history.”
“The Winner Takes It All” is a 1980 pop classic about a divorce told from the perspective of the person who came out worse, watching her ex build a new life while she struggles to be gracious about it.
29. “Lose You to Love Me” – Selena Gomez
Lyric Sample: “I needed to lose you to find me, this dancing was killing me softly.”
Gomez’s 2019 pop ballad is about realizing a toxic relationship was actively destroying her self-worth, making the split necessary for survival.
Related: Best Karaoke Songs for Women
30. “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” – Marvin Gaye
Lyric Sample: “Not much longer would you be mine.”
Gaye’s classic soul track is about finding out through a third party that his partner has been cheating and is about to leave him.
Related: Songs About Cheating
31. “You’ll Think of Me” – Keith Urban
Lyric Sample: “Take your records, take your freedom, take your memories, I don’t need ’em.”
This 2000s country song is about moving on after a breakup and trusting that the other person will eventually realize what they let go of.
32. “Walk On By” – Dionne Warwick
Lyric Sample: “I just can’t get over losin’ you.”
Warwick’s 1960s pop tune is all about the struggle to keep things together in public after a breakup.
33. “Un-Break My Heart” – Toni Braxton
Lyric Sample: “Un-break my heart, say you’ll love me again.”
This mid-’90s R&B track is about the painful aftermath of a breakup, as the singer begs her ex to return and undo the trauma.
Related: Best Songs with “Heart” in the Title
34. “Since You’re Gone” – The Cars
Lyric Sample: “Since you’re gone, the nights are getting stranger.”
This 1982 new wave song is about the disorientation of a breakup that changes everything about your daily life.
35. “I Will Always Love You” – Whitney Houston
Lyric Sample: “Bittersweet memories, that is all I’m taking with me.”
Written by Dolly Parton, “I Will Always Love You” is about ending a relationship cleanly and with love still intact, though not without some pain.
Related: 101 Best Love Songs
36. “Angie” – The Rolling Stones
Lyric Sample: “You can’t say we’re satisfied.”
This 1973 acoustic rock ballad is about the end of a relationship where neither person is cruel, but they both know it has run its course.
37. “So Sick” – Ne-Yo
Lyric Sample: “And I’m so sick of love songs, so tired of tears.”
This mid-2000s R&B hit is about the frustration of a breakup that won’t let you move on, with every small reminder pulling you back before you’ve made any progress.
38. “I Can’t Make You Love Me” – Bonnie Raitt
Lyric Sample: “‘Cause I can’t make you love me if you don’t.”
This legendary ballad is about loving someone who doesn’t love you back and knowing, finally, that you can’t do anything to fix that.
Related: Best Unrequited Love Songs
39. “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” – Paul Simon
Lyric Sample: “You just slip out the back, Jack, make a new plan, Stan.”
Simon’s 1975 classic is about a woman giving a man permission to end a relationship he’s been unable to walk away from.
Related: Best Songs with Numbers in the Title
40. “Back to Black” – Amy Winehouse
Lyric Sample: “We only said goodbye with words.”
Winehouse’s 2006 soul song is about an ex who immediately ran back to his former girlfriend, leaving the singer to sink into dark habits to cope with the rejection.
Related: “Back to Black” Meaning
41. “She’s Gone” – Hall & Oates
Lyric Sample: “She’s gone, oh I, oh I, I better learn how to face it.”
This 1970s track is about a man’s morning-after realization that his former partner has packed up her things and left for good.
42. “Happier” – Marshmello & Bastille
Lyric Sample: “I want to see you smile, but know that means I’ll have to leave.”
This 2018 dance pop song is about choosing to end a relationship because the other person deserves more than you’re able to give, not because you stopped caring.
Related: “Happier” Song Meaning
43. “Anytime” – Brian McKnight
Lyric Sample: “Still have your picture in a frame, hear your footsteps down the hall”
McKnight’s 1997 R&B ballad is about telling his ex that no matter how much time passes, he’ll be there if she ever decides to come back.
44. “Irreplaceable” – Beyoncé
Lyric Sample: “You must not know ’bout me, I could have another you in a minute.”
Beyoncé’s 2006 hit is about kicking a cheating partner out by packing his things in a box and reminding him that she’ll be fine.
Related: Songs About Moving On and Letting Go
45. “Somebody That I Used to Know” – Gotye
Lyric Sample: “But you didn’t have to cut me off, make out like it never happened and that we were nothing.”
This 2011 indie pop hit is structured as an argument between exes, with each one giving their account of what happened during and after the relationship.
46. “I’m Going Down” – Mary J. Blige
Lyric Sample: “Since you’ve been gone, everything’s goin’ wrong.”
Blige’s 1994 recording of Rose Royce’s 1977 original is about the helplessness of a breakup that has left her unable to function.
47. “If You Leave Me Now” – Chicago
Lyric Sample: “If you leave me now, you’ll take away the biggest part of me.”
Chicago’s 1976 soft rock hit is about a man making a last appeal to his partner to stay, asking her to consider what she’s leaving behind.
48. “The Sign” – Ace of Base
Lyric Sample: “I saw the sign, and it opened up my eyes.”
Ace of Base’s 1993 megahit is about finally getting the clarity needed to end a bad relationship.
49. “You Oughta Know” – Alanis Morissette
Lyric Sample: “And I’m here to remind you of the mess you left when you went away.”
In this popular ’90s breakup song, Morissette sings about the fury, jealousy, and humiliation that can come from being left for someone new.
Related: “You Oughta Know” Meaning
50. “Last Goodbye” – Jeff Buckley
Lyric Sample: “This is our last goodbye, I hate to feel the love between us die.”
Buckley’s 1993 folk rock song is about a mutual goodbye between two people who still care about each other, but both of them recognize they aren’t meant to be together.
51. “You’re No Good” – Linda Ronstadt
Lyric Sample: “Feeling better now that we’re through.”
This 1970s hit is about a woman who has processed a bad relationship and finally realized that he wasn’t worth her time.
Conclusion
The best breakup songs aren’t actively trying to make you feel better. They just, in a lot of cases, make you feel less alone in whatever you’re already feeling.
If you enjoyed this list, you might also like our picks for Songs About Heartbreak and Unrequited Love Songs.
We also have a lot of Interpretations of Breakup Songs you can check out.
