2010s Funeral Songs
About 2010s Funeral Songs
2010s funeral songs reflect a decade that produced some of the most emotionally resonant popular music in history. "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth (2015), written as a tribute to Paul Walker, has become one of the most requested funeral songs across all generations — its blend of hip-hop verses and emotional piano chorus captures loss and hope simultaneously. "Even Though I'm Leaving" by Luke Combs (2019) follows a child and father through separation, loss, and enduring presence. "All of Me" by John Legend (2013) is the decade’s definitive love song, chosen for partner funerals as a declaration of total devotion. "Photograph" by Ed Sheeran (2014) is tailor-made for memorial slideshows — "we keep this love in a photograph." The 2010s also brought "Thinking Out Loud" (Ed Sheeran), "Say Something" (A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera), "When I Was Your Man" (Bruno Mars), and "Lovely" (Billie Eilish & Khalid) — each addressing love and loss with a modern emotional vocabulary. For anyone who died between 2010 and 2019, these are the songs that soundtracked their final years. For those who mourn them, these songs carry the weight of shared cultural moments — the songs that were playing on the radio during the last years of the person’s life.
Top 2010s Funeral Songs
Even Though I'm Leaving
Luke Combs
Emphasizes the continuity of a father's protection even after death. The narrative arc mirrors the mourner's own life with their dad.
All of Me
John Legend
The unconditional love expressed makes it a powerful tribute to a life partner.
Broken Halos
Chris Stapleton
Validates the anger and confusion of grief without offering trite platitudes. Powerful for sudden tragedy.
I Drive Your Truck
Lee Brice
Captures the attachment to objects, scents, and routines left behind. The truck is a symbol of identity and presence.
Say Something
A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera
Captures the pain of not being able to save someone and the moment of letting go.
Tips for Choosing 2010s Funeral Songs
Tip 1. These songs resonate with younger mourners — For funerals of people under 40, 2010s songs are their era's music and feel deeply personal.
Tip 2. Many are already funeral staples — "See You Again," "Even Though I'm Leaving," and "Photograph" have quickly become widely requested funeral songs.
Tip 3. Consider the streaming generation — These songs are easily accessible on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube for creating memorial playlists.
Tip 4. Mix decades for range — Pair a 2010s song with a classic to create emotional range that connects with both younger and older mourners.
Tip 5. Check the lyrics carefully — Some 2010s hits have lyrics that seem funeral-appropriate but include verses that don't quite fit. Listen to the full song.
Tip 6. Ed Sheeran is the decade's funeral artist — With "Photograph," "Supermarket Flowers," and "Thinking Out Loud," he has more funeral-appropriate songs than any other 2010s artist.
Complete List of 2010s Funeral Songs
Even Though I'm Leaving
Luke Combs
A modern masterpiece of storytelling — child afraid of monsters, son leaving for the army, father dying. Three verses spanning a lifetime.
Why it's meaningful: Emphasizes the continuity of a father's protection even after death. The narrative arc mirrors the mourner's own life with their dad.
Best moment: Tribute moment for fathers, especially from the perspective of a son.
All of Me
John Legend
A soul-baring love song about giving yourself completely to another person.
Why it's meaningful: The unconditional love expressed makes it a powerful tribute to a life partner.
Best moment: For a spouse's service. The piano arrangement is elegant and intimate.
Broken Halos
Chris Stapleton
Written after news of a friend's death. Addresses the theological confusion of why good people die young.
Why it's meaningful: Validates the anger and confusion of grief without offering trite platitudes. Powerful for sudden tragedy.
Best moment: Sudden deaths, young deaths, or for anyone questioning why.
I Drive Your Truck
Lee Brice
Based on a true story of a father who drove his fallen soldier son's truck to feel close to him. Captures physical grief.
Why it's meaningful: Captures the attachment to objects, scents, and routines left behind. The truck is a symbol of identity and presence.
Best moment: Brother or father loss, especially for working-class families.
Say Something
A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera
A devastating piano ballad about the helplessness of watching someone slip away.
Why it's meaningful: Captures the pain of not being able to save someone and the moment of letting go.
Best moment: During reflection or eulogies. The sparse piano creates raw emotional space.
Let Her Go
Passenger
A folk ballad about only understanding how much someone meant to you after they're gone.
Why it's meaningful: The central truth—you don't know what you have until it's gone—is the essence of grief.
Best moment: Reflection or memorial video. The acoustic guitar creates intimate atmosphere.
A Thousand Years
Christina Perri
An orchestral pop ballad about a love that transcends time.
Why it's meaningful: The promise of loving someone for a thousand years captures the eternal nature of love beyond death.
Best moment: For a spouse or parent. The sweeping orchestration builds emotional catharsis.
