100 Best Songs About Being Sorry
Songs that Feel Like Apologies You Can't Quite Finish
There’s a weird kind of gravity to admitting you screwed up. Not the performative kind, not the kind with closure or relief at the end, but the pit-in-your-stomach type where the words land crooked. You know you need to say something but it comes out sideways or way too late. These songs live in that space. The part where the silence stretches and you replay the moment three times before breakfast. It’s someone saying sorry without knowing if it matters anymore. And it hits hard in a late-night car ride or through earbuds at the back of the bus when your mind starts looping the same five seconds of something you said last month.
There’s no clean version of regret. It shows up in cracked voices, shaky guitar lines, or lyrics that circle the point without quite landing. Sometimes the delivery is too casual and that’s what makes it sting more. Sometimes it’s loud and messy, trying to outpace the guilt. You get pop, rock, country, and R&B songs trying to sound fine but unraveling in real time. And maybe that’s the best you can do. Not a polished apology. Not a resolution. Just a song that gets the ache right.
Nobody nails a perfect sorry. These tracks don’t either. They flinch, they ramble, they sometimes miss the mark entirely. But they say enough for someone to understand, even if the damage is already done. Here are the best songs that feel like apologies you can’t quite finish.
Top 10 Sorry Songs
1. 'Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word'—Elton John
2. 'Apologize'—OneRepublic featuring Timbaland
3. 'Back to December'—Taylor Swift
4. 'Sorry'—Justin Bieber
5. 'Hard to Say I'm Sorry'—Chicago
6. 'I'm Sorry'—Brenda Lee
7. 'Jealous Guy'—John Lennon
8. 'Please Forgive Me'—Bryan Adams
9. 'Ms. Jackson'—OutKast
10. 'Purple Rain'—Prince
More Songs About Apologies #11—30
11. 'So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)'—R.E.M.
12. 'All Apologies'—Nirvana
13. 'So Sorry'—Feist
14. 'I Apologize'—Anita Baker
15. 'Sorry, Blame It on Me'—Akon
16. 'Sorry'—Halsey
17. 'Never Really Over'—Katy Perry
18. 'Sorry'—Buckcherry
19. 'I'm Sorry'—Joyner Lucas
20. 'Forgiven'—Alanis Morissette
21. 'Baby Can I Hold You'—Tracy Chapman
22. 'If I Could Turn Back Time'—Cher
23. 'It's Sad to Belong'—England Dan & John Ford Coley
24. 'Try'—Blue Rodeo
25. 'Sorry Suzanne'—The Hollies
26. 'I'm Sorry About That'—Wilson Pickett
27. 'I Said I Was Sorry'—Solomon Burke
28. 'Swallow My Pride'—Ramones
29. 'Forgive Me'—Evanescence
30. 'Sorry'—Madonna
Regret and Remorse Songs #31—50
31. 'Yesterday'—The Beatles
32. 'The Living Years'—Mike & The Mechanics
33. 'Cats In The Cradle'—Harry Chapin
34. 'Landslide'—Fleetwood Mac
35. 'Time In A Bottle'—Jim Croce
36. 'He Stopped Loving Her Today'—George Jones
37. 'Whiskey Lullaby'—Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss
38. 'I Will Always Love You'—Dolly Parton
39. 'Hitting Air'—Alex Genadinik
40. 'Tears in Heaven'—Eric Clapton
41. 'Behind Blue Eyes'—The Who
42. 'Creep'—Radiohead
43. 'Mockingbird'—Eminem
44. 'Ain't No Sunshine'—Bill Withers
45. 'Skinny Love'—Bon Iver
46. 'Let Her Go'—Passenger
47. 'Stay With Me'—Sam Smith
48. 'Irreplaceable'—Beyoncé
49. 'Fix You'—Coldplay
50. 'Retrograde'—James Blake
Songs Expressing Forgiveness and Reconciliation #51—75
51. 'What About Us'—P!nk
52. 'Always'—Bon Jovi
53. 'A Life Of Regrets'—Chester See
54. 'Dreams I Weave'—Alex Genadinik
55. 'What I've Done'—Linkin Park
56. 'Better Than I Used To Be'—Tim McGraw
57. 'I'll Be Good'—Jaymes Young
58. 'Innocent'—Taylor Swift
59. 'I Know I'm A Wolf'—The Young Heretics
60. 'Redemption Song'—Bob Marley
61. 'Blood'—The Dear Hunter
62. 'Happy New Year'—Let's Eat Grandma
63. 'The Sum of the In-between'—Maria Kelly
64. 'Violent Sun'—Everything Everything
65. 'You Learn'—Alanis Morissette
66. 'I Won't Back Down'—Tom Petty
67. 'Demons'—Our Last Night
68. 'Cocky'—Tilian
69. 'Better Version of Me'—Kimbra
70. 'Monsters'—Brother Sundance
71. 'Can You Hear Me?'—Munn
72. 'I'm Not a Saint'—Billy Raffoul
73. 'The Hearse'—Matt Maeson
74. 'Tread on Me'—Matt Maeson
75. 'Plague'—Tris Mikal
Songs About Making Amends and Repentance #76—100
76. 'Oh My Dear Lord'—The Unlikely Candidates
77. 'The War'—SYML
78. 'Body'—SYML
79. 'The Darker the Weather // The Better The Man'—Missio
80. 'What Makes a Good Man?'—The Heavy
81. 'I'm a Wanted Man'—The Royal Deluxe
82. 'I'm Not Who I Was'—Brandon Heath
83. 'Epoch'—Salvonic
84. 'Every Time I Hear That Song'—Brandi Carlile
85. 'Inside of Every Demon is a Rainbow'—Hazbin Hotel (original song)
86. 'It Starts With Sorry'—Hazbin Hotel (original song)
87. 'Vindicated'—Dashboard Confessional
88. 'Don't Look Back in Anger'—Oasis
89. 'Remorse Is For The Dead'—Lamb of God
90. 'Forgive Me'—Chloe x Halle
91. 'Melancholy Melody'—Esthero
92. 'February 2017'—Charli XCX featuring Clairo and Yaeji
93. 'Forgive Them Father'—Lauryn Hill
94. 'Come Back to Me'—Gregory Norbet
95. 'Father I Have Sinned (The Prodigal Son)'—Eugene O'Reilly CSsR
96. 'I Belong'—Kathryn Scott
97. 'Kyrie Eleison'—Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
98. 'Remember Not The Things Of The Past'—Bob Hurd
99. 'Show Mercy'—Jo Boyce
100. 'Song of the Prodigal'—Jo Boyce
© 2025 Carson McQueen
