60 Songs you should never play at a wedding

Whether you’re a couple finalising your wedding playlist, a wedding band putting together a setlist, or a wedding singer reviewing your repertoire — the music you choose on the big day matters enormously. Get it wrong, and you could turn the happiest day of someone’s life into an awkward memory. In this guide, we’ve put together 60 songs you should think twice about playing at a wedding, and why each one could cause more than a few raised eyebrows.

Selecting a set list is something of an art form. Every musician will take a different approach.

However, it’s definitely worth considering the type of event you are playing at when selecting material. Obviously, weddings celebrate love and happiness – meaning any songs with a less than appreciative take on the subject should probably be avoided. Always keep in mind that the event is supposed to be a celebration, especially if you are taking requests from the audience. Hopefully, this will help you avoid any awkward moments!

Have you ever heard any awkward tracks played at a wedding?

As such, we’ve put together a list of songs that you should generally avoid playing as a wedding band. Many of these songs you probably wouldn’t have considered putting into your set in the first place! However, some cursory googling of the lyrics of any of these hits will make it obvious why they shouldn’t be played at anyone’s big day.

60 Songs to avoid playing at weddings

Breakup & Heartbreak Songs

These songs are about the end of a relationship, moving on, or the pain of a breakup — the last thing anyone wants echoing around the dance floor on their wedding night.

1. “Someone Like You” – Adele. One of the most beautiful breakup songs ever written — and one of the most commonly played at weddings by mistake. It’s about watching an ex move on and wishing them well. Heartbreaking, not celebratory.
2. “Go Your Own Way” – Fleetwood Mac. Written by Lindsey Buckingham about his painful split from Stevie Nicks, this is one of rock’s great bitter breakup songs. The line “Loving you isn’t the right thing to do” says it all.
3. “Since U Been Gone” – Kelly Clarkson. A power-pop anthem about the relief of escaping a bad relationship. Brilliant song — wrong occasion.
4. “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” – Taylor Swift. The title alone should be enough of a warning. A gleeful kiss-off to an ex is not suitable first-dance material.
5. “Drivers License” – Olivia Rodrigo. A raw, devastating song about watching an ex move on with someone new. Genuinely emotional, but very much not a wedding song.
6. “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” – Neil Sedaka. It’s literally in the title. One of the most famous songs about the difficulty of ending a relationship.
7. “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” – The Righteous Brothers. A classic about the slow fading of love and passion in a relationship — not exactly the sentiment you want to open the evening with.
8. “Last Request” – Paolo Nutini. A melancholic ballad about one final intimate night together before a relationship ends forever. Beautiful, but deeply sad.
9. “Somebody Else” – The 1975. A brooding indie track about emotional detachment after a breakup. Not exactly feel-good wedding fare.
10. “Lost Cause” – Beck. All about a partner who’s given up on the relationship. Sparse, sad, and unmistakably a goodbye song.
11. “I Hate Myself For Loving You” – Joan Jett & The Blackhearts. The title speaks for itself — a song about being unable to resist someone you know is bad for you.
12. “If You Leave Me Now” – Chicago. A plea not to be left — and therefore a song about the very real possibility of being left. Probably not what you want at a wedding.
13. “Leaving on a Jet Plane” – John Denver. Originally written by John Denver as a young man preparing to leave his girlfriend behind, this is fundamentally a song about departure and uncertainty — not the most optimistic message for a wedding.
14. “Forget Her” – Jeff Buckley. A song about desperately trying to forget a lost love. Deeply personal and melancholic.
15. “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” – Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. A playful but pointed song about a couple whose differences might doom the relationship. Even if it’s charming, the message is clear.

Infidelity, Cheating & Revenge Songs

Whether it’s about someone cheating, someone being cheated on, or someone plotting their revenge — these songs have no place on a wedding playlist.

• “Every Breath You Take” – The Police. Possibly the most misused wedding song of all time. Sting has called it “nasty” and “evil” — it’s about surveillance and obsessive jealousy, not love. Despite the romantic melody, the lyrics are genuinely intended as a stalker’s anthem.
• “Suspicious Minds” – Elvis Presley. A song about a couple trapped in a relationship destroyed by mutual distrust and jealousy. A great Elvis track — but deeply inappropriate for a wedding.
• “Before He Cheats” – Carrie Underwood. The best-selling country single of all time is about smashing up your cheating boyfriend’s car. Catchy, but the connotations of betrayal and revenge make it a wedding no-no.
• “Unfaithful” – Rihanna. Rihanna sings about her own cheating and the emotional devastation it causes. Not ideal when you’ve just exchanged vows.
• “It Wasn’t Me” – Shaggy. A cheerful song about being caught cheating and denying it. Funny, but ill-advised on a wedding dancefloor.
• “You Oughta Know” – Alanis Morissette. One of the great angry “done wrong” songs. Alanis’s furious, explicit takedown of an unfaithful ex is not appropriate for a wedding.
• “Always on My Mind” – Willie Nelson. Despite the tender delivery, this is a song about neglecting and taking someone for granted — an apology that comes too late.
• “Maneater” – Hall & Oates. A warning about a woman who destroys men emotionally. Probably not the first impression a bride wants to make.
• “If You See Her, Say Hello” – Bob Dylan. A painful song about an ex who left. Dylan reportedly wrote it about his divorce from Sara Dylan — not exactly wedding material.

