Best friend songs for the person who's seen it all
The songs people actually send, post and scream in the car with their best friend — for a birthday, a going-away, a reunion, or a plain Tuesday when you want them to know. Grouped by mood, for best friends of every kind, with a line on why each one works.
31 songs · Updated October 2026
The classics
The songs that taught everyone what a best friend sounds like. Most of them are promises: call, and I'll come.
You've Got a Friend
Carole King · 1971
The friendship song every other one is measured against: whatever season it is, whatever's wrong, you call and they come. James Taylor's version from the same year is just as good if your friend prefers it.
Best for · A hard weekListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)Lean on Me
Bill Withers · 1972
Bill Withers makes leaning on each other sound like ordinary good sense rather than charity. It works for any friendship, and the whole room can sing it.
Best for · ToastListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)With a Little Help from My Friends
The Beatles · 1967
Ringo, slightly out of his depth, admitting he gets by because of the people around him. Warm and a little funny — a good fit for a friend who has carried you through something without making a fuss about it.
Thank You for Being a Friend
Andrew Gold · 1978
Andrew Gold's original, years before a cover of it became the Golden Girls theme. It's a straight thank-you, which is rarer in songs than it should be.
Best for · Birthday cardListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)That's What Friends Are For
Dionne Warwick · 1985
A promise to stay for the good times and the bad, sung by Dionne Warwick with Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder. Big and earnest — choose it when you mean it.
Wind Beneath My Wings
Bette Midler · 1988
From Beaches, a film about two women who stay best friends for decades. A thank-you to the quiet one who made the other one's success possible.
Best for · Maid of honor speechListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)For Good
Kristin Chenoweth & Idina Menzel · 2003
Glinda and Elphaba's duet from Wicked: two friends who might not see each other again, agreeing that each changed the other for good. The best pick here for a friend who is moving away.
Best for · A friend moving awayListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)
Every song on this list is about somebody else's best friend.
From A$39 · Approve every lyric · Ready in 3–8 minutes
For your bestie right now
Recent songs that fit a birthday story, a post or a playlist you made for them. Easy to share, easy to mean.
Count on Me
Bruno Mars · 2010
A list of the ways you'll turn up for each other, set to a ukulele. Sweet without being heavy, which is why it's the most-posted best friend song of the last fifteen years.
Best for · Birthday postListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)22
Taylor Swift · 2012
A night out with your friends at an age when everything is a little chaotic and fun. The obvious song for a friend's twenty-second, and good for any birthday that ends in a dance floor.
Best for · 22nd birthdayListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)Good as Hell
Lizzo · 2016
A friend talking you out of feeling bad about someone who didn't deserve you. Send it after a breakup — it's a pep talk, not a sympathy card.
Best for · After a breakupListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)Best Friend
Rex Orange County · 2017
A soft, slightly awkward song about wanting to be someone's best friend. It suits a newer friendship, or one that started with one of you trying a bit too hard.
Brother
Kodaline · 2017
About a friend who is family in all but blood, the one who has always had your back. One of the few songs here that fits two grown men without any irony.
Best for · Best manListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)
Old friends and long memories
For the friend who knew you at fifteen. Songs about looking back on the years you've had together, without being sad about it.
Old Friends
Simon & Garfunkel · 1968
Two old men sharing a park bench, and a short meditation on what it might be like to grow that old together. Quiet and only a couple of minutes long — perfect for a slideshow's last photo.
Best for · SlideshowListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)In My Life
The Beatles · 1965
John Lennon looking back on the people and places he has loved, and deciding the one in front of him matters most. Works for a friend as well as it does for a partner.
Glory Days
Bruce Springsteen · 1984
Running into an old friend who was a star pitcher in high school and swapping stories at a bar. Affectionate about the past and wry about the present — a great reunion song.
Best for · ReunionListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)Summer of '69
Bryan Adams · 1984
Starting a band with your friends, and looking back on that summer as the high point of everything since. For the friend you did something stupid and wonderful with at seventeen.
