Grief can make everything feel unfamiliar after losing someone important. These songs cover the sadness, memories, anger, and loneliness that can follow a loss.
Be sure to check out the Songs About Grief Playlist at the bottom of this page.
Best Songs About Grief
1. “Drink a Beer” – Luke Bryan
Lyric Sample: “Sometimes the greater plan is kinda hard to understand.”
This 2013 country hit is about losing a friend and not knowing how to process it, except by sitting outside with a beer and talking to them.
2. “Black Gives Way to Blue” – Alice in Chains
Lyric Sample: “Curtain’s drawn, now it’s done, silencing all tomorrows.”
Written after the death of lead singer Layne Staley, this 2009 rock song is about the band mourning their bandmate and friend while trying to believe that the darkness eventually lifts.
3. “How Can I Help You Say Goodbye” – Patty Loveless
Lyric Sample: “And she said ‘How can I help you say goodbye? It’s okay to hurt and it’s okay to cry.’”
Loveless’ 1993 song follows a woman through three losses across her life, each time asking the same question her mother once asked her.
Related: CMA – Singles of the Year
4. “One Sweet Day” – Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men
Lyric Sample: “Never had I imagined living without your smile.”
This 1995 classic collab is about holding onto the hope of an eventual reunion after losing close friends.
Related: Best Songs About Missing Someone
5. “Monsters” – James Blunt
Lyric Sample: “I’m not your son, you’re not my father, we’re just two grown men saying goodbye.”
Blunt wrote this 2019 track for his father who was battling a serious illness, flipping traditional roles as a son prepares to comfort his parent at the end of his life.
Related: Saddest Songs Ever Written
6. “Broken Halos” – Chris Stapleton
Lyric Sample: “They’ve all gone wherever they go, broken halos that used to shine.”
Stapleton’s 2017 single is about coming to terms with the fact that some lives end too soon and without explanation.
7. “Gone Too Soon” – Michael Jackson
Lyric Sample: “Like a rainbow fading in the twinkling of an eye.”
Jackson released this in 1993 as a tribute to Ryan White, the teenager who became a public face of the AIDS crisis after contracting HIV through a blood transfusion and dying at 18.
8. “Wake Me Up When September Ends” – Green Day
Lyric Sample: “Here comes the rain again, falling from the stars.”
Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong wrote this about his father, who died of cancer when Armstrong was 10 years old in September. The song is about grief that never fully resolves.
Related: Best Songs with Months in the Title
9. “Marjorie” – Taylor Swift
Lyric Sample: “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were still around.”
Swift wrote “Marjorie” about her maternal grandmother, opera singer Marjorie Finlay, and how she wishes she got to know her better.
Related: Best Songs About Grandmothers
10. “Hear You Me” – Jimmy Eat World
Lyric Sample: “On sleepless roads the sleepless go, may angels lead you in.”
This 2001 rock song is a tribute to two sisters who were fans of the band who died in a car accident. It’s a song about grief and the hope that they are now in a better place.
11. “Over You” – Miranda Lambert
Lyric Sample: “Your favorite records make me feel better.”
Blake Shelton wrote “Over You” about his brother, who died in a car accident when Blake was 14. Lambert recorded it as a way of helping him process the grief he had never fully worked through.
12. “Real Death” – Mount Eerie
Lyric Sample: “My knees fail, my brain fails, words fail.”
Phil Elverum wrote this 2017 folk song after his wife died of pancreatic cancer, describing his shock and grief in the weeks following her passing.
Related: Songs About Death
13. “Fourth of July” – Sufjan Stevens
Lyric Sample: “It was night when you died, my firefly.”
Stevens structured “Fourth of July” as a fictional conversation with his dying mother about regret and human mortality.
Related: “Fourth of July” Song Meaning
14. “Dance with My Father” – Luther Vandross
Lyric Sample: “I’d play a song that would never, ever end.”
Vandross wrote this 2003 R&B hit about his father, who died when Luther was eight. It covers the grief of a child who grows up with the memory of a parent they barely had time to know.
Related: Best Songs About Fathers
15. “You Should Be Here” – Cole Swindell
Lyric Sample: “You should be here, standing with your arm around me here.”
In this 2015 country hit, Swindell sings about how major career achievements feel incomplete without his father there to celebrate alongside him.
16. “Tears in Heaven” – Eric Clapton
Lyric Sample: “Would you know my name if I saw you in heaven?”
This 1992 song was written after the tragic death of Clapton’s four-year-old son Conor. He wonders whether he’ll get to see him again, and if his son will even know him.
Related: “Tears in Heaven” Meaning
17. “If You Say So” – Lea Michele
Lyric Sample: “And I can’t get away from the burning pain, I lie awake.”
Michele wrote this 2013 track about Cory Monteith, her boyfriend and co-star on Glee, recounting their final phone conversation and the week that followed.
18. “The Living Years” – Mike + The Mechanics
Lyric Sample: “I didn’t get to tell him all the things I had to say.”
