36 Songs About Best Friends and When to Play Each One
Jordan Ellis · Music Producer & Vocal Director
Updated August 31, 2026 · 36 min read
The most-used song about best friends is still "You've Got a Friend" by Carole King, written for Tapestry in 1971 and taken to number one that same year by her own close friend James Taylor; the modern default is "Count on Me" by Bruno Mars. Both are below, with thirty-four more. What follows is sorted by the moment you actually have to fill — a maid-of-honor toast, a graduation slideshow, a long drive with the windows down, a goodbye at an airport gate — plus one section for the case nobody puts on these lists, which is the friendship that quietly turned into something else.
Here is the judgment you only get from producing these songs rather than listening to them: a friendship song holds a noisy room when it is sung slightly below the singer's comfortable range at a walking tempo, because a big belted chorus makes people watch the performance while a low, conversational one makes them turn and look at each other. Run every pick below through that filter before you commit to it. It also cuts the other way — if your friendship runs on roasting rather than sentiment, the list of songs that are jokes first will serve you far better than anything sincere on this page.
A disclosure worth making up front: several picks here started life as love songs, or were written for a sibling, and the note on each one tells you so rather than letting you discover it mid-toast. They stay on the list because friends have been repurposing them for fifty years and the repurposing works. That borrowing runs in both directions, which is why there is a section here for the friendship that became a relationship — the territory of saying it out loud for the first time. And if you want words that could only be about your friend, the closing sections cover having a song written about your friendship instead.
The classics that never miss
1.You've Got a Friend — Carole King (1971)
Reach for "You've Got a Friend" by Carole King when the whole message is that you will pick up the phone, whatever hour it is. King wrote it for Tapestry in 1971 and her close friend James Taylor released his own version the same year; his went to number one on the Hot 100, and at the 1972 Grammys King took Song of the Year for writing it while Taylor won Best Male Pop Vocal for singing it — the rare standard two friends made famous together. That history is why it reads as friendship rather than romance even though nothing in it specifies which. It suits a get-well card, a friend going through a divorce, a hospital visit, or a toast that needs to sound sincere instead of clever. It is the wrong pick when the room wants energy and noise — "Count on Me" by Bruno Mars makes the same promise at party volume.
2.Lean on Me — Bill Withers (1972)
"Lean on Me" by Bill Withers is for the friend who showed up during your worst year without being asked and never once brought it up afterward. Withers wrote it after moving from a small West Virginia coal town to Los Angeles and missing the way neighbors there simply turned up at the door; it topped the Hot 100 in July 1972, and Club Nouveau's 1987 remake reached number one too, putting it on the very short list of songs to top the chart in two versions. Its plainness is the point — the melody sits close to a hymn, which is why a crowd starts singing it without being invited to. Use it at a benefit, a graduation, a memorial reception, any room with more than twenty people in it. It is the wrong pick for a private one-to-one gesture, where its size makes it feel civic; "Thank You for Being a Friend" is the smaller, warmer version.
3.That's What Friends Are For — Dionne Warwick & Friends (1985)
Choose "That's What Friends Are For" by Dionne Warwick and Friends when the friendship being marked survived something serious. Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager wrote it, and Rod Stewart recorded it first for the 1982 film Night Shift; the version everybody knows is Warwick's 1985 recording with Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder, released as a charity single that raised millions for AIDS research and won Song of the Year at the 1987 Grammys. Four famous friends singing about friendship, for a cause, is a level of context almost no other song here can claim. It fits a fundraiser, the anniversary of a hard year, a reunion after an illness. It is the wrong pick for a light birthday brunch, where its gravity is badly out of scale — "Thank You for Being a Friend" carries the same gratitude with none of the weight.
4.Stand by Me — Ben E. King (1961)
"Stand by Me" by Ben E. King is the shortest, surest loyalty vow on this page, and the one a room recognizes in about two seconds. King wrote it with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and released it in 1961; that bass line does the identifying before the vocal even starts, which is exactly what you want from walk-in music. It charted all over again in 1986 when Rob Reiner used it as the title song of his coming-of-age film about four inseparable boys, and that second life is why it now reads as boyhood friendship as much as romance. Use it before a toast, or for a group who have known each other since school. It is the wrong pick when you need the song to say something specific about one person, because it is a promise rather than a portrait — "In My Life" by The Beatles does the remembering instead.
