Many of today’s club hits rely heavily on instrumental beats, focusing solely on the groove to carry the record. But when vocals enter the mix, something magical happens: the expressive power of the human voice combines with the beat’s driving force to create an emotional impact more significant than the sum of its parts. This unique fusion often makes electronic dance music (EDM) particularly effective at pulling at the heartstrings. Interestingly, it’s often the more commercial genres of EDM that do this best—a noteworthy point coming from us, a team generally more inclined toward the underground scene.
So whether you’re dealing with a breakup, searching for the perfect emotional soundtrack, or have a penchant for dance tracks that evoke deep feelings, our comprehensive list of the 90 saddest dance songs guides you. For your convenience, we’ve also compiled these emotionally charged tracks into a continually updated playlist. Don’t forget to follow the playlist (linked at the bottom) once you’ve checked out our list!
Jan Blomqvist – Alone
Vintage & Morelli- The Other Side (Factor B Remix)
3LAU – Touch (Zeds Dead remix)
Above & Beyond – Sun & Moon
Sasheen & Jacob Acosta – Falling
Aleau90 – Nina Kraviz – Skyscrapers (HI-LO Remix)
Andrew Bayer – Open End Resource
Andy Duguid – 7even
Armin Van Buuren – Burned with Desire
Armin van Buuren – Solar Stone – Seven Cities Vocal Mix
Audien – One Last Dance
Avicii – Never Leave Me
Avicii – Fades Away
Avicii – Without You
Axwell – Belong (Axwell & Years Remode Edit)
Bear Grillz & Haliene – The Way We Were
Becky Hill – Remember (David Guetta Remix)
Ben Bohmer – Erase
Blanke – Used to Losing You
Bonnie x Clyde – Another You
Chime – Can’t Feel It
Cosmic Gate – Man on the Run Mix
Culture Code – After All
Dabin – Worlds Away
Dastic – Wish we never met
Dash Berlin – Till the sky falls apart
Daft Punk – Something About Us
Deadmau5 – Telemiscommunications
Dekleyn – Chasing Dreams
EKALI – Past Life
Elephante – Plans (Acoustic)
Emancipator – Sea and Sky (Parra For Cuva Remix)
Excision – Erase You
Flanders – Behind
Flume – Highest Building
Flux Pavilion – Somebody Else
Gareth Emery – You’ll Be Okay
George Fitzgerald – Burns
Gryffin – Out of My Mind
Gryffin, Jason Ross with Calle Lehmann – After You
HALIENE – Hollow
Marshmello – Here With Me
Illenium & Said the Sky – Other Side
Inside Out – Zedd
Jerro — Go Back Now
Kaskade – A little more
Kaivon – I love you., Don’t leave me
Kenn Colt – Come Back to Me
Kygo – Kids in Love (Acoustic)
Krys Talk – Fly Away (Mendum Remix)
Lane 8 – The Flood
Le Youth – Feel Around You
Leaving Laurel – Sometimes it’s scary but it’s still just you and me
Steve Aoki – Lie to me (Nicky Romero Remix)
Seven Lions – Cold Skin (Mitis Remix)
Mage – The Words I Never Said In D&B
Madeon – Borealis, Heavy with hoping
Lane 8 – Oh Miles
Matisse and Sadko – Me Without Us
Monkey Safari – Safe
Montell2099 & Netsky – Broken
Nurko – Better off lonely
Odesza – Last goodbye
Madeon – Heavy with hoping
Odesza – A moment apart
Nurko – Blindspot
Phantoms – This Can’t Be Everything
Porter Robinson – Sad Machine
RAM- RAMelia
Rootkit – Only Knew
Said the Sky – Walk Me Home
Seven Lions – Worlds Apart
Seven Lions – Cold Skin (Mitis Remix)
Porter Robinson – Wind Tempos
Seven Lions and Ellie Goulding – Don’t leave
Said the Sky – Hero
Seven Lions, Jason Ross – Ocean
Slander – Walk on Water
Stop Thinking – Seven Lions
Slander – Love is Gone
Sultan + Shepard – White Lies
A&B – Sun & Moon (Acoustic)
Synymata – Where does love go
Tiesto – Red Lights
Tourist – We Stayed Up All Night
Trivecta – Wasteland (Wooli Remix)
Yuri Kane – Right Back
Zeds Dead – Touch (Remix)
The Saddest Songs In Electronic Dance Music Playlist
We’ve put together a playlist featuring 90 of the saddest tracks in electronic dance music, a genre where vocals and beats can come together to offer more emotional depth than you might expect. Although our team generally leans towards the underground genres, we’ve found that commercial tracks often excel in this emotional arena.
This playlist is a comprehensive guide for anyone going through a breakup, looking for emotionally charged music for creative projects, or just interested in tracks beyond the typical dance floor banger. We’ll update this playlist regularly, so if you’re looking for a dynamic collection of emotionally resonant EDM tracks, follow it.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
