The 30 best love songs of all time

Release date: 2024

Not all love songs are gushy ballads, and Billie’s hit from last year is a pretty great example, hitting a middle ground between joyful and melancholy, light and haunting. At first listen, it’s cute, but once she starts singing ‘If I’m turning blue, please don’t save me / Nothing left to lose without my baby,’ this becomes a song about (literally) not being able to live without someone – kinda romantic, but kinda intense too. No wonder it set TikTok alight for the best part of a year. 

Release date: 1960

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.

Release date: 2025

Olivia Dean has deservedly taken the music world by storm over the last year, and ‘A Couple Minutes’ is one of the stand-outs from Brit Award-nominated album ‘The Art of Loving’. No easy feat for an all-filler record, but this beautifully written, beautifully sung, beautifully composed track is an emotional gut-punch from the moment Dean opens with ‘Turn around / Since when are you smoking now?’. All about the bittersweet feeling of lost love, this is not recommended listening for anyone trying to get over their ex. Proceed with caution.

Release date: 1990

Any number of Mariah Carey songs could claim a place on this list, but her stunning debut single remains irresistibly romantic. Released in 1990, it’s a gorgeous, gospel-tinged pop-soul ballad that builds towards a thrilling climax featuring Mimi’s signature whistle notes. Carey would go on to write and perform more sophisticated love songs, but ‘Vision of Love’ captures that butterflies-in-your-stomach feeling with a giddy sense of bliss. 

Release date: 1972

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.  

Release date: 1974

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.

Release date: 1967

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. 

Release date: 2016

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. 

Release date: 2012

‘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.

Release date: 2013

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.