Songs About Online Friends
A song list · 14 songs · updated October 2026
There aren't many famous rock songs about friends you've only met online, so most of this list is the next closest thing: pen pals, voices on the radio, people on the far side of an ocean, and friends who keep turning up. Three of the songs are mine, marked ZN Rock, and those are about exactly that, a late-night online room and its regulars. Each entry says what the song is about, with a link.
Message in a Bottle · The Police
The band's first UK No. 1, from Reggatta de Blanc (1979). A castaway sends out an SOS, hears nothing for a year, then finds a hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore: everyone else is alone too.
Radio Ga Ga · Queen
From The Works (1984), written by Roger Taylor. The narrator remembers the radio as his company through teenage nights and doesn't want it pushed aside by music videos.
The Thing I'd Never Say · ZN RockZN Rock
A thank-you to a room full of people you've never met, who argue, joke and never once ask how you're doing. You'd never say it into the mic, so the song says it for you: you'd be lost if they were gone.
Across the Sea · Weezer
From Pinkerton (1996). Rivers Cuomo wrote it after a letter came from a fan in Japan. He has said he was very lonely then, fell for her through the letter, and was low knowing he'd never meet her.
Hear You Me · Jimmy Eat World
From Bleed American (2001), written for Mykel and Carli Allan, sisters who ran Weezer's fan club and put touring bands up at their Los Angeles home. They were killed in a car accident in 1997 on the way to a Weezer show.
And We're Never Going Down · ZN RockZN Rock
A shout-along roll call of the regulars still in a late-night online room at 2 a.m. Nobody agrees, nobody fixes anything, nobody logs off, and nobody in there is on their own.
We Used to Wait · Arcade Fire
From The Suburbs (2010). Win Butler has said it goes back to a teenage summer spent waiting for letters to arrive. Its video, The Wilderness Downtown, was an interactive film made to run in a web browser.
Jet Lag · Simple Plan feat. Natasha Bedingfield
A 2011 pop-punk single from Get Your Heart On!, sung back and forth by Pierre Bouvier and Natasha Bedingfield. It's about keeping a relationship going across continents and time zones.
Late Night Roll Call · ZN RockZN Rock
A fast, joking roster of the regulars in a late-night online room who take the whole world apart and put it back wrong. They never get it right, and they never miss a night.
Transatlanticism · Death Cab for Cutie
The title track of the 2003 album. Ben Gibbard made up the word for the ocean of distance that can sit between two people, and the song keeps asking for them to be closer.
Hey There Delilah · Plain White T's
Tom Higgenson wrote it in 2002 about a runner he'd met through a friend, imagining what he'd tell her from far away if they were together. It went to No. 1 in the US in 2007.
With a Little Help from My Friends · The Beatles
Lennon and McCartney wrote it for Ringo Starr to sing on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). It's about getting by thanks to your friends, and Joe Cocker's 1968 version took it to No. 1 in the UK.
I'll Be There for You · The Rembrandts
The theme from Friends, and a radio hit in 1995. It's about the people who keep showing up when the rest of your life isn't going to plan.
Thank You for Being a Friend · Andrew Gold
A 1978 hit that Gold said took him about an hour to write. It's a plain thank-you to a friend, and a version sung by Cindy Fee later became the theme of The Golden Girls.
Play the whole list
Questions
Are there songs about online friends?
Not many famous ones. The Thing I'd Never Say, And We're Never Going Down and Late Night Roll Call by ZN Rock are all about a late-night online room and its regulars. Message in a Bottle by The Police and Across the Sea by Weezer are about reaching someone you can't see.
What's a good song to send an online friend?
Thank You for Being a Friend by Andrew Gold or With a Little Help from My Friends by The Beatles, if you want to say thanks without making a big deal of it. The Thing I'd Never Say by ZN Rock is a thank-you written for exactly that kind of friend.
Is there a playlist?
Yes, one on YouTube (official videos) and one on Spotify, both further down this page.
- Rock Songs About Anxiety and Overthinking
- Rock Songs About Pain and Getting Through Bad Days
- Rock Songs About Addiction and Recovery
- 2000s Rock Songs About Making It and Going Home
- Rock Songs About Friends Drifting Apart
- Rock Songs For Your Younger Self
- Rock Songs About Burnout and Working Too Much
- Rock Songs About Getting Sober
- Songs About Headaches and Migraines
- Songs About Losing a Best Friend
All ZN Rock lyrics · ZN Rock home