Send him "Lovesong" by The Cure (1989) if you only send one. Robert Smith wrote it as a wedding present for Mary, who he'd been with since they were teenagers, and for a band famous for gloom it's startlingly direct. It's mid-tempo, too, so even the boyfriend who swears he hates slow songs won't skip it.
Everything else is sorted by mood, loud first and funny last, so jump to whichever sounds like him. All of these love songs for him are clean, by the way, so nothing awkward if his mom's in the car.
For the boyfriend who skips slow songs
You know the guy. A piano intro starts and his thumb's already on the skip button, but give him drums and he'll sing the whole chorus at a red light. Most lists of the best love songs for him are wall-to-wall ballads, which doesn't help here. These ones move.
- "Still Into You" by Paramore (2013). Hayley Williams, years into a relationship and still giddy about it, at full speed. Play it with the windows down.
- "Everlong" by Foo Fighters (1997). The loudest love song on this page. Dave Grohl's acoustic version is lovely, but send him the original with the drums.
- "Yellow" by Coldplay (2000). Chris Martin insisting he swam across for you, which is very Chris Martin.
- "Wonderwall" by Oasis (1995). Vaguer than you remember. The chorus carries it, and he's probably mangled it on a borrowed guitar at least once.
- "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service (2003). Bleepy and sweet. If he likes things quieter, the Iron & Wine cover is the gentle version.
- "Adore You" by Harry Styles (2019). Bright enough for a morning text.
- "Better Together" by Jack Johnson (2005). Barefoot tempo. Great on a lazy Sunday, useless at the gym.
- "You Are the Best Thing" by Ray LaMontagne (2008). A raspy voice over horns, and a chorus he'll be humming at work by Tuesday.
- "Sucker" by Jonas Brothers (2019). Fizzy pop about falling hard. All three of their wives are in the video, so they clearly meant it.
- "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros (2009). Whistling and a spoken bit in the middle that fans can recite word for word. Sing it as a duet.
Romantic songs for him when you mean it
Right, the slow ones. These are for when you're done being cute about it and you want him sitting in the parked car until the last chorus fades. If he's never had a song from you before, the Adele is the safe choice. The Nick Cave is the brave one.
- "Make You Feel My Love" by Adele (2008). A Bob Dylan song, though her cover is the one most people know. Mostly piano, so every word lands.
- "At Last" by Etta James (1960). Strings rise before she sings a note. She sounds like someone who waited a long time for this.
- "Halo" by Beyoncé (2008). Big and bright. For the nights when subtle isn't the point.
- "Into My Arms" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (1997). It opens by doubting an interventionist God, which is an odd way into a love song, and it works anyway (the piano helps).
- "Kissing You" by Des'ree (1996). From the fish tank scene in Romeo + Juliet. Ask him if he remembers it.
- "I Wanna Be Yours" by Arctic Monkeys (2013). John Cooper Clarke wrote the words as a poem first, vacuum cleaner and all.
- "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri (2011). Written for a Twilight film and much better than that sounds.
- "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol (2006). About lying around together and forgetting the rest of the world. It builds slowly. Let it.
- "Iris" by Goo Goo Dolls (1998). Strange guitar tuning, huge chorus. Send it if he was a teenager in the late '90s.
- "Die with a Smile" by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars (2024). The newest song here, a duet about wanting to be next to someone when the world ends.
- "Fall at Your Feet" by Crowded House (1991). Neil Finn at his gentlest. A 1 a.m. song.
- "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes (2005). Acoustic and a bit shaky, like a voice memo he wasn't meant to hear.
Country songs about love
The Keith Whitley song in this list might be the best thing on the page. Country songs about love tend to say it plainly, which helps if you're bad at saying it yourself. One version note. Alison Krauss and Ronan Keating both covered that Whitley song later, and either one's fine to send if the original sounds too old to him.
- "Amazed" by Lonestar (1999). Every little thing he does, noticed and adored, with no irony anywhere near it.
