Songs About Best Friends: 27 Checked Picks

Most lists of songs about best friends are padded with love songs that happen to contain the word "friend". This one is shorter and checked. Every song below is about friendship, a friend group or being there for someone, and for each one the artist and year were confirmed against a reference source such as Wikipedia, rather than copied from another list. There are no lyrics quoted, only a line on why each song fits.

Years are release years of the recording named. Where a song is better known for a different version, that is noted.

How to use the list: the sections are grouped by mood, not by popularity. If you are building a playlist for a friend, mix one rap pick, one classic and one pop song, so it does not feel like a greatest-hits compilation. If you want a caption for a photo, the song titles themselves often do the work. Some picks are about loyalty rather than affection, and a few are comic. Each entry says which, so you can avoid sending a friend-zone song to someone who will take it literally.

Rap and hip-hop

Hip-hop has a long tradition of crew songs: loyalty, the circle, the people who were there first.

• Friends, Whodini (1984). One of the earliest rap hits built on the idea that real friends matter more than success. It reached number 4 on the US R&B/hip-hop chart and sits on the album Escape.
• Just a Friend, Biz Markie (1989). A comic story of unrequited love and the friend zone. It is not a "you are my best friend" song, but it is the one your friends will sing back at you.
• Clique, Kanye West, JAY-Z and Big Sean (2012). A swaggering song about a tight, exclusive crew, from the GOOD Music compilation Cruel Summer.
• No New Friends, DJ Khaled featuring Drake, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne (2013). Loyalty to the people who were there from the start. Good for a group-chat caption.
• Best Friend, Young Thug (2015). A single from the mixtape Slime Season, with a hook that went viral on Vine. Playful rather than sentimental.
• Crew, GoldLink featuring Brent Faiyaz and Shy Glizzy (2016). A devotion-to-the-circle song that was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Performance.
• Best Friend, Saweetie featuring Doja Cat (2021). A bright, fun song about the bond between besties, released on January 7, 2021.
• See You Again, Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth (2015). A tribute to Paul Walker written for Furious 7. Save it for a farewell or a tribute rather than a party.

Pop for the group chat

• Wannabe, Spice Girls (1996). The debut single, with friendship coming before romance. A natural pick for a girls' trip.
• Fifteen, Taylor Swift (2008). From the album Fearless, about the first year of high school and the friendship with Abigail Anderson.
• Count on Me, Bruno Mars (2010). From Doo-Wops & Hooligans. A plain, warm promise to be there for someone.
• Friend Like Me, Robin Williams (1992). The Genie's showstopper from Aladdin, composed by Alan Menken with lyrics by Howard Ashman. Silly and good for kids.
• We Are Family, Sister Sledge (1979). Written and produced by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers of Chic. For friends who count as family.
• Birthday, Katy Perry (2013 album Prism, released as a single in 2014). A pure party track.

Classic songs about friendship

• Stand by Me, Ben E. King (1961). Written with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. A simple promise to stay.
• You've Got a Friend, Carole King (1971). From Tapestry. James Taylor's version was a number-one single.
• Lean on Me, Bill Withers (1972). Inspired by the community of his rural upbringing, and a number-one hit.
• With a Little Help from My Friends, The Beatles (1967). From Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, sung by Ringo Starr.
• Old Friends, Simon & Garfunkel (1968). Two old men on a park bench. Quiet and a little sad, for friendships that last decades.
• Thank You for Being a Friend, Andrew Gold (1978). Later the theme of The Golden Girls, which used shorter versions sung by Cynthia Fee.
• That's What Friends Are For, Dionne Warwick and Friends (1985). With Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder, a charity single for AIDS research. Written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager.
• Friends Will Be Friends, Queen (1986). Written by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon, and sung at the end of concerts on the Magic Tour.
• Friends in Low Places, Garth Brooks (1990). A country singalong that won the CMA and ACM Single of the Year awards for 1990.
• I'll Be There for You, The Rembrandts (1995). The Friends theme, extended for the band's album L.P.
• You've Got a Friend in Me, Randy Newman (1995). The Toy Story theme. It was nominated for an Oscar.

Songs for graduation and goodbyes

• Graduation (Friends Forever), Vitamin C (2000). Written about how friends drift apart after high school.
• Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), Green Day (1997). A gentle acoustic goodbye from Nimrod.

Pick by moment

Moment	Try
A friend's birthday	"Thank You for Being a Friend", "Count on Me", "Birthday"
Friends in different cities	"You've Got a Friend", "Lean on Me", "Count on Me"
Graduation or moving away	"Graduation (Friends Forever)", "Good Riddance", "Old Friends"
Road trip or night out	"Friends in Low Places", "We Are Family", "Wannabe"
Teasing a friend	"Just a Friend", "Friend Like Me"
A toast at a wedding or reunion	"With a Little Help from My Friends", "Stand by Me"

Or make a song only you two have

A playlist tells a friend that you like the same music. A song with your own names and jokes tells them you remember the details. If you want the second kind, there are two routes.

Write the lines first. The free rap lyrics generator writes a short duet from a topic and a style. Give it one real detail, such as the time you got locked out together, and edit the result until it sounds like you.

Turn it into a video. Rap Duet takes two photos, one per friend or one photo of both of you, and creates a 12-second vertical video of the two of you trading verses over an original AI song. Pick a stage (the orange Hotel Lobby booth is the popular one), add your topic and press make. Most videos take around three minutes, and failed renders are never charged. The song is original, not a recording of anyone else's music.

Use photos of adults who have agreed to appear, and mention in the caption that it is AI-generated. If you want ideas for what to put in it, the Hotel Lobby trend ideas guide has ten friend duets with sample lyrics.