Fifteen
Taylor Swift · 2008
Taylor Swift on starting high school with her best friend Abigail, and everything they learned that year. For a friendship that goes back to ninth-grade lockers.
Best for · High school friendsListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)seven
Taylor Swift · 2020
A childhood friendship remembered from far away: the games, the secrets, the plans you made at seven. Gentle and a little haunting, for a friend you've known almost your whole life.
Best for · Childhood friendsListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)Good Old Days
Macklemore · 2017
With Kesha, about wishing you'd known at the time that these were the good old days. Good for a friend group's last summer before everyone moves.
Graduation (Friends Forever)
Vitamin C · 1999
A graduation-day promise to stay friends as everyone goes their own way. Very of its era, which is half the charm for anyone who graduated around 2000.
Best for · GraduationListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)
Loud and silly
Not every best friend song should make anyone cry. These are for the car, the kitchen, and the third round.
Wannabe
Spice Girls · 1996
The song that made friends-before-boyfriends a rule. Still the loudest thing you can put on at a girls' night, and everyone still knows the rap.
Best for · Girls' nightListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)The Boys Are Back in Town
Thin Lizzy · 1976
The whole crew back together and ready to take over the local bar. The natural choice for a guys' reunion or a bachelor-party playlist.
Best for · Bachelor partyListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Cyndi Lauper · 1983
Bright, defiant and impossible to sit still through. A birthday-video song for a friend who has always been the fun one.
You've Got a Friend in Me
Randy Newman · 1995
The Toy Story song: loyal, goofy and a tiny bit competitive. It works as a joke and as the real thing at the same time, which suits most long friendships.
I'll Be There for You
The Rembrandts · 1995
The Friends theme, about having people around for the days when life isn't going your way. Clap along; nobody can resist.
Best Friend
Saweetie · 2021
With Doja Cat — a hype song about backing up your best friend no matter what. Fun and very explicit, so pick the clean version for anything public.
Best for · Birthday storyListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)
Country
Country has always been good at friendship, usually with a drink in hand. These hold up for friends of any gender.
Goodbye Earl
The Chicks · 1999
Two high school best friends, Mary Ann and Wanda, and the very final way they deal with Wanda's abusive husband. A murder ballad played for laughs — the ultimate ride-or-die song, if your friend enjoys dark comedy, and the best-known country song about two best friends.
Best for · Ride-or-die friendsListen on Spotify (opens in a new tab)Me and My Gang
Rascal Flatts · 2006
A party anthem for a friend group that does everything together. Loud, easy and good for a guys' weekend.
Good Friend and a Glass of Wine
LeAnn Rimes · 2007
The case that most of life's problems can be talked through over a bottle with the right person. For the friend you call instead of a therapist.
Young
Kenny Chesney · 2002
Kenny Chesney remembering his teenage friends, the trouble they got into, and how fast it all went. For a hometown crew that still meets up.
Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home)
Elle King · 2021
Elle King and Miranda Lambert as two women who refuse to call it a night. Rowdy, funny, and built for a duet in the car.
Or make the one that's missing
Every song on this list is about somebody else's best friend.
Ours is written from what you tell us about yours — how you met, the joke nobody else gets, the time they showed up when it counted. You approve every line, then hear two finished versions before you pay.
The Last Trolley
For a best friend · Just Because · Pop RockFrom A$39 · Hear two versions before you pay · Usually ready in 3–8 minutes
Choosing
How to pick the right one
Match the song to where it'll be heard
A birthday story only plays fifteen seconds, so choose a song whose best part is the chorus. A slideshow needs one that builds over three minutes. A speech needs one you can name in a single sentence.
Check the whole lyric, not just the title
Plenty of songs on best friend playlists are about something else once you get past the chorus. “Good as Hell” is about getting over a bad boyfriend, and “Goodbye Earl” is, cheerfully, about a murder. Listen to the verses before you tag someone in it.
Pick the song that's yours, not the one that's famous
The song you wore out on a road trip at nineteen will mean more than the perfect lyric. If no song has both your history and the right words, that's the gap a song written about the two of you fills.
Questions
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