Someone Like You
Adele
Adele's iconic piano ballad about accepting loss and wishing someone well from afar.
Why it's meaningful: The graceful acceptance of loss and moving forward mirrors the grief journey.
Best moment: Reflection or closing. The piano simplicity lets the emotion speak.
Photograph
Ed Sheeran
A tender song about keeping someone close through photographs and memories.
Why it's meaningful: The idea that love lives on in photographs perfectly captures how we hold onto the departed.
Best moment: Memorial slideshow or photo tribute. The perfect accompaniment to images.
Thinking Out Loud
Ed Sheeran
A romantic acoustic ballad about loving someone through every stage of life.
Why it's meaningful: The image of loving someone until you're seventy captures a life spent together.
Best moment: For a spouse's service. The warm guitar arrangement feels personal.
One More Light
Linkin Park
Chester Bennington's final album's title track—a gentle reminder that every life matters.
Why it's meaningful: Tragically prescient given Bennington's own death. 'Who cares if one more light goes out? I do.'
Best moment: For someone who struggled. The quiet delivery amplifies the message.
Perfect
Ed Sheeran
A sweeping love song celebrating a perfect, once-in-a-lifetime partnership.
Why it's meaningful: Celebrating a perfect love makes it a powerful tribute to a partner — every line becomes a love letter to someone who made life complete.
Best moment: During the service or photo slideshow or tribute video
Hello
Adele
A powerful ballad about reaching out across an impossible divide.
Why it's meaningful: "Hello from the other side" — originally about estrangement, but at funerals it becomes a message from beyond, reaching across the divide of death.
Best moment: During the service
Small Bump
Ed Sheeran
A heartbreaking song about pregnancy loss and unrealized dreams.
Why it's meaningful: Addresses the specific grief of losing a child before or shortly after birth.
Best moment: Provides validation for parents experiencing pregnancy or infant loss.
Over You
Blake Shelton & Miranda Lambert
Blake Shelton's heartbreaking country ballad about the death of his older brother, written with Miranda Lambert.
Why it's meaningful: Written from lived grief of losing a brother, honestly acknowledging that you never truly get over such a loss.
Best moment: Powerfully authentic choice for brothers lost suddenly or in accidents.
When I Was Your Man
Bruno Mars
A regretful piano ballad about wishing you had done more for someone when you had the chance.
Why it's meaningful: Gives voice to the regrets many feel after loss—the things left unsaid and undone.
Best moment: During eulogies or reflection. The vulnerability resonates deeply.
Love Someone
Lukas Graham
A heartfelt song about how loving someone changes everything about your perspective on life.
Why it's meaningful: Captures how loving deeply makes you vulnerable, and that vulnerability is worth the pain of loss.
Best moment: During eulogies or as a closing song. Universal message of love's transformative power.
Take Me to Church
Hozier
A powerful song that treats love as sacred and transcendent.
Why it's meaningful: The reverence for human connection elevates love to something holy and eternal.
Best moment: For someone spiritual but not traditionally religious. Raw and powerful.
Riptide
Vance Joy
A breezy indie folk song about being swept up in the beauty and chaos of life.
Why it's meaningful: For someone who lived life with spontaneity and joy. Celebrates the adventure of being alive.
Best moment: Celebration of life or reception. Light and joyful.
Love Yourz
J. Cole
A reflective track about appreciating what you have and finding peace with your own life.
Why it's meaningful: The message of contentment and gratitude offers a framework for celebrating a life well-lived.
Best moment: Celebration of life. A meditation on what truly matters.
Lucid Dreams
Juice WRLD
A melancholic track about seeing someone in dreams and the pain of waking to their absence.
Why it's meaningful: The experience of dreaming about someone who's gone is universal in grief.
Best moment: For a young person's service. Connects with a generation through authentic emotion.
Holocene
Bon Iver
An expansive, atmospheric folk song about finding your small place in the vastness of time.
Why it's meaningful: The realisation that we're all temporary is oddly comforting—we're part of something much larger.
Best moment: During reflection. The layered production creates a cathedral of sound.
So Far Away
Avenged Sevenfold
Written after the death of their drummer, a genuine memorial from bandmates who lost a brother.
Why it's meaningful: Born from real grief for a real friend. The pain is authentic and the tribute genuine.
Best moment: For someone who loved rock/metal. The soaring guitar solo is cathartic.
Outro
M83
A triumphant, cinematic electronic piece that builds to an overwhelming climax of beauty.
Why it's meaningful: The spoken word about being reunited with everyone who has died creates a vision of reunion beyond death.
Best moment: Recessional. The building crescendo creates cathartic release as mourners depart.
Castle on the Hill
Ed Sheeran
A nostalgic, energetic anthem looking back at youth and hometown roots.
