Falling in love with your best friend is a universal experience. It’s no wonder that solid, lasting romantic partnerships attribute their success to feeling like theyāre friends as well as lovers. Here is the perfect playlist with the best songs about being in love with your best friend.
It can be an uncomfortable experience to realize that you are in love with your best friend. What if this wrecks the friendship, and you lose your friend as a potential romantic partner and as your partner in crime?
Luckily for us, plenty of musicians have been penning songs about just being friends but wanting more for decades.
āYou Belong With Meā – Taylor Swift
One of Swiftās most iconic early songs, āYou Belong With Me,ā tells the story of a girl who watches a close friend struggling with a toxic relationship with his girlfriend. She desperately wishes that he will realize soon enough that what heās been looking for is closer than he thinks.
Taylor Swift is a household name for anyone who keeps up with popular music. This piece is one of the songs about being in love with your best friend country music fans love.
Recently she has made waves by re-recording old albums (including Fearless, on which āYou Belong With Meā appears) to wrest creative and licensing control back from her old recording label.
While both versions of her song are timeless, the more recent re-recording features Swiftās more mature vocals.
āJenny (I Wanna Ruin Our Friendship)ā – Studio Killers
āJenny (I Wanna Ruin Our Friendship)ā by Studio Killers is a pining dance song in which the singer confesses to a deep unrequited love for their best friend, Jenny. In the song, she steals Jennyās things and begs Jenny to ruin their friendship.
Studio Killers is a European band with Finnish, Danish, and British members. Similar to Gorillaz, Studio Killers is a virtual band with animated performers. Their song āJennyā brought them to new audiences, particularly younger listeners using TikTok.
āBest Friendsā – The Weeknd
In āBest Friendsā by The Weeknd, the script gets flipped. The Weeknd sings from the perspective of someone who has to gently let his best friend down and tell them that he is not interested in building a romantic relationship.
Though the song intimates that he and his best friend are already sleeping together, the Weeknd reiterates that what is important to him is their friendship.
āBest Friendsā appears on the album Dawn FM, an early 2022 release. The album received critical acclaim as one of the Weekndās most creative to date. It is one of the songs about being in love with your best friend r&b fans will like.
āYouāre My Best Friendā – Queen
This iconic Queen song was written after bassist John Deacon married his best friend. The singer shares that heās delighted he can profess his genuine love for his best friend and that they will spend the rest of their lives together.
āYouāre My Best Friendā topped number 7 on the United Kingdom charts after it was released as a single, separate from its original placement on the 1975 album A Night at the Opera. It is one of the best rock songs about being in love with your best friend.
āTell Me You Love Meā – Galantis & Throttle
In this dance hit āTell Me You Love Meā by Galantis & Throttle, a tortured singer begs their friend to open their eyes and recognize how compatible they are. They wonder how they let themselves get so infatuated with a friend who refuses to acknowledge that they could make a great couple.
Galantis is an electronic band made up of just two members, and Throttle is a featured artist on āTell Me You Love Me.ā
āSomething To Talk Aboutā – Bonnie Raitt
Even if you havenāt heard of Bonnie Raitt, you will have heard āSomething to Talk About.ā In this classic folksy-country song, Raitt sings about an attraction between two friends so obvious that the whole world seems to be commenting. She wonders if they should throw caution to the wind and go for it.
Though originally from California, Bonnie Raitt has made a name for herself as a blues and bluegrass singer. In addition to writing and performing terrific blues music, Raitt is also an activist for anti-war and civil rights movements.
āI Want You To Want Meā – Letters to Cleo
Featured in the immensely popular movie 10 Things I Hate About You, āI Want You to Want Meā by Letters to Cleo is a 90s pop-punk anthem. Tired of waiting, singer Kay Hanley begs a friend to reciprocate her feelings.
Originally from Boston, Letters to Cleo achieved fame and notoriety in the 90s but ended their time together after ten years (shortly before 10 Things I Hate About You hit theaters).
āFalling in Love With My Best Friendā – Tyler Ward
Tyler Ward, a recent breakthrough in the country/pop music scene, sings a song about the slow but intoxicating process of being friends but wanting just a bit more. In the chorus, he croons about increasing intimacy between two friends. Before he knows it, heās full-blown in love. This selection is one of the most underrated songs about being in love with your best friend.
āBest Friendā – RaVaughn
The most impatient of all the songs on this playlist, Ravaughn sings about the pain of watching someone she loves love another. She resents the ābest friendā label and is tired of her love complaining to her about his failed, toxic relationships.
A virtuosic performer from an early age, RaVaughn broke through after performing on the hit television show Glee. She has worked with other pop icons, Celine Dion, Natasha Bedingfield, Kelly Clarkson, and Brandy. This lineage of strong female performers is evident in āBest Friend,ā which is as catchy as it is universal.
āBest Friendā – Rex Orange County
A blend of pop, electronic, and independent soft rock, Rex Orange County is the performing name of English singer-songwriter Alexander James OāConnor. Known for his pining, emotional songs, āBest Friendā is a classic example of Rex Orange Countyās music.
In āBest Friend,ā OāConnor predicts that the girl heās in love with will only want to be best friends. She will want to keep him in her life for as long as possible because heās comforting and cheerful. However, this wonāt translate to romantic feelings, and OāConnor will be rejected and relegated to the friend zone.
āMy Best Friendā – Tim McGraw
āA Place in the Sunā was the fifth album released by country music artist Tim McGraw. This song was one of the most popular he ever released. In contrast to many country songs, he talks about the joy he feels from finding his perfect love.
