The 20 Saddest Country Songs of the 2010s

In the 2010s, country music revamped the definition of what a sad country song could be.

Sure, there were still quite a few traditional heartbreak ballads about the end of a relationship, like Tim McGraw‘s modern-day classic, “Diamond Rings and Old Barstools.” That kind of tear-in-your-beer, twangy heartache song will simply never go out of style. But the genre also broached new sonic directions, and new topics, when it came to heartbreak.

For example, there are also plenty of specific, story-driven songs about other kinds of loss. Jason Isbell took on the “Elephant” in the room with his seminal elegy for a woman fighting cancer. Sunny Sweeney put a spotlight on the under-discussed topic of infertility and pregnancy loss. And Craig Morgan and the Highwomen both delivered crushing, personally-inspired songs about death from the vantage point of losing a child and losing a parent, respectively.

Perhaps part of the reason why heartbreak diversified so much in the 2010s was due to an uptick in the number of songs written about real-life tragedies. Morgan’s song for his late son was just one of many gut-wrenching personal stories that came out of the decade. Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert and Cole Swindell were three more whose sad songs were based on a true story.

Flip through the gallery below for Taste of Country’s recap of the most devastating sad songs to be released during the 2010s.