Sure, country music has produced plenty of love songs over the years.
But for those times when you’re feeling a little down and out in the relationships department, and lovey-dovey lyrics are on your fightin’ side, traditional love songs can be a little too much to take.
READ MORE: 25 Sad Country Songs From the Past 25 Years
That’s why Taste of Country has assembled the 28 saddest love songs in country music history, a perfect playlist for your anti-Valentine’s Day campaign or just a bunch of great country songs to listen to if you like the sadder stuff.
Some of these songs are about breaking up even when there’s still a lot of love there. Some are about the hidden pain of ending a relationship that was never supposed to begin in the first place — because it was an affair.
Two are about the difficulty of getting divorced when there are children in the picture. That topic is so sad, both those songs landed in our Top 10.
Most of the songs on this list are at least a couple of decades old, although there is a small handful of exceptions.
In fact, one song is just a few weeks old at time of publication. Time will tell if the newer stuff can stand up to the solid-gold country heartache we got from artists like Dolly Parton, Conway Twitty, Reba McEntire and Garth Brooks.
Staff input formed the backbone of this list and ranking, though we also pulled from sales and streaming data, as well as reader opinion.
Keep reading to see if our No. 1 pick matches yours!
The 28 Saddest Love Songs in Country Music, Ever
Love hurts sometimes, and nothing can express that pain better than a great country lyric. We’ve tallied up 28 country love songs all about the painful parts of love, from heartache to missed connections to betrayal. Get a box of tissues ready and keep scrolling.
Gallery Credit: Carena Liptak