Mike Rutherford wrote this 1988 soft-rock hit after his father died before they had a chance to resolve their issues. He encourages people to speak their feelings before time runs out.
Related: Best Songs About Time Passing
19. “Beam Me Up” – Pink
Lyric Sample: “There are times I feel the shiver and cold, it only happens when I’m on my own.”
This 2012 acoustic track is about Pink’s miscarriage and how she’ll only ever have a chance to see her child in her imagination.
20. “So Far Away” – Avenged Sevenfold
Lyric Sample: “How do I live without the ones I love?”
This 2011 rock ballad is about the band dealing with the pain of losing close friend and drummer, Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan.
21. “Joanne” – Lady Gaga
Lyric Sample: “Every part of my aching heart needs you more than the angels do.”
In this 2017 country song, Gaga honors her aunt who died before Gaga was born. The song is about grieving someone she never met but whose death continues to affect her family.
22. “Holes in the Floor of Heaven” – Steve Wariner
Lyric Sample: “Momma smiled, said don’t be sad, child, Grandma’s watching you today.”
This ’90s classic is about grief, but also the comfort of believing the people you’ve lost are still watching over you.
Related: CMA – Singles of the Year
23. “See You Again” – Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth
Lyric Sample: “It’s been a long day without you, my friend, and I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again.”
Written for the Furious 7 soundtrack to honor actor Paul Walker, this pop-rap hit is about the bond between close friends and believing in an eventual reunion.
24. “I Drive Your Truck” – Lee Brice
Lyric Sample: “I find a field, I tear it up, ’til all the pain’s a cloud of dust.”
Based on a true story, this 2012 country hit is about a brother who drives his fallen soldier sibling’s truck to feel close to him, keeping everything exactly as it was left.
Related: Best Songs About Brothers
25. “Fire and Rain” – James Taylor
Lyric Sample: “Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you.”
This 1970 folk-rock classic is about Taylor dealing with the death of a close friend and his own struggles with addiction.
Related: “Fire and Rain” Meaning
26. “Everything I Own” – Bread
Lyric Sample: “I would give everything I own just to have you back again.”
Frontman David Gates wrote this 1972 soft-rock hit after his father passed away. It’s about the helplessness of having nothing to offer in exchange for more time with him.
27. “Elephant” – Jason Isbell
Lyric Sample: “I’ve buried her a thousand times.”
Isbell wrote this 2013 song about sitting with a friend who was dying of cancer. The elephant in the room is the death that both of them know is coming and neither is ready to talk about.
Related: Best Songs That Tell a Story
28. “One More Light” – Linkin Park
Lyric Sample: “In the kitchen, one more chair than you need.”
Linkin Park’s 2017 track is about mourning anyone whose loss might be dismissed as one in a long line of deaths.
Related: Songs About Death
29. “No One But You (Only the Good Die Young)” – Queen
Lyric Sample: “There’s a face at the window, and I ain’t never, never saying goodbye.”
Queen recorded this 1997 rock song as a tribute to Freddie Mercury. It’s about how some losses never stop being felt.
30. “Visiting Hours” – Ed Sheeran
Lyric Sample: “I wish that Heaven had visiting hours.”
Sheeran wrote this 2021 track after the death of his close friend and mentor Michael Gudinski. It’s about realizing how much you miss sharing life updates with those who have passed.
31. “See You Again” – Carrie Underwood
Lyric Sample: “Said goodbye, turned around and you were gone, gone, gone.”
Underwood’s 2005 country song is about mourning someone while holding onto the belief that the goodbye is only temporary.
32. “Last Kiss” – Pearl Jam
Lyric Sample: “Oh, where, oh, where can my baby be? The Lord took her away from me.”
“Last Kiss” is about a man whose girlfriend dies in a car accident and the final moments before she passes away. Pearl Jam’s popular cover of the 1964 original shared the sad story with a new generation of listeners.
Related: Best Sad Songs
33. “Go Rest High on That Mountain” – Vince Gill
Lyric Sample: “Oh, how we cried the day you left us, we gathered round your grave to grieve.”
This 1994 country classic is about telling someone that their suffering is finally over and that they can now be at peace.
Related: Funeral Songs for Mom
34. “Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)” – Elton John
Lyric Sample: “A gardener like that one, no one can replace.”
John and Bernie Taupin wrote this ’80s track to honor John Lennon and to try to explain how huge a loss it was to the world.
35. “Slipped Away” – Avril Lavigne
Lyric Sample: “I didn’t get around to kiss you goodbye on the hand.”
Lavigne wrote this 2004 rock song about finding out her grandfather had passed away while she was on tour and not having the chance to say goodbye.
36. “Who You’d Be Today” – Kenny Chesney
Lyric Sample: “It ain’t fair, you died too young, like the story that had just begun.”
Chesney’s 2005 country song is about the grief in imagining who a person who died young would have become.
37. “In the Stars” – Benson Boone
Lyric Sample: “I don’t wanna say goodbye ’cause this one means forever.”
Boone’s 2022 pop ballad is about the death of his great-grandmother and how much it affected him afterward.
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