5.With a Little Help from My Friends — The Beatles (1967)
Put on "With a Little Help from My Friends" by The Beatles when the subject is a whole group rather than one person. Lennon and McCartney wrote it for Ringo Starr to sing on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967 and deliberately pitched it inside his narrow range, which is precisely why every non-singer at the table can join in without embarrassing themselves. Joe Cocker rebuilt it in 1968 as a slow, roaring gospel number and made it the performance people still remember from Woodstock; a version of it later opened The Wonder Years. Take the Beatles cut for warmth and the Cocker cut for scale. It is the wrong pick for a two-person friendship, where its communal shape leaves the actual best friend unnamed — "You've Got a Friend" narrows it back down to one.
6.Bridge Over Troubled Water — Simon & Garfunkel (1970)
"Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel is what you send when things are genuinely bad and a joke would be an insult. Paul Simon wrote it and handed the lead vocal to Art Garfunkel; released in 1970, it swept the 1971 Grammys with six wins including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. The whole song is one long offer to take the weight for somebody, and the arrangement acts it out — it opens almost bare and grows until it is visibly carrying the listener. That build is the reason it works played straight through and dies underneath a slideshow. Use it for a friend in grief, in illness, in the middle of a divorce. It is the wrong pick for a celebration of any kind, where it will flatten the room inside ninety seconds; "Count on Me" offers the same help without the funeral weather.
7.Thank You for Being a Friend — Andrew Gold (1978)
"Thank You for Being a Friend" by Andrew Gold is the birthday-card song of the entire list — the one that says thank you without making anybody cry. Gold wrote and recorded it in 1978 for his album All This and Heaven Too, and he later said it came together in about an hour. It became immortal in 1985, when a re-recorded version sung by Cynthia Fee was chosen as the theme to The Golden Girls, which is the arrangement most people are actually hearing in their heads. The tempo is brisk and the mood is uncomplicated gratitude, so it survives being played while people talk over it. Use it for a birthday, a card, a going-away lunch, a just-because text. It is the wrong pick for a moment that has to feel important — "For Good" from Wicked brings ceremony where this one deliberately keeps things light.
8.Ain't No Mountain High Enough — Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell (1967)
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell is the long-distance friendship song, because the entire argument of it is that distance is not an obstacle. Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson wrote it, and the Gaye and Terrell duet released in 1967 was the first hit of their partnership; Diana Ross later took a completely rebuilt, slower version to number one in 1970, so check which one you are queueing before the moment arrives. Sung by two people at each other rather than by one person about another, it lands as a mutual promise, which is what a best friendship actually is. Use it for an airport pickup, a reunion, a friend who moved across the country. It is the wrong pick for a quiet, reflective moment, because its joy is relentless — "Old Friends" by Simon & Garfunkel sits still instead.
9.You've Got a Friend in Me — Randy Newman (1995)
"You've Got a Friend in Me" by Randy Newman is the safest possible choice for a friendship that started in childhood. Newman wrote and sang it as the theme for Toy Story in 1995, and it earned him Academy Award nominations for both Best Original Song and Best Original Score that year. On paper it is a song about a boy and his toys; in practice it is the plainest friendship promise written in the last forty years. The ragtime piano keeps it from ever tipping into maudlin, which makes it unusually safe under a slideshow of two kids who are now adults with mortgages. Use it for a childhood best friend's birthday, a montage, a wedding where the two of you met in kindergarten. It is the wrong pick for a friendship formed in adulthood, where its nursery warmth misses by a decade — "Castle on the Hill" by Ed Sheeran fits the teenage-onward version far better.
Pop anthems for the group chat
10.Count on Me — Bruno Mars (2010)
"Count on Me" by Bruno Mars is the modern default, and the one to send when you want warmth without ceremony. Mars wrote it with Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine for his 2010 debut album Doo-Wops & Hooligans, and it was never released as a US single — it spread entirely by people sending it to each other, which is about as honest a measure of a friendship song as exists. Musically it is almost nothing: acoustic guitar, a walking tempo, a melody a child can hold. That simplicity is exactly why it survives phone speakers, car stereos and school assemblies without losing anything. Use it for a graduation slideshow, a long-distance friend, a birthday text that needs no explanation. It is the wrong pick when the friendship has real history and weight behind it, because it stays sunny throughout — "You've Got a Friend" by Carole King goes deeper.
