50 Best Sad Songs About Unrequited Love

Songs That Hit When They’ll Never Feel the Same Way

There’s a particular kind of pit-in-the-stomach ache that hits when you know how you feel and know they won’t ever match it. It’s not devastation, not quite heartbreak, but something slower and more slippery. Like catching yourself watching someone laugh too long and realizing you’re the only one keeping score. These songs slip into that quiet space where you’re trying to act fine, where the silence after a message not replied to is louder than any breakup. You’re not nursing a love lostyou’re stuck holding a love that never even showed up to begin with.

Some of these tracks drag the feeling out, stretch it across verses that feel too specific to be fiction. Others wear it like background noise, like the feeling’s been there so long it’s baked into the chords. There’s nothing dramatic here. No big confessions or final scenes. Just a slow burn that keeps smoldering no matter how many times you tell yourself you’re over it. Pop, rock, country, and R&B songs all know the terrain. That specific ache finds its way into each genre in its own twisted little melody.

You could be walking through a crowded hallway, scrolling your phone, brushing it all off like you’re goodand then that one line hits. The one that sounds like it read your last three nights back to you. These aren’t the songs for closure. These are the ones you play when you’re still sitting in it, wishing it would go away or finally turn into something real. Here are the best sad songs for when you’re the only one feeling it.

1. 'Creep'—Radiohead

2. 'I Can't Make You Love Me'—Bonnie Raitt

3. 'Two Out of Three Ain't Bad'—Meat Loaf

4. 'Losing My Religion'—R.E.M.

5. 'Wicked Game'—Chris Isaak

6. 'Almost Lover'—A Fine Frenzy

7. 'Liability'—Lorde

8. 'You Belong With Me'—Taylor Swift

9. 'Fade Into You'—Mazzy Star

10. 'Teardrops on My Guitar'—Taylor Swift

11. 'Without Me'—Halsey

12. 'Could've Been'—H.E.R. ft. Bryson Tiller

13. 'Dancing On My Own'—Robyn

14. 'Love Untold'—Paul Westerberg

15. 'Nicest Thing'—Kate Nash

16. 'The Blower's Daughter'—Damien Rice

17. 'Fix You'—Coldplay

18. 'Someone Like You'—Adele

19. 'Hello'—Adele

20. 'Thinking of You'—Katy Perry

21. 'Jolene'—Dolly Parton

22. 'Picture'—Kid Rock ft. Sheryl Crow

23. 'P.S. I Love You'—The Beatles

24. 'When You Say Nothing at All'—Alison Krauss

25. 'Yesterday'—The Beatles

26. 'Everything'—Michael Bublé

27. 'The Scientist'—Coldplay

28. 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'—Bonnie Tyler

29. 'Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)'—Phil Collins

30. 'Stay With Me'—Sam Smith

31. 'Love of My Life'—Queen

32. 'Un-Break My Heart'—Toni Braxton

33. 'I Will Always Love You'—Whitney Houston

34. 'Every Breath You Take'—The Police

35. 'You're Still the One'—Shania Twain

36. 'My Heart Will Go On'—Celine Dion

37. 'Careless Whisper'—George Michael

38. 'What About Us?'—Pink

39. 'How Do I Live'—LeAnn Rimes

40. 'I Want to Know What Love Is'—Foreigner

41. 'Hallelujah'—Leonard Cohen

42. 'All of Me'—John Legend

43. 'Crazy'—Gnarls Barkley

44. 'Someone You Loved'—Lewis Capaldi

45. 'Say Something'—A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera

46. 'A Thousand Years'—Christina Perri

47. 'Apologize'—OneRepublic

48. 'Torn'—Natalie Imbruglia

49. 'Mad World'—Tears for Fears

50. 'With or Without You'—U2