Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Record
Daily Record
Lifestyle
Nicola Roy & Phil Norris

Favourite break-up songs revealed - including tracks by Adele and Taylor Swift

Unless you've been completely plain sailing in your first relationship, chances are you'll have a break-up song or two.

These tunes that remind us of heartbroken times, often played full-blast at home alone, can also be a way of pulling us through the bad and make us feel like ourselves again,

Hull Live reports that a study of 2,000 adults who have been in a long-term relationship and gone through at least one break-up revealed that listening to music is their preferred coping mechanism following a split.

And Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black, Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You and Fleetwood Mac’s Go Your Own Way are the nation's top break-up songs, according to the research.

Coldplay's Fix You and Robyn's Dancing On My Own also featured in the top 30. And despite almost half of those polled saying they listen to sad music when heartbroken, break-up songs aren’t all doom and gloom.

More than four in 10 choose an empowering and happy song such as Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive and Taylor Swift’s We Are Never Getting Back Together, which also featured in the list alongside Beyonce's Single Ladies.

Relationship expert Rachael Lloyd at eharmony has unveiled the seven stages of a breakup, including disillusionment, doubt, denial, anger, relapse, acceptance and happiness – and shared some advice on how to approach them in a healthy way.

She said: "Going through a breakup brings out all sorts of emotions all at once, which can be overwhelming. Other times we might go on autopilot and block out difficult feelings. Listening to music can help unlock them and allow us to grieve our losses properly."

The study revealed that Brits have gone through an average of four break-ups in their lives, with the first one taking place around aged 20. Four in ten adults say the first one is the hardest, even though they do say that ending a long-term relationship never seems to get easier.

While over half have been dumped in person, a third got dumped over text, a quarter over the phone – and just under a fifth have been brutally ghosted.

Rachael Lloyd added: "Going through a breakup is psychologically similar to grief, because you are losing someone who has played a big part in your life for a while. So, it’s not surprising we feel things like denial and anger before being able to move on.

"Unlike grief though, we can ‘relapse’ with that person, which leads to all sorts of self-sabotaging habits. You have to learn to be kind to yourself while pushing through."

It was also revealed than an unhealthy breakup has prevented more than a quarter of people from getting into another relationship, affecting women (three in 10) more than it did men (two in 10).

Rachael Lloyd added: "A breakup should not be seen as just the conversation you have with your partner to end things. It is the entire period during which your body and mind process the pain before you can move on with your life.

"Accepting your emotions and reflecting on them allows you to grow as a person and go into the next relationship with perspective, rather than negative bias."

Top 30 breakup songs

  1. Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
  2. Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You
  3. Fleetwood Mac – Go Your Own Way
  4. Adele – Someone Like You
  5. Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive
  6. Sinead O’Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U
  7. Taylor Swift – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
  8. ABBA – Knowing me, Knowing You
  9. Dionne Warwick – Walk On By
  10. No Doubt - Don’t Speak
  11. Coldplay – Fix You
  12. Beyonce – Irreplaceable
  13. Destiny’s Child – Survivor
  14. Al Green – How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?
  15. Ariana Grande – Thank U, Next
  16. Kelly Clarkson – Since U Been Gone
  17. Sam Smith – Stay With Me
  18. Beyonce – Single Ladies
  19. James Blunt – Goodbye My Lover
  20. Natalie Imbruglia – Torn
  21. Bill Withers – Ain’t No Sunshine
  22. Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart
  23. Justin Bieber – Love Yourself
  24. Roy Orbinson – Crying
  25. Toni Braxton – Unbreak My Heart
  26. Boyz II Men – End Of The Road
  27. Little Mix – Shout Out to My Ex
  28. Carole King – It’s Too Late
  29. John Legend – Used To Love You
  30. Robyn – Dancing on My Own

Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.

READ NEXT:

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.