Anti-Love, Anti-Marriage & Cynical Songs

These songs take a dim or ironic view of love, marriage, or relationships. Even if they’re classic tracks, their message runs directly counter to the spirit of the day.

• “Love Stinks” – J. Geils Band. The title says everything. A full-throated declaration that love is terrible. Avoid.
• “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” – The Smiths. Morrissey specialises in misery, and this is one of his finest — but there’s nothing celebratory about it.
• “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” – Paul Simon. Catchy drums notwithstanding, a song about how to escape a relationship is not a wedding classic.
• “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” – Tammy Wynette. It’s literally about divorce — Tammy spells it out to avoid saying the word in front of the children. You can probably just say it outright at a wedding: don’t play this.
• “Don’t Marry Her” – Beautiful South. The title is as explicit as it gets. The clean version is bad enough; the uncensored version is even worse.
• “Nothing Lasts Forever” – Echo & The Bunnymen. A romantic-sounding title that delivers a very different message. Probably not what you want ringing in the ears of newly-weds.
• “Grounds For Divorce” – Elbow. The title alone is enough. Guy Garvey has said this was written during a deeply unhappy period in his life. A great song — in the wrong place.
• “Love Is a Losing Game” – Amy Winehouse. A hauntingly beautiful song about a love that destroys everything. Not a celebration of love — the opposite.
• “What’s Love Got To Do With It” – Tina Turner. A brilliant pop song whose central thesis is that love is just a “second-hand emotion” and not to be trusted. Perhaps not the wedding anthem you’re looking for.
• “I Want To Break Free” – Queen. A song about desperation to escape a relationship and find freedom. The iconic vacuum cleaner video is memorable for all the wrong reasons.
• “Who Needs Love” – Razorlight. A dismissive brush-off of love and relationships. Pretty self-explanatory.
• “Love Will Tear Us Apart” – Joy Division. Written during Ian Curtis’s turbulent marriage and released after his suicide in 1980, this post-punk classic is one of the most inappropriate wedding songs imaginable.
• “The End” – The Doors. An 11-minute psychedelic farewell that features themes of death, violence and the end of everything. “This is the end, beautiful friend” is not a wedding toast.
• “Run To The Hills” – Iron Maiden. Sonically, this is about as far from a romantic ballad as it’s possible to get. The lyrics concern conquest and devastation. Not a wedding song.
• “You Give Love a Bad Name” – Bon Jovi. Bon Jovi’s first US number one hit is a high-energy rock track about being deceived and used by someone who gives love a bad name. Great for a rock concert — less so for a wedding.

Songs That Sound Romantic But Aren’t

These are the most dangerous category — songs that sound like wedding material on the surface, but contain lyrics or backstories that are anything but romantic. Always check before you play.

• “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” – U2. One of the greatest rock songs ever recorded — but its message is one of spiritual searching and unfulfilled longing. Not ideal when you’ve just found the person you’re pledging your life to.
• “Fake Love” – Drake. A critique of insincere people who show fake love. Even with its infectious production, the message is deeply cynical about relationships.
• “Gold Digger” – Kanye West. Whatever the intentions, a song titled “Gold Digger” — about a woman who targets men for their money — is not the message you want to send on your wedding day.
• “Blurred Lines” – Robin Thicke. Aside from the controversy surrounding this song, its lyrical content makes it deeply inappropriate for a wedding.
• “Love The Way You Lie” – Eminem feat. Rihanna. A song about a volatile, abusive relationship told from both perspectives. Powerful and important — but not for a wedding.
• “Bad Romance” – Lady Gaga. Gaga is singing about wanting someone’s “ugly” and their “disease” and their “drama” and their “revenge.” Catchy — but not a love song in any traditional sense.
• “Bad Guy” – Billie Eilish. A darkly playful song about manipulation and power games. Not exactly a declaration of devotion.
• “You’re So Vain” – Carly Simon. An iconic takedown of a narcissistic ex. Carly Simon has confirmed the second verse is about Warren Beatty — but whoever it’s about, it’s a diss track, not a love song.
• “Marry You” – Bruno Mars. Despite being regularly requested at weddings, the song is about a drunken, spontaneous decision to get married in Las Vegas — fuelled by “dancing juice.” The spirit is fun, but the underlying message is that this is a reckless impulse, not a considered commitment.
• “Highway to Hell” – AC/DC. Written about the Canning Highway in Australia, this rock anthem has been adopted as a metaphor for a chaotic life of excess. On day one of your marriage, picturing the road ahead as a “highway to hell” is probably not the tone you’re after.