- "When You Say Nothing at All" by Keith Whitley (1988). The original. It's about someone who says it all without talking, which suits the quiet ones.
- "I Cross My Heart" by George Strait (1992). Plain promises, sung by a man who sounds like he keeps them. From the film Pure Country.
- "This Kiss" by Faith Hill (1998). Fast and giddy. Early-months material.
- "Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts (2004). A thank-you to every wrong turn that got you to him (others recorded it first, but this is the version that stuck).
- "Tennessee Whiskey" by Chris Stapleton (2015). Technically a cover of an old George Jones single, slowed into something bluesy. You could slow-dance to it in the kitchen.
- "Islands in the Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton (1983). The Bee Gees wrote it. Take Dolly's part and sing it at him in the car.
- "Then" by Brad Paisley (2009). He keeps thinking he couldn't love her more, and he keeps being wrong. Good for year five.
- "Cowboy Take Me Away" by Dixie Chicks (1999). A woman asking him to take her somewhere wide and quiet (they go by The Chicks now).
- "Forever After All" by Luke Combs (2020). Beer goes flat and roses die, he says, but this doesn't.
- "Butterflies" by Kacey Musgraves (2018). Kacey sounding surprised by how happy she is. It's the softest song in this list.
Older ones from his parents' car
His dad's record player probably had a couple of these on it, or the car did, on a tape nobody ever took out. Everything here is pre-1990. He'll sing along before he's figured out how he knows the words.
Not sure what they played? Ask him, and add it to your list of questions to ask your boyfriend, because nobody answers that one without telling you about a road trip.
- "Everywhere" by Fleetwood Mac (1987). Christine McVie wrote this one, and it's the Fleetwood Mac song least likely to start an argument.
- "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" by Stevie Wonder (1970). Pure joy, over before you know it.
- "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel (1986). The song John Cusack blasts from a stereo held over his head in Say Anything. If he's seen the film, he'll get the joke and the point.
- "I Only Want to Be with You" by Dusty Springfield (1963). Her first single after leaving The Springfields, and she sounds thrilled to be out on her own.
- "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen (1979). Queen doing rockabilly, with Freddie Mercury plainly having a great time.
- "Your Song" by Elton John (1970). Bernie Taupin's lyric keeps stopping to apologize for itself, and Elton sings every apology like he means it.
- "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by Frankie Valli (1967). Quiet for a minute, then the horns crash in. Don't send it if he's asleep.
- "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS (1987). Michael Hutchence at his moodiest. That sax break still gets people.
- "You Make My Dreams" by Daryl Hall and John Oates (1980). Impossible to stay grumpy through. Monday morning material.
- "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell (1967). The original duet, looser and happier than the Diana Ross version that came later.
- "My Guy" by Mary Wells (1964). Smokey Robinson wrote it. The title says enough, so send it without a message.
- "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper (1983). For the boyfriend who's caught you more than once.
- "All I Want Is You" by U2 (1988). Long and slow-building. Stay for the strings at the end.
R&B and soul for a late text
Bold move. A love song in a 2 a.m. text reads differently from the same song at lunch, and these were built for that hour. Turn your screen brightness down first.
- "Let's Stay Together" by Al Green (1971). That falsetto. Enough said.
- "Ain't Nobody" by Rufus and Chaka Khan (1983). Synths and one of the great voices. Fine at full volume, even at 1 a.m.
- "Sweet Love" by Anita Baker (1986). Low and unhurried, like the last hour of a good night.
- "Kiss of Life" by Sade (1992). About someone who turned up at just the right time. Gentle all the way through.
- "So Into You" by Tamia (1998). Late '90s R&B at its smoothest, from a Canadian singer he may not know yet.
- "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys (2003). Piano-led and blunt about it. Nothing else counts without him.
- "Be Without You" by Mary J. Blige (2005). For a couple that had a hard year and stayed. She sounds tired and certain at the same time.
