The best Keith Urban lyrics come soaked in sadness. Even his upbeat, cheerful songs seem to hide the potential for great heartache. His love songs are fragile. His breakup songs are devastating.

Urban has written many, but not all, of his most well-known hits. Often he has help from Monty Powell, but sometimes, he's able to take a story that comes from someone else's perspective and turn it into a beautifully personal sentiment. It shouldn't be a shock that most of the songs that make up this list of the best Keith Urban lyrics are ballads. It's not that songs like "Sweet Thing" aren't worthy, they just don't make the Top 5.

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    5

    "Days Go By"

    "Out on the roof just the other night / I watched the world flash by / Headlights, taillights running through a river of neon signs / But somewhere in the rush I felt / We're losing ourselves"

    Powell and Urban teamed up to write this hit from 2004. It's the only song on this list with tempo. While many of his more carefree cuts captured the innocence of love, this song digs a little deeper to make a more significant point.

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    4

    "Tonight I Wanna Cry"

    "But I'm just drunk enough to let go of my pain / To hell with my pride, let it fall like rain from my eyes / Tonight I wanna cry"

    Urban's piano-driven ballad from 2005 is the most hopeless of the singer's many songs about broken hearts. "I've never been the kind to ever let my feelings show / And I thought that being strong meant never losing your self-control," Urban sings, sounding like a man only minutes removed from living this torture. His words are sharp and uncomfortably real.

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    3

    "'Til Summer Comes Around"

    "Baby I'll be back again / You whispered in my ear but now the winter wind is the only sound / And everything is closing down / 'Til summer comes around"

    There is so much imagery in "'Til Summer Comes Around," Urban's Top 5 hit from 2009. One can almost feel the cold wind blowing and hear the echoes of footsteps along the empty pier as he sings of a love we know is never coming back. While not his biggest hit, the song is a favorite of his most faithful fans -- and some of Keith Urban's best lyrics.

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    2

    "Raining on Sunday"

    "Your love is like religion / A cross in Mexico / And your kiss is like the innocence / Of a prayer nailed to a door / Oh surrender in much sweeter / When we both let it go / Let the water wash our bodies clean / And love wash our souls"

    Darrell Brown and Radney Foster penned this song that made it onto Urban's Golden Road record. Like many of the best of his songs, their composition is precise without feeling cold. The song is about needing a Sunday to just be lovers, but it feels like so much more. The Top 5 hit was a very important song in this singer's career.

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    1

    "Stupid Boy"

    "Stupid boy, you can't fence that in / Stupid boy, it's like holding back the wind /She laid her heart and soul right in your hands / And you stole her every dream and you crushed her plans"

    Dave Berg, Deanna Bryant and Sarah Buxton wrote this song, and Buxton originally cut it. Urban released it as a single in 2006 and his perspective gave the story entirely new meaning. There's an emotional progression -- from anger to satisfaction -- as the boy he sings about loses a love he treated so badly. Listeners find themselves quickly invested in this brilliant ballad, which the superstar still includes during his live show today.

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