The Essential Heartbreak Anthems to Get You Through Valentine’s Day 2026
If you’re going through it, then look no further.
First things first, I’m qualified to do this — I’ve been in a longterm relationship, I’ve suffered through detrimental ‘situationships’ (for lack of a better word), and I’m currently enjoying the single life, hassle-free. When I was putting together a list of the best love songs, I realised no one really talks about the other side: those gut-wrenching, incredibly relatable songs that get you through the hardest of times.
Don’t get me wrong, these aren’t all going to be explicitly ‘heartbreak’ songs. No, I’m talking Silver Springs level. Those ‘I could have loved you’ songs. There’ll be at least one song on here that perfectly encapsulates how you feel or the situation you’re in.
You want my advice? Never settle. Listen to your gut. I spent so much of 2025 ignoring my intuition, only for my intuition to be right all along. If you get a weird feeling, you’re feeling it for a reason. Respect yourself and your boundaries. Don’t spend 2026 impatiently staring at your phone waiting for a text back. If they like you, you’ll know. And, if it feels wrong, it’s probably because it is wrong. Be kind to yourself this year — and, for the love of God, delete that dating app.
I Can’t Get My Head Around You by Billie Marten
We’re starting strong with a big one, as this one really held me tight and got me through the worst 2025 of letdowns and disappointments, when I put someone on a pedestal and let them treat me however they pleased. Billie’s lyrics are always incredibly introspective, and I don’t think there’s a time when she doesn’t have her heart on her sleeve, lyrically.
All the lyrics are fitting, but these are especially poignant:
“I can’t get my head around you and I can’t get enough
And I’ve been looking so hard for love”
Never Be Mine by Angel Olsen
Listening to Angel Olsen’s 2016 album MY WOMAN always has this magnetic way of transporting me back to being seventeen, working my first paid job at Primark (I used to fold pyjamas for four hours, which was actually very therapeutic) and having my first real crush on a coworker (don’t do it), who, fast forward three years later, would eventually unblock me on Instagram and message me one night, after breaking up with his girlfriend of four years. Of course, naturally, the relationship I was in at the time was already drawing to a mutual close after three months, and I would go on to be in a relationship with my first ‘real’ crush for five years.
What lesson did we learn? Unfortunately for me, I’m a sucker for nostalgia, so when people come back into my life, I forget the way they made me feel or the tears I shed over them the first time around. I’ve vowed not to do that again, especially after I repeated the same mistake last year.
By all means, if someone comes back into your life and it was a missed connection the first time, go for it this time — it could be special. But, if they were originally in a relationship and told you they liked you or anything along those lines, and they return once they’re single, do not engage in any romantic aspect. Please. I’m a veteran at this. I’ve got all the badges. That person is not your soulmate, no matter how amazing the story sounds when you tell your friends, or how you feel like you’ve finally ‘got’ that person. In the nicest possible way, they aren’t worth it, and losing a friend as well as a partner is a whole lot worse.
There are so many romantic endeavours I’ve gone down that I wish I hadn’t, purely so that I didn’t lose them as a friend. I know people say it all the time, but it really is true. If you like someone, then being friends with them is better than dating, going through the worst heartbreak and then never being able to regain that trust or level of friendship again.
I’ll cut this tangent short with some of the best lyrics:
“But I would watch you, I would watch you
Turn and walk away
Yes, I would watch you, learn to love you
And her, too, if you’d only stay”
Delete Ya by Djo
This list wouldn’t be complete without this 2025 single by Djo, and that’s a fact. During a particularly miserable period of 2025, this song was on repeat, for better or for worse. Do these songs make it worse? I don’t think so. It’s important to feel and be in touch with your emotions. Did I put this song on my Instagram story? Do I have a tendency to put songs I find relatable on there? Yes, and also yes. I find it easiest to communicate with music, so I definitely put it on there hoping they’d get the message, but I’m pretty sure it got lost in translation.
I mean, come on, just take a peek at these lyrics before you press play:
“And now I’m back in my truck, I’m driving up to our place
We’re sitting dead on the ground, there’s nothing more to be said
You kept it tight to the chest at someone else’s expense
That doesn’t sound like real love”
And the perfect outro that sums everything up:
“Oh, God, I wish I could release ya
Wind it back and never be with ya
Then I’d be happy just to meet ya (oh, my God)
One heart could bleed for the future us
If we were young, but this is done”
Thank you, Joe Keery.
cellophane by FKA Twigs
I wasn’t going to include this but, if we’re talking about heartbreak, then there’s truly nothing more heartbreaking than FKA Twigs gut-wrenching piano ballad, written about her relationship with Robert Pattinson, and how she felt like nobody wanted to see them together. It also reflects on being in a relationship in the public eye and the loss of self-esteem, after Pattinson’s fans clearly couldn’t cope with the fact that he was no longer with Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart.
