The 50 best love songs of all time

The lyrics to the Reverend’s landmark 1971 love song, ‘Let’s Stay Together’ articulate the solemn vows of marriage: ‘Whether times are good or bad, happy or sad.’ But sung by Green, these promises are given wings. Covered multiple times since its release, Green’s gorgeous original was given a new lease on life in ’94, when Quentin Tarantino featured it in Pulp Fiction. But our favorite boost for the song has to be when it was sung by Barack Obama at a fund-raising event back in 2012.  

Is this the happiest song ever written? Quite possibly. There’s a bounce to ‘You Make My Dreams’ that is ridiculously infectious – you can’t hear the ‘Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh’ without wanting to grab hold of someone’s hand and spin them round and round. Its catchy chorus is the perfect embodiment of those early moments of love and your excitement for whatever the future may hold. Hall & Oates may have made a name for themselves via soft rock and smooth-jazz-inspired diddies about stained and complicated romance, but ‘You Make My Dreams’ is an unashamedly optimistic banger all about love.

This song is an oldie but a goodie for a reason. It perfectly captures the feeling of letting go completely and falling into the uplifting arms of a romantic love. It’s not a sad yearning kind of tune – this is a happy, cheerful tune to celebrate all the great things about being in lurrve. Just be warned: singing this tune yourself ain’t easy, and we wouldn’t recommend it for your next karaoke sesh. 

‘Thinkin Bout You,’ the iconic song about an all-consuming crush, is more than just a potent love song that flexes gorgeous vocals and soaring instrumentalism. By using elements of various queer canonical events and allusions, the cheeky R&B track opened a conversation on Black queer artistry in the music industry, particularly in the hip-hip genre, which was still struggling with homophobia and toxic masculinity. The entire song represents the curiosity and uncertainty of sexual exploration and self-discovery, showing a generation of kids that listened to Channel Orange on repeat in their bedrooms, that love is for everyone.

Dolly Parton’s farewell to her long-time partner and mentor, country legend Porter Wagoner, when she decided to pursue a solo career, became quite the sensation in 1974. It’s hard to think of a better song in pop culture that captures the ‘if you love something, set it free’ sentiment. While few of us—save Whitney Houston—can belt those high notes like Parton, that doesn’t stop us from wanting to sing along with the chorus, with all the same pent up passion.

When Beyoncé’s hour-long visual album Lemonade hit the internet in 2016, the entire nation explored the intense range of emotions of marital infidelity: betrayal, jealousy, rage, and revenge. ‘All Night,’ which wraps up the 12-track masterpiece (and is reportedly Beyoncé’s favorite song from the record), brought something different to the table. Perhaps less sexy than the hell-hath-no-fury revenge tracks on the project, the powerful love ballad gave us a tender and compassionate ode to healing heartbreak and moving on. And what is more moving than selfless love? ‘All Night,’ with its soulful vocals and haunting guitar, will forever encapsulate the seldom-explored topic of reconciliation and preservation in long-term commitments. 

The most unapologetically romantic slow-dance–wedding–love-scene song in history, Etta James’s 1960 cover of ‘At Last’ may seem a bit cliché. But from the first note, we all know what’s coming (love! finally!), and James’s soulful crooning induces a shiver every time, whether we expect it to or not. Case in point, pretty much everyone lost it during Beyoncé’s rendition at the 2009 presidential inauguration ball for Obama including the First Lady and President himself. Cuuute.

For a decade now, ‘All of Me’ has been the veritable go-to wedding song across the globe. And for good reason. ‘All of Me’ is a dedication to Legend’s then fiancee, now wife, Chrissy Teigen, and serves as a love letter to significant other’s everywhere. The earnest piano ballad, boasting the moving lyrics, ‘Love your curves and all your edges/ all your perfect imperfections’ has made this love song one of the greatest of our generation. And the stats come to support that. According to Spotify, ‘All of Me’ is the most-added song in user’s ‘love’ themed playlists for lovers of the streaming generation. 

‘Something’ was the first George Harrison-written song to occupy the A-side of a Beatles single (though it did share the accolade, appearing as a double A-side with unifying call ‘Come Together’ in 1969). Capturing the swirling triumph of infatuation, the tune would become the second-most-covered song of the Beatles’ canon (‘Yesterday’ is the first). More than 150 artists have tried the dreamy, swooning ode on for size, including James Brown, Elvis Presley, Phish, Isaac Hayes and Frank Sinatra, who famously christened it the ‘greatest love song ever written.’

While originally penned by Prince, ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ became Sinéad O’Connor’s most iconic song, with its haunting sound remaining as an enduring symbol of the ‘90s. As is the case with other seminal love songs, it's often the delivery of a song’s lyrics that make the track timeless. The Irish singer’s ethereal vocals and raw intensity ignite the song with heartbreak. O’Connor’s rendition of Prince’s song is a stirring moment of emotional catharsis, a performance that draws from trauma and vulnerability, and portrays a type of pain that will tremble even the stiffest of upper lips.