50 Years Ago Today, One of the Most Depressing Songs Ever Was No. 2 on the Charts
Exactly 50 years ago today, on March 19, 1976, a song widely considered to be one of the most depressing to listen to was No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It seems poetic that such a heartbreaking song came so close to reaching No. 1, but barely fell short. Even though the song was a major success and it has a lasting legacy, it feels right that a sad song like Eric Carmen's "All By Myself" didn't get a true happy ending.
50 Years Ago, Eric Carmen's 'All By Myself' Was No. 2
Photo by Bill Tompkins/Getty Images
After its December 1975 release, Eric Carmen's "All By Myself" made its debut on the Billboard Hot 100 that same month. The song would peak at No. 2, and as the website Top 40 Weekly confirms, it still held that position 50 years ago on March 19, 1976.
While the track never managed to hit No. 1, Billboard's website confirms that "All By Myself spent an impressive 19 weeks on the chart. Carmen would have a total of 13 of his songs chart during the '70s and '80s, including his two other top 10 hits, "Make Me Lose Control" and "Hungry Eyes (From "Dirty Dancing")." Another one of Carmen's tracks, "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again," fell just short of that when it topped out at No. 11.
Why This Song Is Considered One of the Most Depressing Ever
When Eric Carmen wrote "All By Myself" after being inspired by Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2, he created a song that has spoken to people for fifty years now. While that is an impressive feat, the track is so obviously depressing that it seems like the only people who need an explanation of what makes the song sad are the people who haven't heard it. After all, it feels like the song was perfectly crafted to be listened to by people who are singing along at the top of their lungs while feeling alone as tears stream down their cheeks. The song's chorus shows why that is the case:
"All by myself/ Don't wanna be / All by myself / Anymore"
While those lyrics speak for themselves, there is objective evidence to back up the claim that the song is depressing. For example, WMMR 93.3 included the track on its list of the 30 saddest songs of all time. That article included the it alongside infamously tearjerking songs like REM's "Everybody Hurts," Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven," and Roy Orbison's "Crying."
Additionally, an r/MusicRecommendations subreddit post in which a user asked for "sad songs about being lonely" had more than one response naming "All By Myself." If that wasn't enough, Rolling Stone included it on the outlet's Isolation Playlist and American Songwriter described it as a song that "circles around lost friendships and lovers, insecurities, and loneliness."