Why it's meaningful: Its nostalgic look back at youth and growing up captures the joy of shared history — a celebration of where someone came from.
Best moment: Photo slideshow or tribute video or reception
When We Were Young
Adele
A nostalgic longing for youth and the way someone once appeared.
Why it's meaningful: Its aching nostalgia for youth and beauty captures the mourner's memory of the departed in their prime — forever young in remembrance.
Best moment: Photo slideshow or tribute video
Skyfall
Adele
A dramatic anthem about resilience when everything crumbles around you.
Why it's meaningful: "When it crumbles, we will stand tall" — a message of resilience that empowers mourners to face the collapse of their world with dignity.
Best moment: Recessional / exit
Set Fire to the Rain
Adele
An intense anthem of passion and emotional power.
Why it's meaningful: Its intensity suits a farewell for someone who lived with fierce passion — the kind of person who set fire to the rain.
Best moment: Photo slideshow or tribute video
Lazarus
David Bowie
Bowie's final single, written as his own farewell from beyond.
Why it's meaningful: Written deliberately as his own farewell — "Look up here, I'm in heaven" — the most intentional death song in rock history.
Best moment: During the service
See You Again
Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth
A modern tribute to friendship and the promise of reunion.
Why it's meaningful: Speaks to younger generations about loss and remembrance.
Best moment: Resonates particularly with younger mourners.
Supermarket Flowers
Ed Sheeran
A tender, personal tribute to a mother
Why it's meaningful: The intimate details make universal feelings deeply personal.
Best moment: Especially poignant for the loss of a mother.
Youth
Daughter
A hauntingly beautiful indie track about the fragility and fleeting nature of youth.
Why it's meaningful: For someone taken too young. The ethereal sound captures the delicacy of a life cut short.
Best moment: For a young person's service. The atmospheric production creates emotional depth.
Hurt
Juice WRLD
A raw expression of emotional pain and the desire to escape from hurt.
Why it's meaningful: Given Juice WRLD's own early death, the song carries additional weight about young lives lost.
Best moment: For a young person. The vulnerability connects with younger mourners.
Letter to My Daughter
NF
A deeply personal letter from a father to his daughter about hopes, fears, and unconditional love.
Why it's meaningful: The intimate, spoken-word quality makes it feel like a genuine message from beyond.
Best moment: For a father's service. A message to children left behind.
Opus
Eric Prydz
A nine-minute progressive house epic that builds from delicate to transcendent.
Why it's meaningful: The journey from quiet to overwhelming joy mirrors the celebration of a life fully lived.
Best moment: Recessional or reception for someone who loved electronic music.
Ain't No Grave
Johnny Cash
A defiant declaration that death cannot hold the spirit down.
Why it's meaningful: Recorded just weeks before Cash's death, this song carries raw authority — a bold statement that no grave can contain the soul.
Best moment: Processional / entrance or recessional / exit
I See Fire
Ed Sheeran
A haunting melody about facing the end and standing together.
Why it's meaningful: Its haunting melody and themes of facing the end create an atmospheric backdrop for remembrance and solidarity.
Best moment: Photo slideshow or tribute video
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes 2010s Funeral Songs funeral songs appropriate for memorial services?
2010s Funeral Songs funeral songs are chosen for memorial services because they resonate emotionally with mourners. These songs often feature themes of remembrance, comfort, and hope that help people process grief while honoring the deceased's life and legacy.
Can I play 2010s Funeral Songs songs during the entire funeral service?
Yes, you can use 2010s Funeral Songs songs throughout the service including processional, during the service, and recessional. However, you may want to mix them with other styles to create emotional variety and keep the atmosphere appropriate for different parts of the memorial.
Which 2010s Funeral Songs songs are most popular for funerals?
The most popular 2010s Funeral Songs funeral songs tend to be those with meaningful lyrics about loss, love, or spiritual peace. Songs that are emotionally resonant, not too fast-paced, and familiar to the congregation work best. Check our curated list above for top recommendations.
Are there any 2010s Funeral Songs songs I should avoid at a funeral?
Avoid songs with overly upbeat tempos that seem inappropriate for mourning, or lyrics that might be offensive or divisive. Consider the deceased's preferences and the family's cultural or religious background when selecting songs.
Can we have live 2010s Funeral Songs musicians at the funeral?
Yes, live musicians are often very meaningful at funerals. Many venues and funeral homes welcome live performers. You may need to coordinate with the funeral home or place of worship, and consider acoustic arrangements rather than amplified versions for a more intimate atmosphere.
How do I choose between popular and lesser-known 2010s Funeral Songs funeral songs?
Both approaches work well. Popular songs help mourners connect emotionally since they may already know them, while lesser-known pieces can feel more personal and unique. Consider mixing both to create a meaningful tribute that feels authentic to who the deceased was.