11.See You Again — Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth (2015)
"See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth is the song for a goodbye that is not temporary. It closes Furious 7, written as a send-off for Paul Walker after his death partway through production, and it spent twelve weeks at number one on the Hot 100 in 2015 before becoming one of the most-watched videos in YouTube's history. That origin matters: it was built to close a story about a friendship, not a romance, which is unusual among songs at this scale. It now does duty at graduations, cross-country moves, retirements and funerals for friends gone far too young. It is the wrong pick for a cheerful send-off, because it will tell the room this is permanent whether or not you meant to — "Graduation (Friends Forever)" by Vitamin C says goodbye without the grief.
12.I'll Be There for You — The Rembrandts (1995)
"I'll Be There for You" by The Rembrandts is engineered for exactly this subject, which is both its strength and its ceiling. Michael Skloff and Allee Willis wrote it with Friends creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman as a title sequence lasting under a minute; radio stations liked it enough that the band was pushed to expand it into a full single, and in 1995 it spent eight weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart. Kitsch on paper — and then thirty seconds in, everybody in the room claps in the right spot without being asked, which is a real and useful piece of stagecraft. Use it as a party opener, a bar toast, an ice-breaker before a speech. It is the wrong pick for a sincere moment, because the reference swallows the sentiment whole; "Count on Me" says it straight.
13.Wannabe — Spice Girls (1996)
"Wannabe" by the Spice Girls is the getting-ready song and the group-chat thesis statement: the friendship outranks the romance, and anyone dating you has to pass the friends first. Written by the group with Matt Rowe and Richard Stannard and released in 1996 as their debut single, it went to number one in more than thirty countries and remains one of the best-selling singles ever by a girl group. It is short, loud and structurally impossible to be sad to. Use it for a bachelorette, a birthday pre-party, a road trip, a video montage that needs pace rather than tears. It is the wrong pick for a toast that has to hold a room of adults quietly — its whole design is to raise the volume, not lower it. For that moment, "For Good" from Wicked is the one you want.
14.Fifteen — Taylor Swift (2008)
"Fifteen" by Taylor Swift is the song for two friends who met on the first day of high school and are still in each other's lives, and it is the most glaring omission on most friendship playlists. Swift wrote it for her 2008 album Fearless — which went on to win Album of the Year at the 2010 Grammys — around her real best friend Abigail Anderson, who is named outright in the song and who the two of them have been publicly connected by ever since. That is what makes it usable: it is not a generic friendship sentiment but a specific portrait of one girl watching out for another through a bad year. Use it for a graduation, a milestone birthday, a maid-of-honor slideshow that starts in a school hallway. It is the wrong pick for a friendship formed in adulthood, where its teenage frame does not fit — "Best Friend" by Rex Orange County is the grown version.
15.Army — Ellie Goulding (2015)
"Army" by Ellie Goulding is the best modern pop song written about a real, named best friend, and the one to reach for when the friendship is the thing that got you through. Goulding wrote it with Max Martin, Savan Kotecha and Ali Payami for her 2015 album Delirium, and she has said plainly that it is about her friend Hannah and what that friendship actually is rather than a prettier version of it; she cast that friend and her own fans in the video. Musically it is a big, marching, arms-around-shoulders chorus, so it fills a room the way an anthem does. Use it for a hen party, a hard-year anniversary, a hype video, a long-distance friend's birthday. It is the wrong pick for anything intimate or spoken-over, because it is built to be loud — "Thank You for Being a Friend" is the quiet equivalent.
16.Graduation (Friends Forever) — Vitamin C (1999)
"Graduation (Friends Forever)" by Vitamin C exists for one moment and does that moment better than anything else: the last day of school. Released in 1999 on her self-titled debut, it is built on the chord progression of Pachelbel's Canon in D, which is the reason it sounds ceremonial rather than merely upbeat and why it works under a cap-and-gown montage. It reached the Hot 100 top thirty in 2000 and has been the default class-slideshow song in American high schools ever since. Use it for a graduation party, a yearbook video, a group of friends about to scatter to different states. It is the wrong pick when the goodbye is genuinely painful — it is written to make people wave, not to make them grieve — and "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa is the one that can carry the heavier version.
