Music is a powerful tool that encourages healing.
For someone who is recovering from any kind of addiction, music is a force that can empower and inspire them to stay on the wagon.
Today, we’re sharing 11 empowering and inspiring songs about recovery for different kinds of addictions. Use these songs for your own playlist or for someone you know to help ease the challenges of recovery and staying sober.
Addiction can take many forms, and they are all harmful.
Many become addicted to substances like cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol. Meanwhile, others are addicted to forms of entertainment, such as social media and porn.
There are other still who become addicted to toxic relationships. They tend to choose partners that diminish rather than support them.
All of these addictions provide a form of escape for those who find it difficult to cope with life’s harsh realities.
As a consequence, addicts tend to become alienated from reality. They often become outcasts among their friends and in their families and communities.
Once a habit has become an addiction, it is almost always difficult to break.
However, a solid support group and strong will and determination to change and live a better, more authentic life are the strongest weapons to help you recover.
Read on and discover some of the best songs to play when you need extra encouragement to stay clean and sober.
1. Salvation, The Cranberries
via TheCranberriesTV
“To all those people doing lines, don't do it, don't do it. Inject your soul with liberty. It's free, it's free.”
This song is a rallying cry to stay clean and sober. The lyrics and the music video tell listeners that whatever “amazing” benefits there are to drug use, the consequences are never worth it.
2. Amazing, Aerosmith
via Aerosmith
“It's amazing. With the blink of an eye, you finally see the light. It's amazing. When the moment arrives that you know you'll be alright. It's amazing. And I'm sayin' a prayer for the desperate hearts tonight.”
This song is about how amazing it is to finally be sober. It carries a strong message of hope for those who are on their own journeys to sobriety.
For those who doubt their ability to heal and recover, here’s some good news: According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, addiction can be treated. With the right methods of intervention and therapy, one does not have to suffer their whole life as an addict.
3. Some People Change, Montgomery Gentry
“Here's to the strong; thanks to the brave. Don't give up hope. Some people change. Against all odds, against the grain. Love finds a way. Some people change.”
This song offers a message of redemption and speaks of doing the right thing.
How many of us are unaware that we are repeating unhealthy patterns we have observed in our families—that we live life according to how we were raised?
It’s all a matter of making a choice to end the legacy of abuse, racism, or addiction. The journey may be hard, but the end results are definitely worth it.
Believe that people can change.
4. I'm Movin' On, Rascal Flatts
via Rascal Flatts
“I'm movin' on. At last I can see life has been patiently waiting for me. And I know there's no guarantees, but I'm not alone. There comes a time in everyone's life when all you can see are the years passing by. And I have made up my mind that those days are gone.”
One of the saddest things about being an addict is that you miss out on the things that really matter in life. In recovery, you might come to realize that your relationships are in dire need of repair.
This song is about not beating yourself up over the lost time.
Instead, you are urged to move on. Take the opportunity to rebuild broken relationships and make life better for yourself and those you love.
5. No More Drama, Mary J. Blige
via Mary J Blige
“Ooh, it feels so good when you let go of all the drama in your life. Now you're free from all the pain. Free from all the game. Free from all the stress. So find your happiness. I don't know. Only God knows where the story ends for me. But I know where the story begins. It's up to us to choose. Whether we win or lose. And I choose to win.”
As mentioned earlier, some people are addicted to toxic relationships.
They may be drawn to the wrong type of person because they haven’t yet discovered how to truly love themselves.
Some people are addicted to the drama or the cycle of violence in a toxic relationship.
In this song, listeners are encouraged to choose the winning side—the side that is free from stress and pain. This is the side that offers true happiness.
But before all this can happen, the person must make the choice to leave all the toxicity behind. [Check out this post for pointers on how to break up with a narcissist.]
6. Life Wasted, Pearl Jam
via Pearl Jam
“Having tasted a life wasted, I'm never going back again.”
When a person is on the journey to recovery, temptations are usually there to entice them back to their old lives.
However, one way to avoid temptations is to look back on the effect of addiction in your life.
As this song states, many view those years as wasted time. Sometimes this memory alone is enough for them to stay sober or clean.
7. Recover, Natasha Bedingfield
“We will recover. The worst is over now. All those fires we've been walking through. And still we survive somehow. The worst is behind. And it hurts. But in time, I know that we will recover.”
The road to recovery is never straight. There will be detours. Sometimes, there will be relapses.
It is often a painful journey.
One has to be resilient enough to face all the difficulties and persevere until they have fully recovered.
This song is about the difficulties that line one’s path when they decide to become sober.
It reminds the listeners that staying addicted is the worst of their experience. Fortunately, they have recovery to look forward to.
8. Sober, Pink
via P!NK
“I'm safe up high, nothing can touch me. But why do I feel this party's over? No pain inside. You're like perfection. But how do I feel this good sober?”
In this song, Pink marvels at how amazing being sober can feel. She begins to question the old habits of partying late and hard, and of indiscriminate pleasure-seeking.
She sings of feeling safe and perfect in her state of sobriety.
9. Old Ways, Demi Lovato
via Demi Lovato
“But if somebody tells me I'll go back to my old ways, I'm gonna say no way. I'm out of the doorway. I'm hearing them all say I'll go back to my old ways. Not going back to my old ways.”
Often, there will be people who doubt your commitment to recovery. Others may not believe that you can overcome your addiction.
Ultimately, it is up to the person working to be clean and sober to stand up against the naysayers and prove them wrong.
This song is a personal vow to yourself that you’ll keep on working toward your recovery.
10. Under the Bridge, Red Hot Chili Peppers
“Under the bridge downtown is where I drew some blood. Under the bridge downtown, I could not get enough. Under the bridge downtown, forgot about my love. Under the bridge downtown, I gave my life away.”
Anthony Kiedis wrote this song to express how lonely and isolating it is to be in the throes of drug addiction.
It is a reflection of the things he lost while addicted to heroin and cocaine.
For listeners, it is a wonderful (yet sad) reminder that recovery is the only way to regain all that they’ve lost to substance addiction.
11. Recovery, James Arthur
via James Arthur
“In my recovery, I'm a soldier at war. I have broken down walls. I defined. I designed.”
In this song, James Arthur reminds us all that being on the road to recovery is like being on a battlefield.
So much is at stake. You cannot afford to lose.
You needs to be a soldier, fully committed to your recovery, designing and defining life on your own terms to attain healing.
Final Thoughts
Addiction can take many forms, and the most common is substance abuse.
However, some people are also addicted to toxic relationships and unhealthy forms of entertainment.
It is a personal choice to recover from addiction. No recovery program will ever work if the person who addicted is unwilling to work toward sobriety.
We hope that you’ve found a favorite among the songs about recovery featured in today’s collection.
If you’re on the road to recovery yourself, we admire your efforts and wish you all the best!
If you need more resources about addiction, here are several posts worth checking out:
Meanwhile, here are other song collections that you might like:
Finally, if you want to use these songs to make a lasting change to your life, then check out these 100 LIFE GOALS that can help you wake up each morning with a sense of enthusiasm about making progress toward what's important..
