18th Birthday Songs
Thirty-four songs for an eighteenth. This is the last birthday that belongs to the family and the first that belongs to them, and the music has to do both jobs in one evening. Sorted by which part of the night it is.
Updated September 202634 songs
Ten about turning eighteen
- ViennaBilly Joel · 1977
Advice to a young person in a hurry: slow down, you have time. Increasingly the one eighteen-year-olds choose themselves.
- Forever YoungAlphaville · 1984
The eighties version, and the one that plays at proms and leavers’ balls across two continents. Grand and slightly absurd, which fits.
- Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)Green Day · 1997
Written as a bitter break-up song and adopted as the leaving song anyway. Nobody minds and everybody knows it.
- My WishRascal Flatts · 2006
A parent listing everything they want for a child. The default for an eighteenth toast, for good reason.
- LandslideFleetwood Mac · 1975
About a child growing and a parent getting older at the same time. Devastating and mercifully short.
- 18One Direction · 2014
Literally the age, and anyone turning eighteen now was eleven when it came out. That is the exact right amount of nostalgia.
- UnwrittenNatasha Bedingfield · 2004
Corny, hopeful, and it has been carrying these slideshows for twenty years. It is a cliché because it works.
- Rivers and RoadsThe Head and the Heart · 2011
About friends scattering. For a slideshow that ends on the friendship group rather than on the birthday.
- I LivedOneRepublic · 2014
Big, hopeful, and it builds on a count you can time an entrance to.
- Here Comes the SunThe Beatles · 1969
Three minutes and every generation in the room accepts it. Good for the morning of, rather than the party.
One evening, two birthdays
An eighteenth is the last birthday the family gets to organise and the first the person actually owns, which is why so many of them go slightly wrong. The speeches, the slideshow and the parents all belong to one event; the friends, the music and the rest of the night belong to another. Deciding in advance where the seam is — usually about nine o’clock — saves everybody a difficult hour.
Put the sentimental part early. A slideshow at eight, while people are still seated and sober, will be watched. The same slideshow at eleven is a room of teenagers standing near a screen waiting for it to end. Parents consistently schedule this too late because they are nervous about it.
Hand the party playlist to them, without conditions. This is the single most reliable way to get it right and the one people find hardest. A parent-built playlist for eighteen-year-olds is the fastest way to empty a floor, and the only person who knows what that specific friendship group will dance to is the person whose birthday it is.
If a parent wants one song of their own in the night, one is the number. Play it during the speeches, keep it under four minutes, and do not explain it beforehand. A song announced with a preamble becomes a performance the eighteen-year-old has to react to in front of their friends.
By the part of the night
For the slideshow and the speeches
Early, while people are seated. One song, sixty photographs, three to four minutes — pick the song and cut the pictures to it.
- 7 YearsLukas Graham · 2015
Ages a person through a whole life in four minutes. Made for exactly this kind of montage.
- PhotographEd Sheeran · 2015
Literally about keeping someone in a picture, and it does not overplay it.
- The Best DayTaylor Swift · 2008
Written about her own mother and given to her as a present. From a parent, this says the whole thing.
- Slipping Through My FingersABBA · 1981
A mother watching a daughter leave for school. The most quietly devastating song on this page.
- Humble and KindTim McGraw · 2016
A list of rules for being decent. If those were your rules, this is them set to music.
- In My LifeThe Beatles · 1965
Gentle and short. Looks back without sounding like a eulogy, which at eighteen matters.
- Both Sides NowJoni Mitchell · 1969
Mitchell wrote it at twenty-three. For a parent who wants to say something about time without a speech.
- Dog Days Are OverFlorence + The Machine · 2008
Starts small and arrives somewhere. If the slideshow needs to end on a lift rather than a tear, use this.
For the party
After nine. Let them build it — this is the part of the night that is theirs, and a parent-built playlist will not survive contact.