17.Best Friend — Saweetie feat. Doja Cat (2021)
"Best Friend" by Saweetie and Doja Cat is the hype track — two friends spending three minutes telling everyone how impressive the other one is. Released in January 2021, it peaked at number fourteen on the Hot 100 and was nominated for Best Rap Song at the 2022 Grammys, which is more institutional credit than a getting-ready anthem usually collects. Its function is entirely social: it is made for captions, mirror videos, bachelorette pregames and the twenty minutes before you leave the house. It is also explicit, so check the room and the version before you press play at a family event. It is the wrong pick for a toast, a slideshow or anything a grandparent is attending, where the tone will land badly — "Count on Me" by Bruno Mars is the family-safe way to say the same thing.
18.Umbrella — Rihanna feat. Jay-Z (2007)
"Umbrella" by Rihanna and Jay-Z reads as romance on the surface, but the promise at its center — that you stand over someone in the worst weather — is exactly the job description of a best friend. Written by Terius Nash, Christopher Stewart, Kuk Harrell and Jay-Z, it was offered elsewhere before Rihanna took it in 2007; it spent seven weeks at number one on the Hot 100, ten weeks at number one in the UK, and won the Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Friends have reclaimed it steadily since, largely because the chorus is impossible not to shout. Use it on a night out, in a car, in a montage that needs one enormous singalong. It is the wrong pick if anyone in the room will hear it as a love song and misread the gesture — "Lean on Me" makes the identical promise with no ambiguity at all.
Country songs about the friends who show up
19.My Wish — Rascal Flatts (2006)
"My Wish" by Rascal Flatts is a blessing rather than a tribute, which makes it the country staple of send-offs, graduation parties and best-man toasts. Steve Robson and Jeffrey Steele wrote it, and Rascal Flatts released it in 2006 from the album Me and My Gang, where it went to number one on the country chart. Its grammar is the useful part: every line points forward at the other person's life rather than backward at your shared one, so it flatters the person leaving instead of holding on to them. That is a rare and genuinely difficult thing for a friendship song to do. Use it at a graduation, a move, a career change, a wedding toast where the friend is the one heading somewhere. It is the wrong pick for a reunion or an anniversary of the friendship itself, where nobody is going anywhere — "In My Life" by The Beatles looks back instead.
20.Find Out Who Your Friends Are — Tracy Lawrence (2007)
"Find Out Who Your Friends Are" by Tracy Lawrence is the song for the friend who was already driving before you finished asking for help. Casey Beathard and Ed Hill wrote it, and the album version features Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney singing alongside Lawrence; it climbed slowly and reached number one on the country chart in 2007. Its whole subject is the difference between the people who say call me anytime and the two who actually turn up at two in the morning with a truck, which is why it works better as a thank-you than as a general tribute. Use it after a move, a breakdown, a hospital week, a divorce nobody else helped with. It is the wrong pick for a wedding or a celebration, because it is fundamentally about hard times rather than good ones — "My Wish" by Rascal Flatts is the one for a happy room.
21.I'll Be — Reba McEntire (2000)
"I'll Be" by Reba McEntire is the power-ballad option for the friend who has carried you, and the pick when somebody is actually singing live rather than pressing play. Released to country radio in March 2000 as the second single from her album So Good Together, it reached number four on the country chart that July and became her fifty-first top-ten single. It is a straight list of the things she will be for her person — the shoulder, the shelter, the loudest voice in the cheering section — delivered at a scale that gives a vocalist something to climb, which is why it turns up at talent nights and church services as often as at parties. Use it for a tribute, a fundraiser, a fiftieth birthday. It is the wrong pick for anything understated, because it is built to swell — "Thank You for Being a Friend" says thank you at conversation volume.
