Quintessential Depressing Break-Up Song List

Scour the internet and you will find no end to the break-up mixes. Songs full of angry lyrics about keying cars and being strooon-ger (Britney? Anyone? Okay). For those who are able to transition immediately into that phase of the break-up, kudos. You bypassed the crappy part completely. Count your lucky stars that you made a beeline straight into rage.

Unfortunately, for the rest of us, all that anger requires lots of effort, and when you've been blown apart by a break-up and every step you take throughout the day physically aches, sometimes you just don't have it in you to get there. All you have the energy to do is cry because everything else seems daunting and weird.

These songs my friends, all clickable and ready for your listening pleasure,  are for those moments.

These aren't meant to empower you to get up out of your sweatpants and face the world. These songs are your official permission to wallow.

Do What You Have to Do - Sarah McLachlan - So Sarah will reappear again on this list because her voice is stunning and beautiful, and it's able to capture the delicacy and desperateness of grief. And that's what break-ups are for some people - episodic, annihilating moments of grief.
Knee-buckling lyric: And I have the sense to recognize, that I don't know how to let you go.

Simple Together - Alanis Morissette - If you're willing to endure the gut-wracking sobs that this song will likely induce, it's one of the most accurate break-up songs ever written. It's about the precious, crystalline hopes you go into a relationship with, and how awkward, displaced, and empty-handed you feel when it's over. It's the way she sings the words. They're long and wailing. And let's be honest, if anyone knows about pain, it's Alanis Morisette. Prepare the tissues, ladies.
Knee-buckling lyric: I can't go to you for consolation, cuz we're off limits during this transition. This grief overwhelms me. It burns in my stomach. And I can't stop bumping into things.

Shadow of Love - She & Him - Alright, now that that's over, pull yourself up off the floor. It's gonna be fine. She & Him tend to make even the most depressing situations light and pastel. But this song, still in typical mid-century fashion, actually feels like a break-up song. It's haunting, but still soothing somehow, thanks to that thing Zooey does where her voice is perfect. It's also matter-of-fact. It's all the hard edges of an ending.
Knee-buckling lyric: We should have known, love's as brittle as a broken bone. 

Throw Me a Rope - KT Tunstall - This is just a beautiful song. The girl singing it isn't broken; she's lost and waiting for the time to pass. Which it never seems to do after a break-up. Because it's an asshole.
Knee-bucking lyric: So throw me a rope, to hold me in place. Show me a clock, for counting my days down. Cuz everything's easier when you're beside me. So come back and find me, cuz I feel alone. 
(Close second: And whenever you go, it's like holding my breath underwater.)

Wreck of the Day - Anna Nalick - If you are dealing with the end of the relationship, I'm just going to go ahead and recommend this entire album. It's really good. But this song is about a girl that is exhausted. And discouraged. And has thrown her hands up in the air, because seriously, what the hell else are you supposed to do? It's not crippling, but it's honest.
Knee-buckling lyric: Desperately close to a coffin of hope, I'd cheat destiny just to be near you. 

Foolish Games - Jewel - If you're sensing a heavy 90's theme here, it's because there kinda is one. But only because that seemed to be a decade where a lot of grrrls were getting broken up with and writing songs about it. I guess they're still doing that now, they're just all really shitty. This one is a classic. It's so good, so sad, so 90's. So everything you need to walk you through your misery. Also, the video is ridiculous and amazing.
Knee-buckling lyric: Well, excuse me. Guess I've mistaken you for somebody else. Somebody who gave a damn. Somebody more like myself.

Full of Grace - Sarah McLachlan - Welcome back, Sarah. We've missed you. This song is so, so sad, but so incredible. Another 90's staple, I first heard this song on Buffy (see: Joss before The Avengers, best writing on TV ever). This is rock-bottom, ladies. She wrote this from a dark well of despair and somehow managed to turn it into beautiful music. I'd only listen to it once though, because you do have to stop crying sometime.
Knee-buckling lyric: I feel just like I'm sinking, and I claw for solid ground. I'm pulled down by the undertow, never thought I could feel so low.

Shine - Anna Nalick - So if you've made it through the list and you're aren't too teary-eyed and wine (or whiskey, whatever) drunk, get up and listen to this. It's Anna Nalick again, because I love her. And also because she's asking you to get over it, in a way that's poetic and empowering. Honestly, I know it hurts. Everywhere. All the time. Blind-siding you in the car and the shower and everywhere else. But you're kinda not serving the world by staying huddled up in your house mourning over a situation/a person/a life you just weren't meant for. So cry and cry and scream and don't get dressed and hate him and ache and grieve. But then stop. And listen to this.
And because now you're up off the floor: And I think you need to stop following misery's lead. Shine away, shine away, shine away. And isn't it time you got over how fragile you are? We're all wait, waiting for your supernova.

So. Before I go. Let's review.

Don't think it's okay to spend forever in this deep hole. Do allow yourself to be sad. Don't fight it. Let it be. Ride the grief. And one day, out of nowhere, you'll wake up and feel like yourself again.

That's what I hear, anyway.