Other Songs to Avoid

• “It Should Have Been Me” – Gladys Knight & The Pips. Imagine a bitter ex at the back of the venue hearing this song come on. The title alone is enough to ban it.
• “Crashed The Wedding” – Busted. A pop-punk song literally about gatecrashing a wedding to win back an ex. Novelty factor aside, this has disaster written all over it.
• “That Don’t Impress Me Much” – Shania Twain. A fun song about not being impressed by a suitor — but at a wedding it rather implies the couple still have something to prove to each other.
• “Free Bird” – Lynyrd Skynyrd. A song about a man who refuses to be tied down or committed to any one relationship. The musical equivalent of cold feet.
• “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” – Elvis Presley. A slow, mournful lament about love fading away — similar to the Righteous Brothers version above but worthy of its own mention given how often it gets requested.
• “The Winner Takes It All” – ABBA. Written by Björn Ulvaeus about his divorce from Agnetha Fältskog — two of the four members of ABBA. An extraordinary song about loss and heartbreak. Stunning, sad, and completely wrong for a wedding.
• “Another One Bites The Dust” – Queen. A driving bassline and a killer hook — but the title is an idiom for dying or failing. Not the celebratory message a wedding deserves.
• “Please Release Me” – Engelbert Humperdinck. A song about wanting to be released from a marriage that has run its course. The irony of playing this at a wedding should be obvious.
• “Don’t You Want Me” – The Human League. A song about a relationship breakdown and passive-aggressive recrimination — “I made you who you are.” Not romantic.
• “Who’s Sorry Now” – Connie Francis. A classic song about turning the tables on someone who caused pain. Feels like a loaded choice at a wedding.
• “I Fall In Love Too Easily” – Chet Baker. A beautiful, gentle jazz standard — but the implication that the singer falls in love too readily and perhaps superficially is an odd sentiment for a wedding day.

It’s important to remember that you should thoroughly check any playlists you have not put together yourself, especially if you offer a DJ service after your sets. For obvious reasons, if you haven’t put the list of music together, it’s more likely something inappropriate could make it onto the list by mistake.

What to do if you get a bad request

Whether you are performing mid-set or DJing afterwards, it’s incredibly common to have some attendees make a few requests.

Whether you choose to take them or not is ultimately down to you, but always be polite and courteous – even if the suggestion is absolutely ridiculous.

It’s never a good idea to humiliate or disparage your audience, especially over a microphone.

Sometimes it’s easier to say you don’t take requests rather than go into a long explanation of why their suggestion wouldn’t be appropriate for a wedding.

Remember that you are ultimately in charge of what music gets played and to deal with any hecklers appropriately.

Have you checked through all your playlists?

What about if it’s a first dance request?

Dealing with unusual requests for a first dance is a very tricky business.

Ultimately, you can advise but never dictate.

Fortunately, the conversation around a first dance will almost always happen in advance, meaning there is some time for discussion.

If the happy couple has made what feels like a strange choice for their first dance, there will often be some kind of logic behind it as to why, and they will usually explain it to you.

However, if they have picked something very bizarre and seem to be completely unaware as to why it might not be appropriate, you might want to very sensitively broach the subject with them.

Have you encountered any strange first dance requests?

A relatively easy way to do this is to recommend they give the song’s backstory a google – that way they can make an informed decision on whether or not they choose it.

If the couple hadn’t realised the song’s connotations, you might even find that they thank you for helping them avoid a potentially embarrassing choice.

Unfortunately, the final decision usually has to stay with the people paying the bill.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the number one song you should never play at a wedding?

“Every Breath You Take” by The Police is arguably the most commonly misused wedding song. Despite its romantic-sounding melody, Sting has confirmed it is a dark, sinister song about obsession, surveillance and jealousy — not love. It regularly tops lists of the worst songs to play at a wedding for this reason.

What are the most overplayed wedding songs to avoid?

Beyond songs with inappropriate lyrics, some wedding songs are simply overplayed to the point of cliché. Tracks like “Angels” by Robbie Williams, “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis, and “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran are played so frequently that many couples actively request they be excluded. Always discuss with your clients what feels fresh and personal to them.

What songs should be avoided for a first dance?

For a first dance, avoid anything with themes of heartbreak, infidelity, obsession, or loss — even if the melody sounds romantic. “Someone Like You” by Adele, “The Winner Takes It All” by ABBA, and “Marry You” by Bruno Mars (which is about an impulsive drunken Vegas wedding) are all common pitfalls. Always encourage couples to check the full lyrics before they decide.

What is the most clichéd wedding song?

Opinions vary, but “Angels” by Robbie Williams, “Can’t Stop Falling in Love” by Elvis, and “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton are frequently cited as the most overplayed wedding songs in the UK. While there’s nothing wrong with any of these choices, couples who want a more memorable or personal playlist often look for alternatives.

Do you have any top tips for songs that should be avoided at weddings? Leave them in the comments below!