50 Best Sad Songs About Death
Heartbreaking Tracks That Hit When Grief Sneaks In
There’s a weird kind of silence that follows bad news. Not the dramatic kind with violins and rain—just that flattening stillness where the air feels wrong and you’re left blinking at nothing in particular. That’s where these songs land. They don’t clean it up or try to lift the mood. They stay right there in the blur of the moment, sitting in the unease. These aren’t the big funeral ballads people reach for when they want closure. They’re the ones that hang around when it’s 2AM and you can’t sleep, or when someone says their name out loud and your stomach folds in half. The voices crack a little. The production slips out of focus. They sound like someone trying to find words and not quite making it.
There’s a thing that happens in pop, rock, country, and R&B songs where grief doesn’t show up wearing black. Sometimes it’s a voicemail. Sometimes it’s an empty chair. It creeps in sideways, through mundane details and missed calls, and suddenly you’re crying in traffic or staring at a song you didn’t even queue up. That’s where the power is. These tracks don’t hit you all at once—they unravel you slowly, line by line, memory by memory. You start out nodding along and by the end, you're holding your breath without realizing it. There’s no point trying to steel yourself for them. They know where to find you.
Some of these songs were written in the thick of it, others from years down the line, but they all carry that same flicker of weight. A name that lingers. A room that still feels full even when it’s not. They don’t always make sense in the moment, but something in them feels true in a way that’s hard to explain out loud. So here’s a list that sits with the ache instead of smoothing it over. These are the best sad songs to listen to when death feels close and everything’s gone a little quiet.
Top 10 Grief Songs
1. 'Tears in Heaven'—Eric Clapton
2. 'See You Again'—Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth
3. 'Supermarket Flowers'—Ed Sheeran
4. 'Hurt'—Johnny Cash
5. 'Wake Me Up When September Ends'—Green Day
6. 'If I Die Young'—The Band Perry
7. 'Gone Too Soon'—Michael Jackson
8. 'One More Light'—Linkin Park
9. 'My Heart Will Go On'—Celine Dion
10. 'Someone You Loved'—Lewis Capaldi
Songs for Mourning and Remembrance #11—20
11. 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door'—Bob Dylan
12. 'Goodbye's (The Saddest Word)'—Celine Dion
13. 'When I'm Gone'—Joey+Rory
14. 'The Last Goodbye'—Billy Boyd
15. 'Only Time'—Enya
16. 'The Night We Met'—Lord Huron
17. 'I Will Remember You'—Sarah McLachlan
18. 'Everybody Hurts'—R.E.M.
19. 'Let Her Go'—Passenger
20. 'Gone, Gone, Gone'—Phillip Phillips
Music for Processing Loss #21—30
21. 'Who You'd Be Today'—Kenny Chesney
22. 'Fire and Rain'—James Taylor
23. 'Landslide'—Fleetwood Mac
24. 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'—Simon & Garfunkel
25. 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'—Israel Kamakawiwoğole
26. 'Slipped Away'—Avril Lavigne
27. 'Fix You'—Coldplay
28. 'Just A Dream'—Carrie Underwood
29. 'I'll Be Missing You'—Puff Daddy featuring Faith Evans & 112
30. 'In My Time of Dying'—Led Zeppelin
Emotional Support Songs #31—40
31. 'Go Rest High on That Mountain'—Vince Gill
32. 'It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday'—Boyz II Men
33. 'Dance with My Father'—Luther Vandross
34. 'Angel'—Sarah McLachlan
35. 'Heaven'—Beyoncé
36. 'The Living Years'—Mike + The Mechanics
37. 'Wind Beneath My Wings'—Bette Midler
38. 'Who Knew'—Pink
39. 'Visiting Hours'—Ed Sheeran
40. 'Bigger Than the Whole Sky'—Taylor Swift
Comforting Songs for Bereavement #41—50
41. 'Ronan'—Taylor Swift
42. 'The Dance'—Garth Brooks
43. 'Whiskey Lullaby'—Brad Paisley ft. Alison Krauss
44. 'Brendan's Death Song'—Red Hot Chili Peppers
45. 'The Funeral'—Band of Horses
46. 'I Will Follow You Into the Dark'—Death Cab for Cutie
47. 'Memories'—Maroon 5
48. 'How Do I Say Goodbye'—Dean Lewis
49. 'Say Hello 2 Heaven'—Temple of the Dog
50. 'Jealous of the Angels'—Jenn Bostic
© 2025 Carson McQueen
