21st Birthday Songs
Thirty-four songs for a twenty-first. In America this is the birthday with the bar attached, which shapes the whole evening: it starts loud, peaks around eleven, and needs exactly one sincere song before the end. Sorted that way.
Updated September 202634 songs
Ten about being twenty-one
- 22Taylor Swift · 2012
One year off and used at every twenty-first anyway. Everybody in the room will sing the number wrong on purpose.
- In Da Club50 Cent · 2003
The birthday line and the drink line in the same verse. It was written for this exact night.
- I Love CollegeAsher Roth · 2009
Ridiculous, and precisely correct for an American twenty-first. Nobody is pretending it is a good song.
- Feels Like the First TimeForeigner · 1977
For the parents at the early half of the party, and it works better than they expect.
- ViennaBilly Joel · 1977
Slow down, you have time. The one song here that will still mean something at twenty-five.
- Forever YoungAlphaville · 1984
Grand, absurd and completely sincere. The right last song before the lights come up.
- Young, Wild & FreeSnoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa featuring Bruno Mars · 2011
The mid-evening one. Anyone turning twenty-one now was seven when it came out, which is exactly the nostalgia window.
- Mr. BrightsideThe Killers · 2003
Screamed word for word at every party in the English-speaking world. Older than the birthday and non-negotiable.
- Good as HellLizzo · 2016
For the part of the night when everyone has decided to enjoy themselves.
- Rivers and RoadsThe Head and the Heart · 2011
For the end, when half the room is about to graduate and scatter. Play the last minute.
The shape of the night
An American twenty-first has a predictable arc and the music should follow it. Pre-drinks are loud and familiar. The middle three hours are whatever the group actually dances to. Somewhere around midnight there is a window of about four minutes where a sincere song will land — and exactly one will. Two sentimental songs in a row kills the room and it does not come back.
Twenty-one is not the same birthday everywhere. In Britain, Ireland and Australia the eighteenth carries the legal weight and the twenty-first is a quieter, more sentimental occasion, often at home. If that is the party you are planning, take most of your choices from the last group on this page rather than the first.
If there is a toast, keep it under four minutes and put it before the peak rather than after. A speech at one in the morning is a speech nobody remembers, including the person giving it. Parents in particular should go early and then leave, which is a gift in itself.
One thing worth planning for: at twenty-one, a lot of the room is about to scatter. Final year, first jobs, different cities. A song about that at the end of the night does more emotional work than anything about the birthday itself, and it is the thing people will remember about the evening a decade later.
By the hour
Early, and getting ready
Pre-drinks, the first hour, people still arriving. Loud, familiar, nothing that demands attention.
- Uptown FunkMark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars · 2014
Gets everybody up at once, including anyone’s parents who are still there.
- LevitatingDua Lipa · 2020
Reliable and inoffensive. Good while people are still finding the drinks.
- Blinding LightsThe Weeknd · 2019
The most-streamed song of its era. Everyone at this party knows every bar of it.
- Yeah!Usher · 2004
Older than the birthday and it still works. The reliable early one.
- Crazy in LoveBeyoncé featuring Jay-Z · 2003
The horn intro is the fastest way to change the temperature of a room.
- Dancing QueenABBA · 1976
It works at every age and every hour. Useful when the mix is still uncertain.
- SeptemberEarth, Wind & Fire · 1978
The reliable choice when three generations are in the room and agree on nothing else.
- Good TimeOwl City & Carly Rae Jepsen · 2012
Pure party with no message at all, which early in the evening is the correct choice.
The peak
Ten to one. This part belongs to them and their friends — hand over the playlist and leave it alone.
- Party in the U.S.A.Miley Cyrus · 2009
Anyone turning twenty-one now was four when it came out and knows every word regardless.
- Don’t Stop Believin’Journey · 1981
A whole room singing badly at once. Best somewhere near the middle rather than the end.
- Sicko ModeTravis Scott · 2018
The beat switch is the moment. Nothing else on this page does that.
- Shut Up and DanceWalk the Moon · 2014
Bright and uncomplicated. Good for pulling people back onto a floor that has thinned.
- Dog Days Are OverFlorence + The Machine · 2008
Builds to something. One of the few party songs with an actual shape.
- HUMBLE.Kendrick Lamar · 2017
Short, heavy and everyone will do the chorus. Use it once.
- Bad RomanceLady Gaga · 2009
Reliable at any party where the average age is under thirty-five.
- Mr. BrightsideThe Killers · 2003
Save it for the point where you want everybody screaming. It will not fail.
The one sincere song, and after
Around midnight there is a four-minute window where this lands. Exactly one song, then back to the party or out into the street.
- ViennaBilly Joel · 1977
The best possible thing to say to a twenty-one-year-old who is already behind on something.
- Forever YoungAlphaville · 1984
Enormous and unashamed. The right last song before the lights.
- Rivers and RoadsThe Head and the Heart · 2011
About the room scattering, which at twenty-one it is about to. The last minute is the point.
- Time of Your LifeGreen Day · 1997
Written bitter, adopted as the farewell song. Nobody at the party will know that and it does not matter.
- LandslideFleetwood Mac · 1975
For a twenty-first that is quieter and at home. Short, and it does not overstay.
- The Night We MetLord Huron · 2015
For the end of the night, or the walk home. Wrong at eleven and right at two.
- HomeEdward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros · 2009
About a person being a place. For a friendship group that has been each other’s home for three years.
- Here Comes the SunThe Beatles · 1969
For the morning after, genuinely. Three minutes and it forgives everything.
Three demonstration songs
What a song for their twenty-first sounds like
We wrote these from made-up answers to the same five questions you would fill in. They are not customer work. A twenty-first has one four-minute window for something sincere, and a song written about them is the best possible use of it.
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
- Ray at Sixty-OneCountry · thirty-one years at the plant, same truck since nineteen3:29
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 a 21st birthday?
- Loud and familiar early, whatever they actually dance to in the middle, and exactly one sincere song around midnight. Two sentimental songs in a row kills a room and it does not come back.
- Is a 21st the same in Britain as in America?
- No. In Britain, Ireland and Australia the eighteenth carries the legal weight and the twenty-first is often quieter and at home. If that is your party, take most of your choices from the last group on this page.
- What is a good song for a 21st birthday toast?
- “Vienna” by Billy Joel, and it is not close. It tells a twenty-one-year-old who feels behind that they have time, which is the thing almost all of them need to hear.
- When should the speeches happen?
- Before the peak, under four minutes, then the person giving them should get out of the way. A speech at one in the morning is remembered by nobody, including the speaker.
- Can I get a song written for a 21st birthday?
- Yes. Answer five questions — their name, the occasion, three things only their friends or family would know, the tone you want and the music they like — and you will hear a 30-second preview in about two minutes. The full song is $19.