Valentine's Day songs for dinner at home, new couples, long marriages

Valentine's Day 2027 falls on a Sunday, and the good restaurant has probably been booked out since January. Fine. Put the takeout boxes on the rug and light the candle that smells like a hotel lobby. The first song is "That's Amore" by Dean Martin (1953), which compares the moon to a pizza inside the first minute.

The rest of these Valentine's Day songs are sorted by who's on the rug with you. There are sets for new couples and long marriages, a Galentine's night, a quiet night alone and a dinner eaten over a video call.

Dinner on the living room floor

Eat on the floor. The coffee table makes a decent dining table, and there's no next booth to hear you sing with your mouth full.

Valentine's songs for a meal at home should match its pace, and this one will take two hours because you keep putting the fork down to talk. Prop the phone against the wine bottle. Half volume is plenty.

"Cheek to Cheek" by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (1956). Gravel and silk. Irving Berlin wrote it for Fred Astaire, but these two own it now.
"The Sweetest Taboo" by Sade (1985). Put this on when the food's gone and nobody wants to get up off the rug.
"L-O-V-E" by Nat King Cole (1965). He spells it out. Every letter gets its own line.
"Dandelions" by Ruth B. (2017). Ruth B. is from Edmonton, and the song is a wish made on a dandelion. It's about that delicate.
"The Look of Love" by Dusty Springfield (1967). From Casino Royale, the 1967 Bond spoof. Second glass of wine.
"Just the Two of Us" by Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers (1980). Bill Withers sings and the saxophone answers. You'll both hum the chorus for a week.
"Fly Me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra (1964). Count Basie's band swings it hard. Eat to this one.
"Come Away with Me" by Norah Jones (2002). Quiet enough to talk over, which you will.
"Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" by Barry White (1974). Barry White talks for a while before he sings a note. Let him.
"Something" by The Beatles (1969). George Harrison wrote it. About three minutes, so it ends before the dumplings go cold.

Your first Valentine's together

How much should a song say in week five? Less than you'd think. A ballad about growing old together can land like a ring box on the second date, so keep a Valentine's Day song this early light and a little flirty.

Send one at a time, too. A twelve-song playlist on a third date reads like homework. If he's the one on the receiving end, there's a longer run of love songs for him to pick from.

"Valentine" by Laufey (2022). An Icelandic singer with an old-movie voice, half thrilled and half alarmed to have a valentine at all. That's month two, more or less.
"Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen (2011). For when you've only just met. She knows it's a little crazy and hands over her number anyway.
"Be My Baby" by The Ronettes (1963). Boom, ba-boom, crack. That drum intro says everything before Ronnie Spector sings a word.
"Just Like Heaven" by The Cure (1987). Robert Smith, spinning and dizzy. It's the Cure in a good mood, which is rarer than it should be.
"Dreams" by The Cranberries (1992). Jangly guitars from Limerick and a voice that flips up high when you least expect it. Send it the morning after a good date.
"Will You Love Me Tomorrow" by The Shirelles (1960). Carole King co-wrote it near the start of her career, and the title is still the question nobody asks out loud in month one.
"This Year's Love" by David Gray (1998). A British singer at the piano, hoping this one lasts longer than the last.
"Ho Hey" by The Lumineers (2012). Fun to send, hard to slow dance to.

Valentine's Day songs for the long haul

Eleven at night, dishes soaking, and the two of you have done enough Februaries to skip the fuss. Most love songs for Valentine's Day are written about week three. These know about mortgages and who forgot the milk. Hide your wedding song, or the one from your first apartment, in the middle of the playlist and see who notices first.

If this is the year the ring finally comes out of the sock drawer, you want our list of proposal songs instead.

"My Funny Valentine" by Chet Baker (1954). He pokes fun at their looks, then begs them not to change a hair. Anyone who has seen their partner with the flu will get it.
"Sunday Morning" by Maroon 5 (2002). The 14th falls on a Sunday in 2027, so play this one before anybody's out of bed.
"How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" by Marvin Gaye (1964). Motown with a grin on its face. Put it on while one of you makes coffee for two.
"Just the Way You Are" by Billy Joel (1977). Same request as Chet Baker, twenty-three years later, with an electric piano and a saxophone solo.
"Still into You" by Paramore (2013). Loud and quick, about still having a crush after more years than fit on one hand. Jump around the living room in socks.
"Endless Love" by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie (1981). As syrupy as February gets, which is the whole appeal. Sing it at each other with the TV remote as a microphone.
"Love Will Keep Us Alive" by Eagles (1994). From their reunion album, with the bass player, Timothy B. Schmit, singing lead. Good for a couple who has had a hard year and is still here.
"This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)" by Natalie Cole (1975). Brassy and fast. Save it for when the plates are stacked and somebody wants to dance.
"The Best" by Tina Turner (1989). Bonnie Tyler recorded it a year earlier. Tina's version is the one you shout at each other from separate rooms.