22.Drink a Beer — Luke Bryan (2013)
"Drink a Beer" by Luke Bryan is the quiet toast to a friend who should still be here, and one of the few songs about losing a friend that never raises its voice. Chris Stapleton and Jim Beavers wrote it, and Bryan released it in September 2013 from Crash My Party, where it went to number one on the country chart. The whole scene is one person sitting alone at sunset with a drink, deciding to mark the loss privately rather than publicly — no big notes, no crescendo, no attempt to make sense of it. That restraint is why it survives being played at an actual wake. Use it on the anniversary of a friend's death, at a graveside gathering, in a truck by yourself. It is the wrong pick for a memorial where the family wants hope in the room, because it offers none — "See You Again" gives a grieving crowd somewhere to go.
When your best friend became something more
23.Lucky — Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat (2009)
"Lucky" by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat is the definitive song about being in love with your best friend, and the one couples in this situation reach for first. The two wrote it back and forth by email and recorded it without much label enthusiasm; released as a single in 2009 from Mraz's album We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things., it won the Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 2010 — the first Grammy for both artists. Because it is sung as a duet, both people get to make the claim, which is why it has become a fixture at weddings where the couple were friends for years first. Use it for a proposal, a first dance, an anniversary of the day the friendship changed. It is the wrong pick when the feeling is still one-sided and unspoken, because it assumes a yes — "You Belong with Me" by Taylor Swift lives in the version where nobody has said anything yet.
24.You Belong with Me — Taylor Swift (2008)
"You Belong with Me" by Taylor Swift is the definitive song about being the friend who is quietly, obviously right for someone. Swift wrote it with Liz Rose for her 2008 album Fearless; released as a single in 2009, it peaked at number two on the Hot 100 — her highest-charting song to that point — and won Best Female Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, in the moment Kanye West interrupted her acceptance. It is written entirely from the outside looking in, which is the exact emotional address of an unspoken crush on a friend, and it is upbeat rather than mournful, so it plays as hopeful instead of pitiable. Use it in a playlist you make for yourself, or in a video that jokes about a very long wait. It is the wrong pick once the feeling is mutual and public — "Lucky" by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat is the version where both people know.
25.What Ifs — Kane Brown feat. Lauren Alaina (2017)
"What Ifs" by Kane Brown and Lauren Alaina is the country entry for two friends deciding whether to risk the friendship, and it comes with a biography that fits. Brown and Alaina met as kids in a choir class at Lakeview Middle School in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, long before either had a record deal; their duet topped Billboard's Country Airplay chart in October 2017 and spent five weeks at number one on Hot Country Songs. The song is a back-and-forth argument — one person listing everything that could go wrong, the other refusing to be talked out of it — which is the actual conversation friends have at this fork. Use it for an engagement, a first dance, an anniversary of a long, slow start. It is the wrong pick for a friendship where the answer turned out to be no; "Friends" by Marshmello and Anne-Marie handles that side.
26.Can't Fight This Feeling — REO Speedwagon (1984)
"Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon is the classic-rock version of this exact story: years of friendship, one person finally admitting what it has become. Kevin Cronin wrote it and the band put it on the 1984 album Wheels Are Turnin'; it reached number one on the Hot 100 in March 1985 and held the top spot for three weeks, the band's second and final number one. What makes it useful is that it is written from inside the delay — the point of view is somebody who has known this for a long time and said nothing — so it fits a friendship that took years to change. Use it at a wedding for a couple who were friends first, or as karaoke at their engagement party. It is the wrong pick for a young, brand-new relationship, where its long-buried ache does not apply — "What Ifs" is the same fork at twenty-two instead of thirty-five.
27.Friends — Marshmello & Anne-Marie (2018)
"Friends" by Marshmello and Anne-Marie is the one for the other outcome: the friend who wants more and is being told, clearly and repeatedly, that it is not happening. Released in February 2018 and later included on Anne-Marie's debut album Speak Your Mind, it reached number four in the UK and number eleven on the Hot 100, and it was marketed openly as an anthem for the friend zone. The reason it belongs here is that every other song in this section assumes the feeling is returned, and most of the time it is not; a list that only covers the happy version is not much use to the person actually living it. Use it as a private playlist song, or as a joke between friends who both know where the line is. It is the wrong pick for anything romantic or ceremonial, obviously — "Lucky" is the song for the version that worked out.
