The 50 saddest country songs of all time, ranked

Each of the 50 saddest songs in country music is unique, but they all have one thing in common: they all tell a powerful, tear-jerking story.

Some of these stories address topics that are not adequately covered: Sunny Sweeney, for example, talks about the pain of infertility and miscarriage in “Bottle by My Bed,” and Chris Stapleton honors the life of a beloved family dog ​​in “Maggie’s Song.”

Others speak with strong emotion about life’s most universal problems: grief, heartbreak and the inevitability of death. Garth Brooks, Luke Bryan and Vince Gill are just a few of the artists who have released songs that perfectly express sadness, no matter what difficult times their listeners are going through.

Some of these songs find beauty in the experience of sadness, while others are more hopeless. No matter what stage of pain and grief you’re in, there’s a song that’s just right on this list.

Scroll through the gallery below to see Taste of Country’s definitive list of the saddest country songs of all time, and let us know what great sad songs we missed in the comments section.

Carena Liptak is an associate editor and staff writer at Taste of Country. She specializes in breaking country music news, interviews, and lists. She’s particularly partial to sad songs – check out her roundup of the 50 saddest country songs of all time!