Galentine's, or a night on your own

Galentine's is the loudest night of the weekend, and the singing gets worse in the best way. Imani brings the heart-shaped pizza and Ruby brings the speaker. Pass the phone around so everybody adds one song before the pizza's gone. By 10 p.m., nobody remembers whose idea the karaoke was.

A night on your own counts too. Order exactly what you like and save the last two songs for the bath.

"I'm Every Woman" by Chaka Khan (1978). Ashford and Simpson wrote it, and Chaka Khan sings it like she's throwing the front door open.
"Love Shack" by The B-52's (1989). Somebody will yell the tin roof line a beat too early.
"Love Story" by Taylor Swift (2008). Find a sturdy cushion to stand on for the key change.
"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper (1983). Getting two requests for this one is normal. Play it both times.
"Lovefool" by The Cardigans (1996). Sweet Swedish pop that sounds cheerful until you notice how hard she's begging. Sing it anyway.
"Flowers" by Miley Cyrus (2023). For anyone buying their own tulips this year, and getting the nice ones.
"Put Your Records On" by Corinne Bailey Rae (2006). The bath song. A singer from Leeds tells you to put a record on and let your hair down.

When the date is a video call

What survives a video call with bad Wi-Fi? Slow songs, mostly. Anything fast turns to mush somewhere between your router and theirs.

If you plan to play one down the call, one honest word: the call will squash it, so send the song first and press play together on a count of three. Mail the present early too, because packages take days. Our Valentine's Day gift guide for 2027 has ideas if you're stuck.

"Faithfully" by Journey (1983). Jonathan Cain wrote it on tour while he missed his wife. A big, slow ballad about what the road does to the people waiting at home.
"Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's (2005). Just an acoustic guitar and a guy doing the travel math out loud. A thousand miles, he decides, is doable.
"I Just Called to Say I Love You" by Stevie Wonder (1984). Built for the phone. Stevie runs through the holidays it isn't, and February's candy hearts make the list.
"I Will Wait" by Mumford & Sons (2012). Banjo up front and a promise to wait as long as it takes. Turn it up on the drive back from the airport.
"Home" by Michael Bublé (2005). Summer in Paris and Rome, and all the man wants is to go home. Poor thing.
"Late Night Talking" by Harry Styles (2022). About staying up talking far too late. Play it in the one hour when both time zones are awake.

Pop love songs from the last few years

On the drive to dinner, the radio plays something from last summer, and you both sing the chorus without meaning to. These are the newest Valentine's Day songs on the page. Pick one they already know, and every time it comes on in a grocery store this spring, they'll think of the rug and the takeout.

Teasing is allowed here. If they already sing one of these in the shower, send it with the timestamp of the line they always get wrong.

"Calm Down" by Rema and Selena Gomez (2022). Nigerian Afrobeats with a crush at the center. Good for swaying in place with a plate in one hand.
"My Love Mine All Mine" by Mitski (2023). Small and slow, a song for 1 a.m. She asks the moon to keep her love shining after she's gone.
"Levitating" by Dua Lipa (2020). Disco with a bass line that won't sit still. Clear a space on the rug.
"Shivers" by Ed Sheeran (2021). A crush he can feel down his spine, and a beat bouncy enough for the morning after.
"Heaven" by Niall Horan (2023). The One Direction boy from Mullingar, grown up and sounding very pleased about it.
"Anyone" by Justin Bieber (2021). Bieber, married by then, promising there's nobody else. A safe bet if they had his poster on the wall at fourteen.
"Beautiful Things" by Benson Boone (2024). Starts as a thank-you and builds to a full-throated yell. Warn the neighbors.
"Ordinary" by Alex Warren (2025). It opens with holy water and ends up with a chorus the size of a stadium. The newest song here.

