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The beautiful thing about music is that there's a song for every single mood out there, including every kind of sadness. Whether it's a devastating breakup, a melancholic memory of a loved one, or a general anguish about existence, there's a minor chord for you.

Though it may seem masochistic, our indulgence in sad music is actually for good reason. Research suggests that music filled with sorrow can make you happier than joyful songs. By identifying and empathizing with lyrics, you ultimately understand that others share similar experiences of rejection, loss, unrequited love, or other kinds of sadness, and you realize you're not so alone.

Click through to see a list of some of the saddest songs to ever draw pools of salty tears from listeners.

▲This song was originally performed by Prince, but it was O'Connor's cover that became well-known for making men cry.

▲There's a reason why Emma Thompson cries while listening to Joni Mitchell in 'Love Actually.'

▲For every parent who has ever lost a child, and for every person who could ever even imagine having a child, this song is a waterfall waiting to happen.

▲Everything Amy Winehouse ever sung is now tinged with tragedy, but this song tells the tale of being abandoned by a lover and not knowing how to recover.

▲The song is sad enough without knowing that Clapton wrote it while mourning the accidental death of his four-year-old son.

▲Vandross dedicated this heart-wrenching and mournful track to his late father. The album of the same name ended up being his last before his own death.

▲Even just the memory of an unrequited love is enough to bring on the waterworks.

▲This quiet, tearful track about letting go of a loved one is both haunting and beautiful.

▲In 1995, British emotional support service the Samaritans reportedly used this song in their ad campaign.

▲The melancholic desire to be understood is perfectly captured in this mournful ballad.

▲If you didn't shed a tear at this song... maybe your tear ducts are broken?

▲You could analyze Leonard Cohen's lyrics and research what the song really means, or you could let the song's full-throated ache unleash a hearty wail.

▲The late Kurt Cobain singing about his life, almost whispering, in a now-haunting warning of his premature death, is sure to coax out a weep or two.

▲Adele wrote this song after reportedly breaking up with her boyfriend of 18 months. That's a heartbreak most can relate to.

▲This sappy song's lyrics hit a universal chord in their desire to return to a simpler, easier time in a relationship.

▲McLachlan reportedly wrote this song after watching a documentary about a woman who discovered her fiancé was HIV positive, and who then married him and took care of him until he died.

▲The cover by Birdy, when she was just 14 years old, is equally tear-inducing.

▲The last verse is the kicker: the singer reveals that the song's subject is married, but he vows to love her anyway.

▲The real punch to the gut comes with the line, "And deep down I know this never works / But you can lay with me so it doesn't hurt."

▲Cash actually covered this song in 2002, and it ended up being one of his final hit releases before his death.

▲When you hear, "Maybe one day you'll understand why / Everything you touch surely dies," have tissues nearby.

▲This rewritten version of his 1973 hit 'Candle in the Wind' changed from a tribute to Marilyn Monroe to a tribute to the late Princess Diana. He performed it only once, at her funeral.

▲The song, often used in sad moments in films, appropriately evokes a cinematic single tear flowing slowly down the cheek.

▲The tale of the biblical warrior Samson and his love who betrayed him, Delilah, is told in this song from Delilah's perspective, and it's full of anguish.

▲This song is so sad and tear-jerking that McLachlan was asked to perform it during the "in memoriam" slideshow at the Emmy Awards.

▲If you've ever wanted to be somewhere or someone else, you can cry to this song.

▲Originally written and performed by Tears for Fears, this song appeared on the soundtrack for the film 'Donnie Darko,' which is well-known for its melancholy.

▲The pain of memories, bitter with loss but sweet with admiration.

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This melancholic song was used in the soundtrack for 'About a Boy,' a movie which will similarly bring on the waterworks.