"For My Broken Heart" is a song written by Keith Palmer and Liz Hengber, and recorded by American country music singer Reba McEntire. It was released in September 1991 as the first single and title track from her album For My Broken Heart. The song was a Number One hit for McEntire, topping the country singles charts in both the U.S. and Canada.

Content

"For My Broken Heart" chronicles a failed relationship. In the first verse, the male is packing up his belongings and then leaving. After falling asleep on the couch, she reluctantly wakes up and, despite being "so sure life wouldn't go on" without him, she says "I guess the world didn't stop for my broken heart."^[2] The song's radio edit omits a string section prelude, the radio edit is included on McEntire's Greatest Hits Volume Two compilation album, but the full album version including the prelude is included on her Reba 1's and 50 Greatest Hits compilation albums.

McEntire originally planned to record the song as a duet with Clint Black, but he was unavailable at the time.^[3]

Music video

The song's music video was directed by Jack Cole and shows four women dealing with heartbreak during a rainy night. Three of them are: a young, white woman sitting at a corner booth at a cafe, a middle-aged black woman in her apartment, and an elderly, white woman, also in her apartment. The fourth woman is Reba herself, clad in a blue nightgown. Reba sings the song while the other three women lip sync along with her. The video ends the next morning, with each of the women over their heartbreak and going about their lives.^[2]

The video does not include the string section prelude at the beginning of the song.

Chart positions

"For My Broken Heart" debuted at number 64 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts dated for October 12, 1991.^[4] It peaked at number 1 on the chart dated for December 7, 1991 and held the position for two weeks. The song was also a Number One country hit in Canada, holding that position on the RPM Country Tracks chart dated for December 21.

Chart (1991)	Peak position
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)^[5]	1
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)^[6]	1

Year-end charts

Chart (1991)	Position
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)^[7]	88

References

^ Mansfield, Brian. "For My Broken Heart review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
^ ^a ^b Ellison, Curtis W. (1995). Country Music Culture. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 208–209. ISBN 0-87805-722-6. Retrieved 2009-05-27. reba for my broken heart.
^ McEntire, Reba; Carter, Tom (October 1, 1995). Reba: My Story. Bantam. p. 260. ISBN 9780553572384.
^ "Search results, "For My Broken Heart"". Billboard. Retrieved 2009-05-28.^{[dead link]}
^ "Top RPM Country Tracks: Issue 1701." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. December 21, 1991. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
^ "Reba McEntire Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
^ "RPM Top 100 Country Tracks of 1991". RPM. December 21, 1991. Retrieved August 16, 2013.

v t e Reba McEntire singles
Albums Singles Videos
1970s	"I'd Really Love to See You Tonight" (with Jacky Ward) "Sweet Dreams"
1980s	"(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven" "I Can See Forever in Your Eyes" "I Don't Think Love Ought to Be That Way" "Today All Over Again" "Only You (And You Alone)" "I'm Not That Lonely Yet" "Can't Even Get the Blues" "You're the First Time I've Thought About Leaving" "Why Do We Want (What We Know We Can't Have)" "There Ain't No Future in This" "Just a Little Love" "He Broke Your Memory Last Night" "How Blue" "Somebody Should Leave" "Have I Got a Deal for You" "Only in My Mind" "Whoever's in New England" "Little Rock" "What Am I Gonna Do About You" "Let the Music Lift You Up" "One Promise Too Late" "The Last One to Know" "Love Will Find Its Way to You" "A Sunday Kind of Love" "I Know How He Feels" "New Fool at an Old Game" "Cathy's Clown" "'Til Love Comes Again" "Little Girl"
1990s	"Walk On" "You Lie" "Rumor Has It" "Fancy" "Fallin' Out of Love" "For My Broken Heart" "Is There Life Out There" "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" "The Greatest Man I Never Knew" "Take It Back" "The Heart Won't Lie" (with Vince Gill) "It's Your Call" "Does He Love You" (with Linda Davis) "They Asked About You" "Why Haven't I Heard from You" "She Thinks His Name Was John" "Till You Love Me" "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" "And Still" "On My Own" "Ring on Her Finger, Time on Her Hands" "Starting Over Again" "You Keep Me Hangin' On" "The Fear of Being Alone" "How Was I to Know" "I'd Rather Ride Around with You" "What If It's You" "If You See Him/If You See Her" (with Brooks & Dunn) "Forever Love" "Wrong Night" "One Honest Heart" "What Do You Say"
2000s	"I'll Be" "We're So Good Together" "I'm a Survivor" "Sweet Music Man" "I'm Gonna Take That Mountain" "Somebody" "He Gets That from Me" "My Sister" "You're Gonna Be (Always Loved by Me)" "Love Needs a Holiday" "Because of You" (with Kelly Clarkson) "The Only Promise That Remains" (with Justin Timberlake) "Every Other Weekend" (with Kenny Chesney or Skip Ewing) "Strange" "Consider Me Gone"
2010s	"I Keep On Loving You" "Turn On the Radio" "If I Were a Boy" "When Love Gets a Hold of You" "Somebody's Chelsea" "Going Out Like That" "Until They Don't Love You" "Just Like Them Horses" "Softly and Tenderly" "Back to God" "God and My Girlfriends" "Freedom"
2020s	"Does He Love You" (with Dolly Parton)
Other singles	"Mind Your Own Business" (with Hank Williams Jr.) "Oklahoma Swing" (with Vince Gill) "Cowgirls Don't Cry" (with Brooks & Dunn) "Forever Country" (with Various artists) "Be a Light" (with Thomas Rhett) "What If"