- Blinding LightsThe Weeknd · 2019
The most-streamed song of its era. Anyone turning eighteen now has it in their body somewhere.
- Uptown FunkMark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars · 2014
The one song at a mixed-age party that gets everybody up at once, parents included.
- Mr. BrightsideThe Killers · 2003
Older than the birthday and screamed word for word at every party in Britain. Non-negotiable there.
- LevitatingDua Lipa · 2020
Reliable floor-filler that adults can also tolerate. Rare combination.
- Dancing QueenABBA · 1976
Literally about being seventeen. Close enough, and the aunts will be up before the chorus.
- Yeah!Usher · 2004
Older than the birthday girl or boy and still works. The parents will react before the friends do.
- Sweet CarolineNeil Diamond · 1969
The last song of the night, every time. Nobody has to be told the shouted part.
- Don’t Stop Me NowQueen · 1978
Relentlessly alive. Good near the end, when everyone has decided to enjoy themselves.
For leaving home
Most eighteenths are three months from a departure. These are for the drive, the last night, or the morning after.
- HomeEdward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros · 2009
About being from somewhere. For the packing, or for the car on the way.
- The CaveMumford & Sons · 2009
Loud and hopeful in a way eighteen-year-olds accept from adults. Rare.
- Take Me Home, Country RoadsJohn Denver · 1971
For the first time they are homesick, which will happen around week three.
- Thunder RoadBruce Springsteen · 1975
About being young and wanting out. If they cannot wait to leave, this is the song for it.
- Somewhere Only We KnowKeane · 2004
About a place that stops existing. For a friendship group about to scatter.
- Fast CarTracy Chapman · 1988
About leaving with almost nothing and hoping. Harder-edged than the rest of this group.
- Wish You Were HerePink Floyd · 1975
For the friend who is not going with them. Every year group has one.
- Forever YoungBob Dylan · 1974
A blessing rather than a farewell. The right last song of the whole occasion.
Three demonstration songs
What a song for their eighteenth sounds like
We wrote these from made-up answers to the same five questions you would fill in. They are not customer work. An eighteenth is one of the few occasions where a room will actually stop and listen to a song, which is worth having something specific for.
Make their song- Ruth’s Yellow KitchenCountry · a grandmother who fed everyone who came to the door3:39
- Marcus at FortyPop · written to be funny, at a friend’s request3:00
- Biscuit Tin ElaineAcoustic · a mother who worked eleven years of night shifts2:50
How it works
Three steps. The first one is the only hard part.
- 1Tell the storyFive questions. Who it’s for, the occasion, three details only you two know, the feeling you want, and the names that have to be in it.
- 2Pick the soundCountry, pop, acoustic, R&B, gospel or rock. A man’s voice or a woman’s.
- 3Listen, then unlockA 30-second preview in about two minutes. Pay only if you love it. You get the full song, the lyrics, and a page you can send.
Common questions
- What songs should play at an 18th birthday?
- Split the night. Slideshow and speeches early, while people are seated — “7 Years” or “Photograph”. The party after nine, on a playlist they built themselves. Mixing the two is what makes eighteenths go flat.
- What is a good 18th birthday slideshow song?
- “7 Years” ages a person through a whole life in four minutes, which is exactly the job. “Slipping Through My Fingers” if you want the parents undone, and “Unwritten” if you want the room hopeful rather than tearful.
- What should a parent play at their child’s 18th?
- One song, under four minutes, during the speeches, with no preamble. Announcing it turns it into a performance the eighteen-year-old has to react to in front of their friends.
- Should parents choose the party playlist?
- No. It is the single most reliable way to empty a floor. The only person who knows what that specific friendship group will dance to is the person whose birthday it is.
- Can I get a song written for an 18th birthday?
- Yes. Answer five questions — their name, the occasion, three things only your family or their friends would know, the feeling you want and the music they like — and you will hear a 30-second preview in about two minutes. The full song is $19.
Other birthday lists
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