āMy Best Friendā is one of the top songs about being in love with your best friend country music has to offer. He sings about every moment making perfect sense because he has found love with his best friend. It is especially effective when he performs since because he sometimes brings his wife, Faith Hill, on stage to sing to her.
āSave the Best for Lastā – Vanessa Williams
Vanessa Williams is best known today for being a film and TV actress. In the early nineties, she was a recording artist who would go on to win a Tony and a Grammy. She released one of the best songs about falling in love with your best friend R&B has to offer in 1991 as part of āThe Comfort Zone.ā
Williams sings about having a lifetime of failed relationships and getting ready to give up on being loved. Then she notices the love her friend had for her and realizes that she had someone to care about all along.
āHead Over Feetā – Alanis Morissette
This is a song about being in love with your best friend and how sometimes a good friendship turns into love for one another. It can be unexpected for both of you, as Morissette says in this song. It is a sweet tribute to her friend, who she finds herself falling for head over feet.
āJagged Little Pillā was her third studio album, but it was the one that shot her to fame. It was released as the fifth single and was later re-recorded by Morissette on her acoustic album. It is also part of the soundtrack for the āJagged Little Pillā Broadway show.
āDonāt Speakā – No Doubt
Sometimes, breaking up can lead to a realization that you are better as friends. āDonāt Speakā is a power ballad that went through many changes before it was released. It was an upbeat jazzy song at first, but after Gwen Stefani broke up with bass guitarist Tony Kanal, it became sadder.
“Don’t Speak” was released in 1996 as part of No Doubtās āTragic Kingdomā album. Stefani later wrote another song in 2004 titled āCoolā, about her relationship with Kanal as friends.
āTeardrops on My Guitarā – Taylor Swift
It can be painful when you want to be more than friends, but they donāt feel the same way. Unrequited love is something most people go through at some point. Taylor Swift had a high-school classmate she had feelings for, but they were not reciprocated. That is what āTeardrops on My Guitarā is about.
Released on her debut album in 2007, this is one of the best songs about being just friends but wanting more. It made it to number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
It also crossed over to be played on pop radio stations as well as country stations. The boy in question was named Drew Hardwick, and he tried to contact Swift after the songās release. She felt too awkward to call him back.
āIāve Been Thinking āBout Youā – Mariah Carey
If you have ever fallen in love with someone you thought was a friend, you know how suddenly the realization can come to you. Carey sings about how she knows she is getting feelings for her friend and that they were the one she was meant to be with all along. She sings that she knows it will turn her life upside down, but she can’t deny her feelings anymore.
This song came out in 1993 as part of her āMusic Boxā album. Being her third album, it became one of the best-selling albums of all time. This song should be on your āfalling in love with your best friendā playlist.
āWhat Ifsā – Kane Brown featuring Lauren Alaina
When friendship turns to romance, the idea of what can happen is scary and exciting. Kane Brown wrote this song about the āwhat ifā questions you ask yourself about a relationship. Ultimately, they ask what if their love affair was meant to be.
Brown performed this song with a friend of his from school, Lauren Alaina. She was the runner-up on āAmerican Idol,ā and he felt she was the perfect fit for the duet. Country audiences agreed, making the single go platinum seven times.
āCanāt Fight This Feelingā – REO Speedwagon
REO Speedwagon released this well-known power ballad, one of the best rock songs about being in love with your best friend at the pinnacle of their fame in 1984.
Kevin Cronin, the lead singer, wrote about his experience of falling in love with a friend and keeping it to himself. Eventually, he couldnāt fight it anymore and had to tell her. They had a relationship for a time but remained friends after.
The song was on their āWheels Are Turnināā album. The melody and lyrics were a hit and took it to the top of the charts. It has remained a go-to classic rock love song for films and TV ever since.
āMore Than Friendsā – Jason Mraz with Meghan Trainor
This song is to be bubbly and fun. It is an acoustic love song sung back and forth between Mraz and Trainor. They talk about how they have been friends for a long time and how theyāre ready to take it to the next level.
Mraz said the idea for the song came from little jokes he and his wife would say to each other. She would describe something as being āmore than friendsā if she liked it. Mraz released the song on his album titled āKnowā in 2018.
āNot In That Wayā – Sam Smith
Sam Smith wrote this song about a love that wasnāt returned for his debut album, āIn the Lonely Hour.ā He said he knew he loved this person, but they didnāt love him back. The song has a sad melody as he knows he will never be loved by the person he adores.
Smith claims his mother cries when she listens to it, and he himself was in tears when he wrote it since he knew the protagonist would hear it and he felt as though he was saying these words directly to them.
āShiverā – Coldplay
Coldplayās debut album had a song all about the feeling you get when you see your friend as something more for the first time. Itās about being there and waiting until they see you the same way.
Sometimes love is something you just have to wait for, and when the moment is right, it will happen.
Chris Martin would never give a straight answer about the inspiration for this song. But no matter who he wrote it about, it resonated with people worldwide. It was released in 2000 for Coldplayās album titled āParachutes.ā It reached 35 on the UK Singles Chart and is still popular today.
Final Thoughts
Even though waiting for your best to notice that the two of you belong together can feel excruciatingly painful, these songs about being in love with your best friend will help ease the pain. Not every song is happy; in fact, many of them are processing the pain of never having their love requited. Nevertheless, it never hurts to know that someone else has felt the way you do.
