25 Platonic Love Songs

There are thousands upon thousands of love songs out there, and more are put out into the world every year — songs about falling in and out love, getting serious or sometimes getting betrayed, etc.

But not every single one of them is meant for lovers in the traditional sense.

Some of the best love songs have nothing to do with romantic partners and instead are meant for friends and family who uplift our spirits and generally make life a little brighter. We’re calling them: platonic love songs.

Below are 25 examples of such tracks, for to share with loved ones.

1. “You’re My Best Friend,” Queen
From: A Night at the Opera (1975)

We should begin by stressing that many of the songs on this list could be interpreted as love songs for a romantic partner, but they can just as easily work in friendly situations. Queen’s “You’re My Best Friend” fits exactly in that category, since bassist John Deacon originally wrote it for his wife, but there’s nothing to say you can’t sing this song to your bestie.

 

2. “Stand By Me,” Ben E. King
From: Don’t Play That Song! (1962)

Below we’ve listed the original Ben E. King recording of “Stand By Me,” but we’d also recommend cover renditions by John Lennon, Tracy Chapman, Otis Redding, Aaron Neville, Def Leppard and Sonny & Cher, to name a few.

 

3. “I’ll Stand By You,” The Pretenders
From: Last of the Independents (1994)

You’ve probably done something right when Noel Gallagher of Oasis tells you he wishes he’d written your song, as was the case with Chrissie Hynde‘s “I’ll Stand By You.” Not only did the Pretenders have a hit with this song, so too did Girls Aloud in 2004 and Carrie Underwood in 2007.

 

4. “With a Little Help From My Friends,” The Beatles
From: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

Really, where would any of us be without the help of our friends? This song speaks for itself.

 

5. “You’ve Got a Friend,” Carole King
From: Tapestry (1971)

Carole King recruited a friend, James Taylor, to play acoustic guitar on “You’ve Got a Friend” from 1971’s Tapestry. Just a few months later, Taylor recorded the song for his own 1971 album, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, and for that he recruited another friend: Joni Mitchell on backing vocals.

 

6. “Sunshine on My Shoulders,” John Denver
From: Poems, Prayers & Promises (1971)

Before he moved to Colorado, John Denver lived in Minnesota, where his first wife was from. It was there that he wrote the No. 1 hit “Sunshine on My Shoulders,” a tender track about longing for springtime after the cold of winter, and more importantly, longing to share it with a loved one.

 

7. “Songbird,” Fleetwood Mac
From: Rumours (1977)

Christine McVie never explicitly said what “Songbird” was written about. Sure, it could have been directed at her then-husband John McVie, but to us, it’s more of a tribute to all her bandmates and their intensely strong connection as people. “Because I feel that when I’m with you / It’s alright.”

 

8. “We’re Going to Be Friends,” The White Stripes
From: White Blood Cells (2001)

Even if the relationship doesn’t persist into adulthood, there’s something very special and nostalgic about those childhood friendships you recall for years. The White Stripes did a lovely job of summing this up in “We’re Going to Be Friends.”

 

9. “Friends,” The Beach Boys
From: Friends (1968)

Friends is the name of the Beach Boys’ 14th studio album, released in 1968. The title track is a waltzy tune about helping one’s friends through, well, life. “You told me when my girl was untrue / I loaned you money when the funds weren’t too cool.” “I thought there was a lot of humor in it,” Brian Wilson once said of the song, “and I thought, y’know, songs usually don’t have that much kinda humor, but ‘Friends’ had a lot of humor in it. So that’s why I like it.”

 

10. “Two of Us,” The Beatles
From: Let It Be (1970)

It’s true that Paul McCartney wrote “Two of Us” about his adventures with Linda Eastman, who was then his girlfriend, becoming his wife in March of 1969. But it was also around this time that the Beatles were parting ways, and as such, “Two of Us” sounded a bit more like a tribute to McCartney’s deep-seated friendship with Lennon — “You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.”

 

11. “Friends of Mine,” The Zombies
From: Odessey and Oracle (1968)

Not long after the Beatles finished recording Sgt. Pepper at EMI Studios in London, the Zombies entered the same building to record 1968’s Odessey and Oracle. Whether it was intentional or not, “Friends of Mine” has a bit of an early Beatles vibe. It’s an adorable track about watching your friends be in love, and yes, all of the people mentioned in this song were real friends of the band’s.

 

12. “Old Friends,” Simon & Garfunkel
From: Bookends (1968)

If there are two people who know something about the highs and lows of friendship, it’s Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. “Can you imagine us years from today / Sharing a park bench quietly? How terribly strange to be 70,” they sing in “Old Friends.” The two men weren’t even 30 years old at the time they recorded this song, but they seemed to know their partnership would have a lasting impact.