For the wedding toast and the maid of honor moment
28.For Good — Kristin Chenoweth & Idina Menzel (2003)
"For Good" from Wicked is the definitive maid-of-honor song and the safest tearjerker in the book. The song is Stephen Schwartz's, from a show that reached Broadway in October 2003, with Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel first playing the two roles; Menzel won the 2004 Tony for Best Actress in a Musical for that run. The song is a duet between two unlikely best friends tallying up how each changed the other, and the structure is the reason it works so well at a wedding: it is about the friendship ending in one form and continuing in another, which is exactly what the day is. Play it under a photo montage rather than over the speech. It is the wrong pick for a room that does not want to cry twenty minutes before dinner — "You're My Best Friend" by Queen keeps the same sentiment cheerful.
29.You're My Best Friend — Queen (1975)
"You're My Best Friend" by Queen is the happy option — the wedding song for a friendship with no sadness attached to it at all. John Deacon wrote it about his wife Veronica for the 1975 album A Night at the Opera, teaching himself the Wurlitzer electric piano that drives it, an instrument Freddie Mercury reportedly could not stand. Say the marriage origin out loud if you introduce it, because it is a spouse song that friends adopted, not the other way around; the disclosure costs nothing and the groove does the rest. At just under three minutes it is close to the ideal length for a photo montage, and the tempo keeps a room upright rather than weeping. It is the wrong pick when the toast needs weight and reflection — "For Good" is built to make people put their glasses down.
30.I'll Stand by You — The Pretenders (1994)
"I'll Stand by You" by The Pretenders is for the friend who has seen your worst chapter and stayed through it anyway. Chrissie Hynde wrote it with Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly for the 1994 album Last of the Independents, and it became the band's biggest US hit of the decade; Carrie Underwood's 2007 charity version introduced it to a country audience and made it a fixture at benefit nights. Hynde's delivery is what makes it usable at a wedding — it is tough rather than sentimental, so it reads as a vow instead of a card. Use it for a maid-of-honor speech about a hard few years, or for a friend who is marrying after a bad first marriage. It is the wrong pick for a light, funny toast, because it will change the temperature of the room in one line; "Thank You for Being a Friend" keeps things moving.
31.Wind Beneath My Wings — Bette Midler (1988)
"Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler belongs to the friend who quietly carried more of the friendship than she ever got credit for. The song dates to 1982 and a writing credit shared by Larry Henley and Jeff Silbar; Midler cut the version everyone knows for Beaches in 1988, a film in which one lifelong best friend sings it about the other — the rare standard whose original context is a friendship rather than a romance. It topped the Hot 100 in 1989 and took Record of the Year as well as Song of the Year at the Grammys. That pedigree means everyone over forty knows it instantly, which is both the strength and the catch: it will move the room and it will surprise nobody. Use it for a fiftieth birthday, a retirement, a maid-of-honor speech about the quiet one. It is the wrong pick for a young, modern wedding that wants something current — "Fifteen" by Taylor Swift does gratitude in this decade's voice.
Growing up together
32.In My Life — The Beatles (1965)
"In My Life" by The Beatles is the slideshow king for a friendship measured in decades. John Lennon wrote most of it for Rubber Soul in 1965 and later called it his first real piece of work; the baroque solo in the middle is George Martin playing piano at half speed and speeding the tape up, which is why it sounds like a harpsichord from another century. Two minutes long and entirely about the people and places that made someone who they are, it is gratitude without a single specific claim, so it fits almost any long friendship you point it at. Use it under photographs, at a fiftieth birthday, at a memorial for a friend, at a reunion. It is the wrong pick for a friendship that is young and still accelerating, because it is written from the far end — "Best Friend" by Rex Orange County is the one for a story still in progress.
33.We're Going to Be Friends — The White Stripes (2001)
"We're Going to Be Friends" by The White Stripes is the song for a friendship that started at recess, and the gentlest thing either of them ever recorded. Jack White wrote it for the 2001 album White Blood Cells as a hushed acoustic memory of meeting somebody on the first day of school, and it reached a much wider audience in 2004 when it opened Napoleon Dynamite. There is almost nothing to it — one guitar, one voice, no drums — which is exactly why it works under narration or a slideshow of school photographs without fighting anything. Use it for a childhood friend's wedding, a first-day-of-school video, a birthday montage that starts in kindergarten. It is the wrong pick for a big room or a loud party, because it will simply disappear under the noise; "Graduation (Friends Forever)" by Vitamin C is the version that can fill a gymnasium.
