Popular Funeral Songs

What Actually Gets Played at Funerals

Funeral directors and crematorium operators report remarkably consistent patterns. The same twenty or so songs rotate across thousands of services each year, regardless of region. That consistency is not a lack of imagination — it is because these tracks do the emotional work without explanation.

Here are the songs families choose most, grouped by style.

Hymns and Sacred Standards

These are the selections congregations can sing together, which matters more than most families realize. A room of people singing in unison creates a physical sense of shared grief that a recorded track alone cannot.

• "Amazing Grace" — the single most played funeral song worldwide
• "How Great Thou Art"
• "Abide with Me"
• "The Lord Is My Shepherd" (Psalm 23)
• "On Eagle's Wings"
• "Be Not Afraid"
• "Ave Maria" — Schubert or Bach/Gounod
• "Old Rugged Cross"
• "It Is Well with My Soul"

Secular Ballads and Pop Standards

• "My Way" — Frank Sinatra
• "Wind Beneath My Wings" — Bette Midler
• "Tears in Heaven" — Eric Clapton
• "Hallelujah" — Leonard Cohen (or the Jeff Buckley version)
• "You Raise Me Up" — Josh Groban
• "Unforgettable" — Nat King Cole
• "Time to Say Goodbye" — Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman
• "What a Wonderful World" — Louis Armstrong
• "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" — Israel Kamakawiwoʻole
• "Bridge Over Troubled Water" — Simon & Garfunkel

Country and Folk

• "Go Rest High on That Mountain" — Vince Gill
• "The Dance" — Garth Brooks
• "If Heaven" — Andy Griggs
• "Live Like You Were Dying" — Tim McGraw
• "Angels Among Us" — Alabama
• "Danny Boy" — traditional Irish

Classical and Instrumental

When words would be too much:

• "Nimrod" from Enigma Variations — Elgar
• "Air on the G String" — Bach
• "Canon in D" — Pachelbel
• "Adagio for Strings" — Samuel Barber
• "Going Home" — Dvořák

Matching Songs to Service Slots

Most services use three to five pieces. The structure:

Two Things That Surprise Families

Catholic services restrict secular music. Songs like "My Way" and "Danny Boy" cannot be played during the Mass. They are welcomed at the vigil, wake, or graveside — just not during the formal liturgy. The Order of Christian Funerals requires music that reflects the Paschal Mystery.

Livestreaming needs separate rights. US funeral homes typically hold annual blanket performance licenses for catalogs managed by ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC, but confirm the chosen song is covered; GMR and AllTrack coverage is optional. A webcasting add-on (roughly $65–$70/year through the NFDA or ICCFA) covers streaming on a venue's own website. Facebook and YouTube's Content ID can still mute or stop copyrighted audio during a live-streamed service.

Choosing When You Cannot Think Clearly

If the list above still feels overwhelming, the Funeral Music Selection Guide gives you a decision matrix that narrows the field to three or four songs based on the venue, the faith tradition, the ceremony structure, and what the person actually listened to. It replaces an open-ended question with a sequence of simple filters.