 

13. “All I Really Want to Do,” Bob Dylan
From: Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)

Here’s one of Bob Dylan’s most playful songs, at least from the early portion of his catalog. It’s possible he’s poking fun at his own audience in “All I Really Want to Do” — you can even hear Dylan giggle a bit on the end of some lines — or maybe making some commentary about friendships between women and men. Either which way, it’s a cute little track that, at the end, emphasizes how people can ultimately come together despite having differences: “I ain’t lookin’ for you to feel like me / See like me or be like me / All I really want to do / Is, baby, be friends with you.”

 

14. “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” The Hollies
From: 1969 Single

“He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” was written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell, based off an old story of a Scottish woman carrying her younger brother despite his being rather large for a women her size to carry alone. The Hollies recorded it in 1969, turning it into a Top 10 hit in both the U.K. and U.S. These are the things we do for family and friends that need us. “His welfare is of my concern / No burden is he to bear / We’ll get there.”

 

15. “My Best Friend,” Weezer
From: Make Believe (2005)

“My Best Friend” was actually a song Weezer submitted for consideration to be used in Shrek 2, but the movie’s producers turned it down. We’ll admit that it’s a pretty cheesy song, but isn’t that part of the beauty of friendship?

 

16. “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” Randy Newman
From: 1996 Single

This song speaks for itself. There’s a reason, after all, it was used as the theme for Toy Story, both the original film and all of its sequels. “The song is about the friendship of Woody and the boy, Andy,” Newman told Rolling Stone in 2017. “I asked for adjectives, they gave me ‘friendly,’ ‘comforting.’ I took them seriously.”

 

17. “Lean on Me,” Bill Withers
From: Still Bill (1972)

Bill Withers grew up thr small coal mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, where help between neighbors and friends came naturally in a way Withers noticed it didn’t in bigger cities. “I’m from an environment where it was practical to do that,” he explained to Songfacts in 2004. “That’s probably why somebody from New York did not write that song, or somebody from London, or somebody from a large city. It’s a rural song that translates probably across demographical lines. Who could argue with the fact that it would be nice to have somebody who really was that way? My experience was, there were people who were that way.”

 

18. “Acquiesce,” Oasis
From: (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (1995)

Liam and Noel Gallagher have always been brothers, but they have not always been friends. Fortunately, they buried years of tension in 2025 when they reunited Oasis and went on a massive global tour. Arguably one of the highlights was when the pair sang “Acquiesce,” a rare Oasis song that the brothers share lead vocals on. How fitting it was for them to sing the lines “we need each other, we believe in one another.”

 

19. “I Will Always Love You,” Dolly Parton
From: Jolene (1974)

You’d be perfectly forgiven for assuming Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” was written for a lover on their way out the door. But Parton actually wrote it as a farewell song to her business partner Porter Wagoner when he decided to pursue solo career. Such is the power of friendship.

 

20. “To Love Somebody,” The Bee Gees
From: Bee Gees’ 1st (1967)

The Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody” is similar to Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” in the sense that although it appears to be a romantic love song, it was actually written for the band’s manager. “It was for Robert [Stigwood]. I say that unabashedly,” Barry Gibb recalled to Mojo in 2001. “He asked me to write a song for him, personally. It was written in New York and played to Otis [Redding] but, personally, it was for Robert. He meant a great deal to me. I don’t think it was a homosexual affection but a tremendous admiration for this man’s abilities and gifts.”

 

21. “Hey Jude,” The Beatles
From: 1968 Single

Not many people can say there is a hit Beatles song written about them, but Julian Lennon certainly can. McCartney penned “Hey Jude” as a sort of comforting tune to the young Lennon in 1968, not long after his dad divorced Cynthia Lennon, Julian’s mother. He made sure to take time to visit the mother and son. “I will never forget Paul’s gesture of care and concern in coming to see us,” Cynthia later recalled. “It made me feel important and loved, as opposed to feeling discarded and obsolete.”

 

22. “Tea and Theatre,” The Who
From: Endless Wire (2006)

If you saw the Who on their farewell tour in 2025, then you know that Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey ended their shows with “Tea and Sympathy,” just the two of them on stage. They couldn’t have picked a better song to finish things on, a nod to their decades-long partnership as both friends and collaborators. “A thousand songs still smolder now / We play them as one, we’re older now.”

 

23. “That’s What Friends Are For,” Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder
From: Friends (1985)

Yeah, Dionne Warwick could have recorded “That’s What Friends Are For” by herself, but where would the fun be in that? Why not invite into the fold Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Gladys Knight? And the best part is that it raised several million dollars for AIDS research and prevention.

 

24. “Me and My Friends,” Red Hot Chili Peppers
From: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987)

Possibly the best part about being in a band is that your job revolves around spending time with people who are, through ups and downs, your friends. At the time of this writing, “Me and My Friends” is the seventh most-played song live of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ entire career. Some things and some friends don’t change.

 

25. “Best Friend,” Harry Nilsson
From: Theme to ‘The Courtship of Eddie’s Father’

At some point in the late ’60s, Harry Nilsson was asked to write a theme song for the television series The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. He came up with “Best Friend,” but it unfortunately was only used on the show and never put onto one of Nilsson’s own albums.