Top 10 Sad Love Songs to Listen to After a Breakup

When you break up with someone, it's wise to listen to sad love songs. Sad love songs have this ability to bring out a catharsis when you are feeling pain. Here's my top ten sad love songs to listen to after a breakup.

Six Catharsis Tunes for Gutting Out The Pain

When you are in pain over a breakup, crying it out helps get out the feelings you have over the hurt. Keeping it in doesn't do you any good at all. As you cry and cry and cry it out, the pain lessons, and you can move on with your romantic life afterwards. The following six sad love songs will definitely suck that pain out of you via quantitative crying. The titles alone are the sharp edges suited to begin the cathartic process...

Hard Habit To Break, by Chicago, originally from the 1984 album Chicago 17

With lyrics talking about years going by without being able to get over someone and being addicted to a former lover in the midst of a desperate-sounding jazz-rock fusion, your pain will gush out! This is one of the sad love songs which netted a Top 5 smash hit for one of pop rock's most romantic of groups.

I Will Always Love You, by Whitney Houston, originally from the 1992 movie soundtrack to The Bodyguard

Oftentimes when a breakup occurs, for whatever reason, at least one person is left still feeling so much love for another, and so the title alone of one of my favorite sad love songs applicable to breakups is so right for a catharsis upon hearing it. Houston sings this song with haunting pierceness at the end of the movie, The Bodyguard, as her and Kevin Costner's characters don't stay together, but the feeling of love lingers.

Nothing Broken But My Heart, by Celine Dion, originally from her 1992 self-titled album.

This is one of the sad love songs where Dion sings about how she's coping just fine after a breakup, but you can tell that it's all an act, and it finally builds up into the catharsis that's needed over a breakup. I especially like the last part of the song where it seems as if she's got an angelic chorus backing up her up as she comes clean over the pain of losing her lover.

Every Breath You Take, by The Police, originally from the 1983 album Synchronicity

This is one of my favorite sad love songs despite the fact that it sounds more angry and bitter to me initially. But this smash hit by The Police somehow leaves a sad, cathartic "aftertaste" after listening to it. Ol' Sting gets under your skin with this song if you listen to it enough!

Endless Love (Duet between Diana Ross and Lionel Richie), originally from the 1981 movie soundtrack to Endless Love

This song ruled the pop charts for several weeks in 1981. It's one of those sad love songs that really guts out your feelings about losing your lover after a breakup, especially if you are still in love. When I hear this song, even if I'm not experiencing a breakup, I'm made to feel so vulnerable because of the depth of emotion emanated by the pop icons Ross and Richie. Endless Love is one of my favorite romantic movies of all time, too.

Too Little, Too Late, by JoJo, originally from the 2006 album The High Road

I've seen this teenage pop rock star perform this song live, while I visited Fayetteville, North Carolina, last year. JoJo goes over the laundry list as to why a breakup is necessary, but you can still feel her pain as well as frustration, which pierces one's soul upon thinking about a breakup, making this one of those sad love songs to help get that pain out into the open.

Four Sad Love Songs Which Offer Hope After A Breakup

Of course, I don't want this article to sound like a total downer because a breakup means that new chapters are on the horizon romantically. You can survive, and these last four sad love songs do offer hope that someone else will come along...

If She Would Have Been Faithful..., by Chicago, originally from the 1986 album Chicago 18

Many sad love songs are inspired when a breakup occurs over cheating. Well, leave it to Chicago to offer hope. This inspirational and very reflective song proves that even when something happens that's utterly painful, it can lead to something better in the long run, like the chance to find "real love" as the song proclaims. When one door closes, it means that another is there to be opened.

All My Life by K-Ci and Jo-Jo, originally from the 1997 album Love Always

You get a sense of hope in the midst of your tears with this song because of the utter tenderness of this tune. This 1998 hit song is one of those sad love songs that symbolize the heart's cry to find a true love.

The Next Time I Fall (Duet Between Peter Cetera and Amy Grant), originally from the 1986 Peter Cetera album Solitude/Solitaire

This is not only one of best sad love songs to listen to after a breakup, but it's one of my favorite Peter Cetera songs. This Number One smash hit from 1986 offers hope, as it's prophetic via its lines as Cetera and Grant sing about the next time they fall in love again in a very confident, yet vulnerable way.

Independence Day, by Martina McBride, originally from the 1993 album The Way That I Am

This is one of those sad love songs that can make me cry even though it's not sung in a really sad way, but because it's a poetic kick in the pants to move on chased by sharp-edged music. While the song's lyrics are literally about a child's escape from abuse, the refrain is still so applicable to many situations, including for getting on with life after a breakup.

Chart Information Sources for this sad love tunes article:
Joel Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6^th Edition (1996)
Joel Whitburn, Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Albums: 1955-1996 (1996)