With some of the lyrics in the track, she may as well have included his name in there, too, as so much of it poses as questions directed at him, like the opening line of “Didn’t I do it for you?”. She should’ve just sung it directly in front of him, on a stage for everyone to see.
At least heartbreak can give us songs like this one.
“And I, just want to feel you’re there
And I don’t want to have to share our love
I try, but I get overwhelmed
When you’re gone I have no one to tell
And I, just want to feel you’re there
And I don’t want to have to share our love
I try but I get overwhelmed
All wrapped in cellophane, the feelings that we had”
Safe From Heartbreak (if you never fall in love) by Wolf Alice
I could pick a number of Wolf Alice songs for this list, but, for obvious reasons, it has to be this one. Lead singer Ellie Rowsell is known for not holding back when it comes to writing from experience, and this track slots perfectly into their decadent third album, Blue Weekend, released in 2021. From the same album, No Hard Feelings fits perfectly too, with lyrics that sum up the ending of a relationship with ease: “No hard feelings, honey / There’ll be no bad blood / Losing your love has been hard enough”.
I couldn’t relate to them upon release — thanks to being two years into what would be a five-year relationship — but, my God, has that album been related to ever since. This particular track is fitting if you’ve been left or ever felt used, and there was never an explanation or some sort of closure.
“I ain’t a play thing (I ain’t a player)
To make life exciting (life just falls short)
You fucked with my feelings
Safe from heartbreak
If I never fall in love”
That’s exactly it. Avoid falling in love, and you’ll avoid the inevitable heartbreak that ensues. Nobody has said it better.
The One by The Lemon Twigs
In 2020, the brother duo hit the nail on the head with The One, and gave us a jangly track about someone bulldozing their way through people, never feeling satisfied with the person they’re with. I’m sure many of us have felt like we’re not enough for our partner, or like we can’t live up to their expectation they have of us in their head.
“You move onto another person
No one can give you what you want
You love someone when their heart is hurting
But they could never be the one”
When I was dating someone last year, I felt like they’d built up this fantasy version of me that didn’t exist, and never could. I tried my hardest to become this made-up version of me, but, in the end, this person still left, and I felt like I could never be enough. If somebody smothers you with compliments, becomes incredibly needy (and even acknowledges their own neediness), but suddenly becomes distant and cold, do yourself a favour: walk away first. I waited patiently, like a lamb to be slaughtered, while they decided I wasn’t worth their time anymore. Of course, I ignored my intuition the entire time.
The main lesson here is to always listen to your gut. Never worry about being lonely. The only person who deserves your undivided attention is yourself.
Say It Back by Matilda Mann
If there’s ever a perfect song for unrequited love, then this is it. Maybe everything is going swimmingly in your head, but the bigger picture reveals you’re the one trying, and that same love isn’t being returned back to you. You’re deadset on this person being the one, and you can’t seem to understand how they couldn’t possibly feel the same way.
There’s a lot to sink your teeth into with this one, but this chorus is particularly good:
“Why don’t you want me like that?
Why don’t you want what we could have?
Why don’t you say it, say it back?
Why don’t you feel the way I feel?
How can you think this isn’t real?
Why don’t you say it, say it back?”
This verse gives you the general idea — you’re willing to do anything for the one you love, so much so that you become blinded by it:
“I’d lie to everyone but you
I’d tell them you’re an angel
And if you committed murder, I’d fess up
Give it up, give it up, give it up
I’d walk through fire and hell and rain
Just to see your stupid face then
Sell my soul so you could buy a heart.”
I mean, if someone wrote a song this killer about me, I’d probably give them what they were asking for. A song as to-the-point as this is rare and a stark contrast to Matilda’s latest release, Inventing, a love song about “love” being too weak a word.
Lover Boy by Sophie May
When it comes to Sophie, like Wolf Alice and probably most of the musicians on this list, you could include a lot of her songs. Wish I Was A Single Girl Again is the perfect example of this, and one I would not recommend sharing publicly while in a relationship, unless you’re looking to cause trouble. I even felt guilty just listening to it when I was in one. Unfortunately for me, I do, however, remember putting Lover Boy on my private Instagram story (yes, I mean private Instagram, as in the one where I post absolute garbage and only let a select number of friends in) and one of my friends asking me, ‘Are you okay?’. No, I wasn’t, but of course I never did reveal that. Probably best not to share any of these songs while in a committed relationship, no matter how sad you feel.
“Don’t look at me so sadly, you know I love you too
But I don’t think we want each other, the way we want us to
Oh, lover boy
Hmm-mmWhen the wind is calling, have you felt the urge to run?