34.Old Friends — Simon & Garfunkel (1968)
"Old Friends" by Simon & Garfunkel is for the friend you fully intend to grow old and strange with. Paul Simon wrote it for the 1968 album Bookends, where it runs straight into the title track; he was in his twenties when he imagined two seventy-year-old men sharing a park bench, which is why the song is wistful rather than sad — it is a young person's picture of the far end. That makes it usable while everybody is still healthy, as a promise rather than a eulogy. Use it for a milestone birthday, a decades-long friendship anniversary, a card to someone you have known since school. It is the wrong pick for a memorial, where its imagined future becomes something that will not happen and the room will feel it — "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by the same duo is the one to use in that room.
35.Castle on the Hill — Ed Sheeran (2017)
"Castle on the Hill" by Ed Sheeran is the song for the hometown crew — the friends who knew you before you were anybody. Sheeran wrote it about growing up in Framlingham, Suffolk, and released it in January 2017 on the same day as "Shape of You"; both entered the UK chart at numbers one and two, an unusual double for a solo artist. Its subject is the scattering: the friends who stayed, the ones who left, the ones whose lives went badly, all named without judgment. That is why it works at a reunion better than at a celebration of a single friendship. Use it for a class reunion, a road trip back to where you grew up, a video of a group that no longer lives in the same state. It is the wrong pick for a two-person tribute, where the crowd of characters dilutes it — "Best Friend" by Rex Orange County narrows it to one.
36.Best Friend — Rex Orange County (2017)
"Best Friend" by Rex Orange County is for the friendship that is still very much in progress and does not need memorializing. Alex O'Connor released it on his 2017 album Apricot Princess, recorded largely at home, and the bedroom-pop production is a real part of the appeal — it sounds like a voice note rather than a statement, which is unusual on a list where most entries are built for rooms. It is bright and giddy where nearly every other friendship song goes misty, and it is about a person you talk to daily and still cannot get enough of. Use it for a birthday text, a shared playlist, a video for a friend you see all the time. It is the wrong pick for a formal toast or a memorial, where its casualness reads as unserious — "For Good" from Wicked handles the moments that need ceremony.
How to pick the right one (and make it yours)
Before anything else, work out who the song actually has to reach, because every other choice hangs off that answer. Something for a birthday, a long drive or a card is aimed at one person, which frees you to be as strange and as exact as the friendship really is. The moment a song has to fill a room instead — a toast, a slideshow, a service — it picks up a second obligation, because twenty or two hundred people are listening from wildly different distances to a friendship that is not theirs, and the margin for error shrinks accordingly. Misjudge that, and the loveliest entry on this page will die in the air. If the room in question is a graduation, the songs that work for a class slideshow are chosen against a different set of constraints again, because the audience is families rather than friends.
Then match the texture of the friendship rather than the occasion. Twenty years of quietly showing up wants "Lean on Me" or "In My Life"; group-chat chaos wants "Wannabe" or "Best Friend"; a friendship that turned into a marriage wants "Lucky" or "Can't Fight This Feeling," and if that is your situation the gift question is a different one entirely — our roundup of what to give the person who is both is written for exactly that overlap. Check the story underneath actually fits, too: "See You Again" and "Drink a Beer" carry real grief, and "You're My Best Friend" was written about a marriage, so borrow their weight only when it is true. And if the friend in question is the sister you chose rather than the one you were assigned, the songs families use for a sister overlap with this list more than you would expect.
Finally, be honest about the ceiling on all thirty-six. Every one of them was written about somebody else's best friend. The nickname, the road trip that went sideways, the year you both barely survived, the sentence only the two of you find funny — no playlist contains those, and a borrowed chorus can only gesture at them. If you want the words to be unmistakably about your friendship, having one written is the alternative: real songwriters, real vocals, ready within 24 hours from a questionnaire that takes about five minutes. If you would rather write it yourself, our step-by-step on putting a friendship into verses covers the memory-gathering, which is where nearly everyone gets stuck.