A Valentine's song that sings their name

Every dedication on late-night radio goes out to the whole city at once. A song card from HeartCraft goes to one person. You say who it's for and share a few memories, like the call where the Wi-Fi died or that mixtape on a USB stick, and their name gets sung in the chorus while your story fills the lines.

Pick the language and the feel of the song. It's ready in about 10 minutes and arrives on your WhatsApp or email as a link to forward or play for them over dinner. Start one as a just-because song, since nobody asks why on the 14th. Haven't asked them to be your Valentine yet? The Valentine's proposal card has a No button that runs away.

From the late-night mailbag

Do valentines day songs have to be love songs?

No. The song from your first road trip, or the one playing in the bar the night you met, will beat any ballad on a list. Put it first and don't explain it.

How many songs go on a Valentine's Day playlist?

Twenty-five to thirty covers a long dinner at home with time left for dessert. Put the slowest ones in the middle, after the food and before anyone mentions the dishes. With shuffle on, the night could open with Barry White.

When is Galentine's Day in 2027?

Saturday, February 13, 2027, the day before Valentine's Day. The idea comes from Leslie Knope on the TV show Parks and Recreation, who threw a breakfast for her friends that day.

Is it cheesy to send someone a love song?

A little, and February is the month you get away with it. Add one line about why you picked that song, because the reason is the part they'll screenshot.

Dinner on the living room floor

Eat on the floor. The coffee table makes a decent dining table, and there's no next booth to hear you sing with your mouth full.

"Cheek to Cheek" by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (1956). Gravel and silk. Irving Berlin wrote it for Fred Astaire, but these two own it now.
"The Sweetest Taboo" by Sade (1985). Put this on when the food's gone and nobody wants to get up off the rug.
"L-O-V-E" by Nat King Cole (1965). He spells it out. Every letter gets its own line.
"Dandelions" by Ruth B. (2017). Ruth B. is from Edmonton, and the song is a wish made on a dandelion. It's about that delicate.
"The Look of Love" by Dusty Springfield (1967). From Casino Royale, the 1967 Bond spoof. Second glass of wine.
"Just the Two of Us" by Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers (1980). Bill Withers sings and the saxophone answers. You'll both hum the chorus for a week.
"Fly Me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra (1964). Count Basie's band swings it hard. Eat to this one.
"Come Away with Me" by Norah Jones (2002). Quiet enough to talk over, which you will.
"Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" by Barry White (1974). Barry White talks for a while before he sings a note. Let him.
"Something" by The Beatles (1969). George Harrison wrote it. About three minutes, so it ends before the dumplings go cold.

Your first Valentine's together

Send one at a time, too. A twelve-song playlist on a third date reads like homework. If he's the one on the receiving end, there's a longer run of love songs for him to pick from.

"Valentine" by Laufey (2022). An Icelandic singer with an old-movie voice, half thrilled and half alarmed to have a valentine at all. That's month two, more or less.
"Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen (2011). For when you've only just met. She knows it's a little crazy and hands over her number anyway.
"Be My Baby" by The Ronettes (1963). Boom, ba-boom, crack. That drum intro says everything before Ronnie Spector sings a word.
"Just Like Heaven" by The Cure (1987). Robert Smith, spinning and dizzy. It's the Cure in a good mood, which is rarer than it should be.
"Dreams" by The Cranberries (1992). Jangly guitars from Limerick and a voice that flips up high when you least expect it. Send it the morning after a good date.
"Will You Love Me Tomorrow" by The Shirelles (1960). Carole King co-wrote it near the start of her career, and the title is still the question nobody asks out loud in month one.
"This Year's Love" by David Gray (1998). A British singer at the piano, hoping this one lasts longer than the last.
"Ho Hey" by The Lumineers (2012). Fun to send, hard to slow dance to.

Valentine's Day songs for the long haul

If this is the year the ring finally comes out of the sock drawer, you want our list of proposal songs instead.

