Anniversary Songs: Filter a Playlist by Year, Partner and Vibe

The R&B slow jam most people mean when they ask for the anniversary song: warm, unhurried, made for dinner.

A thank-you for every year so far, and the toast song for a long marriage.

New words set to the 1880 waltz Waves of the Danube: the classic slow turn for a golden couple.

The soft-rock hit behind most "happy anniversary song" searches. The bright tune is often read as a love that ended, so listen before the toast.

Hushed and grown-up, from Pale Sun, Crescent Moon: a love song for a late dinner at home.

A tender acoustic ballad from Time After Time, released four years after her death.

Sweet early-sixties doo-wop, a nostalgic pick for parents who grew up on the oldies.

A gentle country ballad that was a UK top 20 hit in 1974, for grandparents who loved his voice.

Despite the title, it marks the day a relationship ended. Gorgeous R&B, but not one for the toast.

A proud answer to everyone who doubted you as a couple, perfect for a milestone year.

Sunny seventies soft rock about still choosing each other, years in.

A cheerful country promise to love each other until the very end.

A look back over a whole marriage, from young love to grown children. Have tissues ready.

Velvet-voiced and timeless, for a golden couple’s slow dance.

The silly, sweet song from The Wedding Singer, for a first anniversary that still feels brand new.

About a love that keeps growing past what you thought it could be, ten years in.

A modern country-pop promise to spend the time it takes to know someone completely.

The slow-dance ballad of the late 2010s, for a first anniversary or a kitchen waltz.

A hazy, waltzing love song about building a home together, ideal for year one.

An evening out seen through his eyes, written about getting ready for a party.

A love that outlasts youth and looks, and an easy slow dance.

Written for his wife: everything he needs is the one person next to him.

Motown sunshine that gets every generation singing along.

His swinging 1964 recording of the Jerome Kern standard, made for a dressed-up dinner.

Bright, simple pop for telling her nothing needs to change.

A piano ballad about loving every side of someone, written for his future wife.

The big country ballad about falling deeper in love every day.

A sincere promise in a classic two-step, from the film Pure Country.

Inspired by the duo’s own wedding days; relive yours on the first anniversary.

Starts soft, then the horns kick in and everyone sings the chorus.

Gratitude for a partner seen as a blessing, from a Dave Barnes song.

The soul classic for staying side by side through good times and bad.

A playful Motown pledge of loyalty to the one man for her.

A soaring ballad about love breaking down every wall.

Retro joy with key change after key change, for the dance floor.

Pure gratitude with a Motown bounce, a party closer.

A duet that asks for forever, a favorite R&B anniversary dedication.

A duet by a real married couple about what each one gives the other.

Horn-driven, joyful soul for saying they are the best thing in your life.

John Deacon wrote it for his wife: love and friendship in one bright tune.

Lush strings and a voice that fills the room, the slow dance of slow dances.

Short, simple and known by every guest, for the anniversary dance at a wedding.

A warm look at life’s small joys, lovely under a slideshow of the years.

Loyalty through anything, carried by one of pop’s best bass lines.

Aching and huge, a sixties classic for parents who married young.

Looking back on people and places, and finding the one you love most.

A cozy picture of daily life together, for the couple who built a home.

A soul ballad about a love that was meant to be, an R&B anniversary staple.

The duet everyone can sing, written by the Bee Gees.

Johnny and June trading playful jabs a year before they married, for a pair who tease each other.

A jaunty music-hall joke about growing old together.

Swinging Count Basie brass, a happy dance for any decade.

A soft folk promise that the love will outlast everything around it.

A home demo released after his death, about the best years still to come.

A piano ballad about the odds of finding each other, and a lifetime after.

Every wrong turn led to this person: a country hymn of thanks.

A Christian pop song named after a line in the famous wedding reading about love.

About the love you can read in a look, sung with bluegrass grace.

For couples who got through hard years and kept choosing each other.

Nothing can keep these two apart: the Motown duet that fills a dance floor.

An instant mood lifter for the moment the party starts.

Rockabilly fun for couples who still act like teenagers.

A shouty, happy party song for an anniversary that turns into a bash.

Us against the world, a sixties duet for couples who never fit the mold.

One look at the person you love and the whole day turns around.

A breezy, smiling love song, easy to play at brunch or a party.

A fairy-tale romance that ends in a proposal, for the couple who still feel like teenagers.

Her piano version of the Bob Dylan song, a promise to be there no matter what.

A gentle reminder to say it out loud, the original of the Rod Stewart hit.

The eighties duet for a couple who married when it ruled the radio.

A sweet acoustic duet about being in love with your best friend.

Laid-back ukulele and an easy truth: everything is better with them.

A hushed R&B duet about someone being the best part of every day.

A silky seventies slow jam that still closes many anniversary parties.

Late-nineties devotion for the couple who met on that radio.

A short, heavenly song about not knowing who you would be without them.