- For the maid-of-honor speech or best-man toast: "For Good" or "Wind Beneath My Wings" under the photo montage, never over the speech.
- For a goodbye or graduation: "See You Again" when it is heavy, "Graduation (Friends Forever)" when it is sweet, "My Wish" when it is a blessing.
- For a just-because text: "Thank You for Being a Friend" or "Count on Me" — no occasion required, no explanation needed.
- For a childhood best friend: "You've Got a Friend in Me" or "We're Going to Be Friends," both of which sit happily under old photographs.
- For the friend you are secretly in love with: "You Belong with Me" while nobody has said anything, "Lucky" once somebody has.
- For the friend nobody has ever written a song about: an original with both your names in it.
How to use these songs (toast, slideshow, road trip, long distance)
A friendship song lands completely differently depending on where you drop it, and the trick is matching the moment to the format so the song does the emotional lifting instead of you. One rule cuts across all four of the situations people ask us about: never make a room listen to a full song while it waits. Under a slideshow or behind a toast the words compete with the pictures and the chatter, so let the melody carry and keep the spoken part short. Save the full, undivided listen for the moment when the song is the event — a gift you hand over and press play on together, sitting down.
Two practical notes that are easy to get wrong. First, test the audio in the actual room beforehand; nothing flattens a moment faster than a phone speaker cracking on the first big chorus, and a friendship song that has to be apologized for is finished. Second, fade rather than stop — an abrupt cut at the end of a montage undoes the last twenty seconds of goodwill. If the occasion is a graduation and you are considering writing something instead of borrowing it, our guide to writing a song for the end of a school year covers the timing and what to leave out, which is usually more than people expect.
For a friend who has moved away, the format matters more than the pick. One song sent with two sentences of explanation reads as thought-through; a twenty-track playlist reads as an afternoon you had spare. That is also the point at which most people discover the limits of a borrowed song, since what they actually want to say is how much they miss the person and no chorus written for strangers quite gets there.
- The toast: play a familiar chorus under a photo montage rather than over your speech — the song's words and yours should not fight. "For Good" and "You're My Best Friend" are built for this.
- The slideshow: pick something with a slow build so the final photograph lands on the big chorus. "In My Life" and "Count on Me" time out almost perfectly at montage length.
- The road trip: you want a shout-along, not a tearjerker. "Wannabe," "Best Friend" by Saweetie, "Army" and "Umbrella" keep the windows-down energy where it belongs.
- The long-distance friend: send one song with a note, not a playlist. "Count on Me" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" are the two that travel best.
- The friendship that became a relationship: "Lucky" for the anniversary, "What Ifs" for the engagement party, "Can't Fight This Feeling" for karaoke.
Making it personal
The fastest way to turn a borrowed song into a real gesture is to say why you picked it. One sentence — the year it got you both through, the drive you were on the first time you heard it — does more work than the song alone ever will. A ready-made track says I thought of you; the reason behind the choice says I know you. Write that sentence before you send anything, and if you cannot come up with one, the pick is probably wrong.
It is worth naming the wall people hit here, because almost everyone hits it. A song about friendship in general can hold the feeling but it cannot hold the facts, and the facts are the whole reason you wanted a song in the first place. That is the same limit people run into with the songs people reach for when somebody is gone: they get close, and then it turns out to be about somebody else's person again, which is the exact moment the gesture stops working.
Having one written is the alternative, and the process is less mysterious than it sounds. Roughly five minutes of questions covers the ground: how you met, the trip that nearly ended the friendship, the sentence only the two of you use, and the sound your friend would genuinely pick — acoustic, folk, country, pop, R&B, soul or a plain gospel arrangement. Real songwriters take those answers and build an original around them, with real vocals and both your names in the chorus. Delivery runs inside 24 hours, or as quickly as one hour when the toast is tomorrow, and it lands on a private page you can play, download and forward to whoever could not be in the room. Revisions run unlimited until it sounds like the two of you; the guarantee is a full refund for 30 days; and a frameable keepsake card is available that sets the lyrics beside a code your friend scans to hear it again. To understand the craft before deciding, our overview of how a song comes together walks through the same steps our writers follow.
A custom song for your best friend
Written from your story, with their name in the chorus.