"My Funny Valentine" by Chet Baker (1954). He pokes fun at their looks, then begs them not to change a hair. Anyone who has seen their partner with the flu will get it.
"Sunday Morning" by Maroon 5 (2002). The 14th falls on a Sunday in 2027, so play this one before anybody's out of bed.
"How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" by Marvin Gaye (1964). Motown with a grin on its face. Put it on while one of you makes coffee for two.
"Just the Way You Are" by Billy Joel (1977). Same request as Chet Baker, twenty-three years later, with an electric piano and a saxophone solo.
"Still into You" by Paramore (2013). Loud and quick, about still having a crush after more years than fit on one hand. Jump around the living room in socks.
"Endless Love" by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie (1981). As syrupy as February gets, which is the whole appeal. Sing it at each other with the TV remote as a microphone.
"Love Will Keep Us Alive" by Eagles (1994). From their reunion album, with the bass player, Timothy B. Schmit, singing lead. Good for a couple who has had a hard year and is still here.
"This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)" by Natalie Cole (1975). Brassy and fast. Save it for when the plates are stacked and somebody wants to dance.
"The Best" by Tina Turner (1989). Bonnie Tyler recorded it a year earlier. Tina's version is the one you shout at each other from separate rooms.

Galentine's, or a night on your own

A night on your own counts too. Order exactly what you like and save the last two songs for the bath.

"I'm Every Woman" by Chaka Khan (1978). Ashford and Simpson wrote it, and Chaka Khan sings it like she's throwing the front door open.
"Love Shack" by The B-52's (1989). Somebody will yell the tin roof line a beat too early.
"Love Story" by Taylor Swift (2008). Find a sturdy cushion to stand on for the key change.
"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper (1983). Getting two requests for this one is normal. Play it both times.
"Lovefool" by The Cardigans (1996). Sweet Swedish pop that sounds cheerful until you notice how hard she's begging. Sing it anyway.
"Flowers" by Miley Cyrus (2023). For anyone buying their own tulips this year, and getting the nice ones.
"Put Your Records On" by Corinne Bailey Rae (2006). The bath song. A singer from Leeds tells you to put a record on and let your hair down.

When the date is a video call

What survives a video call with bad Wi-Fi? Slow songs, mostly. Anything fast turns to mush somewhere between your router and theirs.

"Faithfully" by Journey (1983). Jonathan Cain wrote it on tour while he missed his wife. A big, slow ballad about what the road does to the people waiting at home.
"Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's (2005). Just an acoustic guitar and a guy doing the travel math out loud. A thousand miles, he decides, is doable.
"I Just Called to Say I Love You" by Stevie Wonder (1984). Built for the phone. Stevie runs through the holidays it isn't, and February's candy hearts make the list.
"I Will Wait" by Mumford & Sons (2012). Banjo up front and a promise to wait as long as it takes. Turn it up on the drive back from the airport.
"Home" by Michael Bublé (2005). Summer in Paris and Rome, and all the man wants is to go home. Poor thing.
"Late Night Talking" by Harry Styles (2022). About staying up talking far too late. Play it in the one hour when both time zones are awake.

Pop love songs from the last few years

Teasing is allowed here. If they already sing one of these in the shower, send it with the timestamp of the line they always get wrong.

"Calm Down" by Rema and Selena Gomez (2022). Nigerian Afrobeats with a crush at the center. Good for swaying in place with a plate in one hand.
"My Love Mine All Mine" by Mitski (2023). Small and slow, a song for 1 a.m. She asks the moon to keep her love shining after she's gone.
"Levitating" by Dua Lipa (2020). Disco with a bass line that won't sit still. Clear a space on the rug.
"Shivers" by Ed Sheeran (2021). A crush he can feel down his spine, and a beat bouncy enough for the morning after.
"Heaven" by Niall Horan (2023). The One Direction boy from Mullingar, grown up and sounding very pleased about it.
"Anyone" by Justin Bieber (2021). Bieber, married by then, promising there's nobody else. A safe bet if they had his poster on the wall at fourteen.
"Beautiful Things" by Benson Boone (2024). Starts as a thank-you and builds to a full-throated yell. Warn the neighbors.
"Ordinary" by Alex Warren (2025). It opens with holy water and ends up with a chorus the size of a stadium. The newest song here.

A Valentine's song that sings their name

From the late-night mailbag

Do valentines day songs have to be love songs?

No. The song from your first road trip, or the one playing in the bar the night you met, will beat any ballad on a list. Put it first and don't explain it.

How many songs go on a Valentine's Day playlist?

When is Galentine's Day in 2027?

Saturday, February 13, 2027, the day before Valentine's Day. The idea comes from Leslie Knope on the TV show Parks and Recreation, who threw a breakfast for her friends that day.

Is it cheesy to send someone a love song?

A little, and February is the month you get away with it. Add one line about why you picked that song, because the reason is the part they'll screenshot.