I’d hate to be the reason why you haven’t found the one
My lover boy
Don’t you know, all my loving’s almost done?”
It really is the most fitting song about growing out of someone, and both of you growing apart, knowing that you’re only holding each other back, and staying together isn’t helping either of you.
I also live with OCD, which has ruined countless relationships for me, and so does Sophie, meaning a lot of her lyrics will be relatable if you, too, suffer from it. In Sophie’s 2024 track, Tiny Dictator, she sums up how it feels to live and experience life with OCD to a tee. So, if that’s your bag, then be prepared to be at least on the brink of tears. For now, that’s a whole other can of worms I won’t open.
Au Pays du Cocaine by Geese
When I started writing this list, I had no idea Geese would find their way on it. No matter the way you look at it, their hit Au Pays du Cocaine is a heartbreaking track, with the second verse repeating “You can change” before ending with “Baby, you can change and still choose me”, a line that lingers long after it’s been said.
I mean, it really does belong on this list:
“Like a sailor in a big green boat
Like a sailor in a big green coat
You can be free
You can be free
Just come home, please
I’m alright
It’s alright”
We’ve all been there; not wanting to walk away, willing somebody to change, telling them they don’t need to leave you to change. Or we’ve been the one incapable of change, and having to draw the curtain.
Loud by Olivia Dean
Olivia Dean has done more than make a name for herself as an unstoppable songwriter in the industry, grafting away in the music scene ever since the release of her debut single, Password Change, in 2019. Similar to those before her, I could include many of her songs on this list — in fact, see also The Hardest Part, Reason To Stay, Let Alone The One You Love, A Couple Minutes, and so on.
I really love songs that have a contrasting beginning and end, like Wolf Alice’s Don’t Delete The Kisses, where frontwoman Ellie Rowsell is heard singing, “What if it’s not meant for me? Love,” and then ending with “Me and you were meant to be, in love”. It starts as a song about essentially giving up on love and being scared of commitment, before weaving into this beautiful tale of falling in love with someone and fully committing to them. That’s the best love song of all time, and I won’t hear any different.
On Loud, Olivia does the same, except hers isn’t a love story.
“Even now, I don’t know when you let go
Or when it slipped away
At my house, four hands at the piano
You sure know how to play”
And here’s the ending:
“Here I am, two hands at the piano
The one I let you play
I understand if you changed your mind about me
But all you had to do was say”
It’s a wonderful contrast, and the song leaves a sting — it’s no wonder Olivia won the GRAMMY for Best New Artist. This is one hell of a songwriter, combining easy-to-listen-to pop with a flair of soul and jazz.
Don’t Forget Me by Maggie Rogers
We’ve had songs about losing love, so what about finding it? Maggie encapsulates that feeling of just wanting a lover, even if it’s temporary, but leaves the bar on the floor in terms of standards by asking for someone nice to her. Let’s ask for a bit more than that, maybe.
“So close the door and change the channel
Give me something I can handle
A good lover or someone that’s nice to me
Take my money, wreck my Sundays
Love me ‘til your next somebody
Oh, but promise me that when it’s time to leave
Don’t forget me
Don’t forget me”
Although it’s not particularly centred around heartbreak at all, Maggie annotates her friends’ relationships, noting one of them is getting married, the other one follows her partner around, while Maggie herself views love in an almost cynical way, but questions whether a stranger waiting for her on the next street, just for her.
Think Twice by Suki Waterhouse
The penultimate one is for those of you who have, for some reason or another, gone back to somebody. I’d say ‘we’ve all been there’ but in all honesty, unless you count giving a second chance to a friend who left your life because his girlfriend asked him to block or unfollow you — which has weirdly happened twice to me, and they were both co-workers — as “going back”, then maybe I have. I don’t count it, personally. Just a lack of judgement… or common sense.
“Me and my drifter mind
Heart in the water, lost in the tide
(Yeah) I always think twice and go back for a third time
Common sense don’t get me far
Excuses made for the man that you are
Yeah, I always think twice, but I still wonder why I
I go back for a third time”
I Need You by Jalen Ngonda
When the person I was seeing last year started doing the classic ‘I’m going to act really weird now and pretend I’m super busy, even though I’m unemployed’, I had a ticket to see Jalen and went past his tube stop on the way to the Eventim Apollo. Standing there solo, hearing these songs, just felt incredibly right, and I felt content. Sharing music with others is wonderful, sure, but finding peace and enjoying your own company is important.
“Baby, since you’ve been gone
I see empty box and clouds of grey
Well, although it hasn’t been long
The loneliness will haunt each passing day”
