Unless you've been completely plain sailing in your first relationship, chances are you'll have a break-up song or two.
These tunes that remind us of heartbroken times, often played full-blast at home alone, can also be a way of pulling us through the bad and make us feel like ourselves again,
Hull Live reports that a study of 2,000 adults who have been in a long-term relationship and gone through at least one break-up revealed that listening to music is their preferred coping mechanism following a split.
And Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black, Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You and Fleetwood Mac’s Go Your Own Way are the nation's top break-up songs, according to the research.
Coldplay's Fix You and Robyn's Dancing On My Own also featured in the top 30. And despite almost half of those polled saying they listen to sad music when heartbroken, break-up songs aren’t all doom and gloom.
More than four in 10 choose an empowering and happy song such as Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive and Taylor Swift’s We Are Never Getting Back Together, which also featured in the list alongside Beyonce's Single Ladies.
Relationship expert Rachael Lloyd at eharmony has unveiled the seven stages of a breakup, including disillusionment, doubt, denial, anger, relapse, acceptance and happiness – and shared some advice on how to approach them in a healthy way.
She said: "Going through a breakup brings out all sorts of emotions all at once, which can be overwhelming. Other times we might go on autopilot and block out difficult feelings. Listening to music can help unlock them and allow us to grieve our losses properly."
The study revealed that Brits have gone through an average of four break-ups in their lives, with the first one taking place around aged 20. Four in ten adults say the first one is the hardest, even though they do say that ending a long-term relationship never seems to get easier.
While over half have been dumped in person, a third got dumped over text, a quarter over the phone – and just under a fifth have been brutally ghosted.
Rachael Lloyd added: "Going through a breakup is psychologically similar to grief, because you are losing someone who has played a big part in your life for a while. So, it’s not surprising we feel things like denial and anger before being able to move on.
"Unlike grief though, we can ‘relapse’ with that person, which leads to all sorts of self-sabotaging habits. You have to learn to be kind to yourself while pushing through."
It was also revealed than an unhealthy breakup has prevented more than a quarter of people from getting into another relationship, affecting women (three in 10) more than it did men (two in 10).
Rachael Lloyd added: "A breakup should not be seen as just the conversation you have with your partner to end things. It is the entire period during which your body and mind process the pain before you can move on with your life.
"Accepting your emotions and reflecting on them allows you to grow as a person and go into the next relationship with perspective, rather than negative bias."
Top 30 breakup songs
- Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
- Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You
- Fleetwood Mac – Go Your Own Way
- Adele – Someone Like You
- Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive
- Sinead O’Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U
- Taylor Swift – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
- ABBA – Knowing me, Knowing You
- Dionne Warwick – Walk On By
- No Doubt - Don’t Speak
- Coldplay – Fix You
- Beyonce – Irreplaceable
- Destiny’s Child – Survivor
- Al Green – How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?
- Ariana Grande – Thank U, Next
- Kelly Clarkson – Since U Been Gone
- Sam Smith – Stay With Me
- Beyonce – Single Ladies
- James Blunt – Goodbye My Lover
- Natalie Imbruglia – Torn
- Bill Withers – Ain’t No Sunshine
- Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart
- Justin Bieber – Love Yourself
- Roy Orbinson – Crying
- Toni Braxton – Unbreak My Heart
- Boyz II Men – End Of The Road
- Little Mix – Shout Out to My Ex
- Carole King – It’s Too Late
- John Legend – Used To Love You
- Robyn – Dancing on My Own
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