- "Adorn" by Miguel (2012). Slinky. Save it for after 11 p.m.
Songs for a husband, years in
Husband songs should be a little boring. That's a compliment. The ones that land after years together are about staying put (the same couch, the dishes, the carpool, the person still there at breakfast), and they skip the fireworks because you're both past needing them.
- "Remember When" by Alan Jackson (2003). The whole marriage, start to finish, with the rough patches left in. Keep tissues nearby.
- "You're Still the One" by Shania Twain (1997). About proving the doubters wrong. Send it after a year that tested you both.
- "Harvest Moon" by Neil Young (1992). Neil Young asking to see her dance again, years in. Swap the pronouns in your head.
- "Lover" by Taylor Swift (2019). Taylor in waltz time, singing about small domestic things like leaving the Christmas lights up into January.
- "By Your Side" by Sade (2000). A promise to keep showing up. Quiet enough for the kitchen.
- "Ordinary People" by John Legend (2004). Just him and a piano, singing about couples who fight and stay anyway.
- "Lovely Day" by Bill Withers (1977). He holds one note near the end for an absurdly long time, and makes it sound easy.
- "Have I Told You Lately" by Van Morrison (1989). Rod Stewart covered it later. The original is gentler.
- "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran (2014). For the husband who'll still be dancing badly with you at seventy.
Love songs for him that get a laugh
If he's had a rotten week, skip the ballads. A funny love song still says the thing, and he gets to grin at his phone in the break room instead of getting choked up in front of coworkers. Of these, the Proclaimers wins.
- "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers (1988). Twin brothers from Scotland promising to walk a ridiculous distance for you. He'll be shouting along by the second chorus.
- "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley (1987). He'll assume it's a prank. It sort of is, but read the words and it's a promise song.
- "Wonderful World" by Sam Cooke (1960). A guy who admits he knows nothing about history and loves you anyway (not the Louis Armstrong song, by the way).
- "When I'm Sixty-Four" by The Beatles (1967). Paul McCartney wrote it as a teenager. Save it for the birthday when he starts complaining about his knees.
- "Grow Old with You" by Adam Sandler (1998). From The Wedding Singer, sung on a plane with an acoustic guitar. Sweet and very silly.
- "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles (2007). A love song about refusing to write a love song. Send it when he asks you to say something nice.
Sending one without it being awkward
One song, one line. That's the whole trick. Paste the link and type one thing above it that nobody else could've typed ("gas station song, 1:58" or "this is going on the playlist with the dumb name"), then put the phone face down.
Give him a timestamp if there's a part you mean. Most songs take a minute to get going, and the second verse is usually where the good line is, so "2:41" saves him guessing. He'll skip there. Then he'll go back to the start, because everyone does.
Don't explain it, and don't ask the next day whether he listened. If he sends one back, well, now you've got a thing. For his birthday, when one line looks a bit thin next to a whole song, borrow from these birthday messages for a boyfriend to go with the song and paste yours above the link.
A song with his name in it
None of these songs knows his name.
If you want a song for him that does, HeartCraft can make a song with his name in the chorus and your own story in the lines (the hoodie he leaves on the passenger seat, the night the aux cord finally died). You tell HeartCraft who it's for and share a few memories. Then you pick the language and the feel of the song. It's ready in about 10 minutes and lands on your WhatsApp or email as a link you can forward to him or play in the car.
No occasion needed, either. You can start one just because, and if you'd like to see every step first, there's a longer guide on making a song gift from scratch.
Odds and ends
Is it cheesy to send a guy a love song?
Only a little, and he'll secretly like it. Most of the cheese comes from the paragraph people write under the link, so keep yours to one line.
What if we use different music apps?
Type the title and the artist under the link, and he can search it in whatever he's got.
Should it be a song he already knows?
Either works. A song from your first road trip has history built in, and a new one is fine as long as you tell him which part to wait for.
How often can I send him songs?
There's no rule. Once a week feels like a habit, and five in a row at midnight buries the good one.