96 Songs About Loneliness and Feelings of Isolation

With almost 7.5 billion people in the world, how could anyone be lonely? Many of us may feel temporary (i.e., "transient") loneliness when

• a loved one dies
• a marriage or important relationship ends or
• we're new to a school, job or community.

Yet with weakened social ties, one out of five Americans feels chronically lonely. And for adults over the age of 45, it's one in three. If you're one of them, then you have a lot of company.

There are many pop, rock, and country about social isolation, loneliness, and being alone. Make yourself a playlist using the long list of songs we've put together.

On occasion, we've all probably felt like the narrator in this 2011 song. He feels isolated, unheard, and as disconnected from others as a satellite in outer space.

Trying desperately to reach out, he wants to rejoin humanity. Does anyone hear his signal? Anyone?

The woman in this 1982 song meets back up with a former lover and instead of feeling sparks, she finds herself going through the motions. She's trying to fill an empty heart with temporary physical pleasure as only the lonely can do.

With just a shadow as his company, the narrator in this 2004 song walks the empty streets, the Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Envision him wandering past closed down storefronts, foreclosed homes, and abandoned buildings. In the silence, he hears the beating of his shallow heart and sometimes wishes that someone else would find him.

Were you one of the cool kids in high school who basked in the spotlight of popularity? Or were you on the other extreme, an invisible "other" who was relegated to the sidelines?

The invincible cool kids in this 2013 song drive fast cars, relish the good life, and enjoy each other as friends. They are the envy of their less fortunate peers who blend quietly into the background. The unpopular kids experience a burden of hardship and rejection that the cool kids cannot fathom. Everyone wants to be like the cool kids.

There's nothing like broken trust to mess with someone's heart and head for good. In this sad country song from 2014, a woman has become accustomed to goodbyes. She clings to men she shouldn't, one cowboy right after another. However, she seems to get no satisfaction from these flings.

The song is told from the perspective of the regretful man who was once her partner until he betrayed her:

She don't love you, she's just lonely
She wasn't once upon a time
I remember her in the sunlight
I remember her when she was mine, mine.

There's a simple moral in this 2004 song: Watch out when you fool around on your one and only because you'll go from being happy to Mr. Lonely. That's exactly what happened to the narrator.

He tells a sad tale, but I don't feel sorry for him. The cheater got what was coming to him.

The lonely man in this 1984 classic rock song desperately wants to be loved, but he's also afraid of playing the part of the fool in the relationship. He has a new love interest in his life. However, having been burned in the past, he feels torn between hope and his fear of being a fool once more.

Someone tell Mr. Anxious not to let his past define his future! He needs to look forward!

Do you ever notice how everyone is blissfully in love when you're lonely and single? The guy in this 2011 song misses his ex-girlfriend. Suddenly the whole world seems in love, and he's on the outside looking in:

I wish the couple on the corner would just get a room
Seems like everyone around me is on their honeymoon.
I'd love to take a pin to a heart shaped balloon
Everybody's got somebody but me.

You don't have to be single to be lonely. People who are trapped in dead-end marriages can feel lonesome, isolated as well as trapped.

This 1994 country ballad is about a couple that has grown so far apart that they don't even know one another any longer:

You don't even know who I am
You left me a long time ago
You don't even know who I am
So what do you care if I go?

The lone wolf narrator of this 1982 rock song seems to have totally internalized his loneliness. He calls himself a drifter and claims he was born to walk alone. He also says, "I know what it means to walk along the lonely street of dreams." Someone get the guy a friend!

Desperate events are happening to the person in this 1984 song, and the narrator is attempting to reach out to show support before it's too late. He's trying to bridge the empty divide, but is it too late?

In this beautiful country ballad from 1996, pride keeps the narrator lonely because he cannot admit to anyone that he misses his former partner. While he pretends that he's better off without her, privately he spends sad days and sleepless nights wishing for her to return.

When a romance ends, so, too, does a friendship. This 2002 country song emphasizes that friendship between lovers involves shared laughter, secrets, and a whole lot of time spent together outside of the bedroom.

In this 1975 power ballad, a lonely narrator who longs for love and companionship recalls his youth. Love was once just a game to him, but now he yearns to share his life with someone.

Feeling rejected by the most wonderful girl he's ever known, the narrator in this 2005 song feels dejected and lonely. She stole his world and left him an emotional wreck, and he knows she won't be back. He needs to find a way to pick up the pieces and start over.

The narrator in this 2002 rock song is in a dark place emotionally. He's struggling and disconnected from other people. Worse yet, he doesn't know how to make his way back:

And now again I've found myself
So far down, away from the sun
That shines to light the way for me.

Loneliness has made the narrator of this 2011 song a mere shell of who she used to be. A broken relationship has left her the ghost of her former self. Now at 2 a.m. she is sleepless and alone in her room, crying and dancing slowly to self-comfort.

Shake it off, sister. Ain't no one worth making a mess of yourself like that.

Each passing day is lonely for the narrator in this 2015 song, but the nights are sheer hell. He misses someone he loves and is haunted by memories he cannot quiet. Unable to sleep, he drives away through the night as an escape.

In this 2010 country hit, it's 1:15 a.m. The lonesome narrator has photos of a former partner spread out all over her floor as she reminisces.

Our girl is half-soused after a night of whiskey drinking, and now she's about to make a big mistake: the drunk dial. (Noooooo!) Someone knock the phone out of her hand. Quick!

Whether he's surrounded by a large crowd or there's no one in sight, the guy in this 1982 song finds himself dancing alone. Some critics contend that the song alludes to engaging in other solitary activities by oneself (if ya know what I mean).

However, Billy Idol has insisted that the lyrics were inspired by the 1980s Japanese club scene. Instead of dancing with a partner, Japanese youth of the time watched themselves pogo dancing in the mirror. So what's the truth? You be the judge.