100 Best Songs About Oddballs, Outcasts, and Outsiders
Songs That Get What It Feels Like to Be the Odd One Out
There’s a strange comfort in not fitting. Not being the center of the group photo, not getting picked first or even second, not sliding neatly into any category the room seems to have already decided on. Some people learn how to carry that early, while others keep trying to smudge out the edges. But every now and then a track hits that doesn’t smooth over the weird. It leans in. Makes space for the kid staring out the window too long in class or the one skipping the party to sit in their car with the engine off and the music loud. These songs crackle with the feeling of standing a little sideways in a world that keeps trying to square up.
They don’t always sound heavy. Some of them are pure swagger, the kind that turns being left out into a kind of armor. Some of them are soft and blue around the edges. You’ll find pop, rock, country, and R&B songs that clock how weird it feels when you’re right there but still somewhere else entirely. These aren’t songs that rescue you from the sidelines. They’re the ones playing while you build your own corner of the room, no spotlight, no makeover montage, just noise and nerves and something a little stubborn. A flicker of pride that maybe took years to get loud enough to notice.
Outsiders know the soundtrack changes depending on the day. Some tracks spit back at the world, some kind of fold into it without giving in. What ties them together isn’t the sound—it’s the instinct. That gut feeling that says yeah, this one gets it. These are the tracks that carry that outsider pulse in their bones, whether it’s buried under distortion or tucked into a line you almost miss. Here are the best songs for anyone who never fit the dress code and kind of stopped caring.
Top 10 Outsider Music Songs
1. 'Creep'—Radiohead
2. 'Born This Way'—Lady Gaga
3. 'I'm Not Like Everybody Else'—The Kinks
4. 'Cool Kids'—Echosmith
5. 'Beautiful'—Christina Aguilera
6. 'The Outsider'—A Perfect Circle
7. 'Alien'—The Interrupters
8. 'We Are the Oddballs'—The Oddballs
9. 'I Am a Rock'—Simon & Garfunkel
10. 'Don't Let Me Get Me'—Pink
Songs About Not Fitting In #11—30
11. 'Freaks'—Surf Curse
12. 'Outer Space'—The Misfits
13. 'Society'—Eddie Vedder
14. 'Waving Through a Window'—Ben Platt (from Dear Evan Hansen)
15. 'The Joke'—Brandi Carlile
16. 'Unpretty'—TLC
17. 'Middle of Nowhere'—Hot Chelle Rae
18. 'Nobody'—Mitski
19. 'Mad World'—Tears for Fears
20. 'The Sound of Silence'—Simon & Garfunkel
21. 'Here Comes The Sun'—The Beatles
22. 'You Belong With Me'—Taylor Swift
23. 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams'—Green Day
24. 'Unwell'—Matchbox Twenty
25. 'King of Anything'—Sara Bareilles
26. 'Invisible'—Linkin Park
27. 'Flaws and All'—Beyoncé
28. 'Different'—Ximena Sariñana
29. 'I'm Just a Girl'—No Doubt
30. 'Outcast'—Koe Wetzel
Individuality and Belonging Songs #31—50
31. 'The Recluse'—Cursive
32. 'Teenage Dirtbag'—Wheatus
33. 'Ordinary World'—Duran Duran
34. 'All By Myself'—Celine Dion
35. 'The Loner'—Neil Young
36. 'On the Outside'—Oingo Boingo
37. 'Minority'—Green Day
38. 'Man in the Mirror'—Michael Jackson
39. 'Something in the Way'—Nirvana
40. 'This Is Me'—Keala Settle (from The Greatest Showman)
41. 'Hero'—Mariah Carey
42. 'Express Yourself'—Madonna
43. 'The Logical Song'—Supertramp
44. 'Human'—Christina Perri
45. 'Beautiful Loser'—Bob Seger
46. 'Alone'—Heart
47. 'Outside'—Staind
48. 'The Call'—Regina Spektor
49. 'My Life'—Billy Joel
50. 'I Won't Back Down'—Tom Petty
Songs for Nonconformists #51—75
51. 'I'm Still Standing'—Elton John
52. 'Subdivisions'—Rush
53. 'I Just Wasn't Made For These Times'—The Beach Boys
54. 'Bad Reputation'—Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
55. 'The Unforgiven'—Metallica
56. 'Society'—Jerry Cantrell
57. 'I Am My Own'—Dune Moss
58. 'Follow Your Arrow'—Kacey Musgraves
59. 'Hair'—Lady Gaga
60. 'A Place in this World'—Taylor Swift
61. 'Brave'—Sara Bareilles
62. 'Fight Song'—Rachel Platten
63. 'Firework'—Katy Perry
64. 'I Love Me'—Meghan Trainor
65. 'Love Myself'—Hailee Steinfeld
66. 'The Climb'—Miley Cyrus
67. 'Unwritten'—Natasha Bedingfield
68. 'Everybody Hurts'—R.E.M.
69. 'Let Your Freak Flag Fly'—Shrek The Musical
70. 'Fool'—Ba
71. 'Goin' Out West'—Tom Waits
72. 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now'—The Smiths
73. 'Strange Girl'—Halestorm
74. 'I'm Not Pretty'—Megan Moroney
75. 'So Am I'—Ava Max
Songs Embracing Uniqueness #76—100
76. 'Girl Anachronism'—The Dresden Dolls
77. 'That's Not My Name'—The Ting Tings
78. 'Paper Bag'—Fiona Apple
79. 'Cornflake Girl'—Tori Amos
80. 'Help I'm Alive'—Metric
81. 'The Show'—Lenka
82. 'Serotonin'—girl in red
83. 'Anti-Hero'—Taylor Swift
84. 'A Better Son/Daughter'—Rilo Kiley
85. 'Chinese Satellite'—Phoebe Bridgers
86. 'Just One Of The Guys'—Jenny Lewis
87. 'Joy'—PJ Harvey
88. 'She Said'—Longpigs
89. 'At Seventeen'—Janis Ian
90. 'Born Confused'—Porridge Radio
91. 'Nothing Came Out'—The Moldy Peaches
92. 'Little Trouble Girl'—Sonic Youth
93. 'Pedestrian At Best'—Courtney Barnett
94. 'Movies'—Weyes Blood
95. 'Waste'—Swampwalk
96. 'Kimmi in a Rice Field'—(Mr) Twin Sister
97. 'Judy and the Dream of Horses'—Belle & Sebastian
98. 'Nobody's Watching'—Celine Dion
99. 'Angie Baby'—Helen Reddy
100. 'This Is Not Who I Want To Be'—Joanna Sternberg
© 2025 Carson McQueen
