"My Life Would Suck Without You" is a song performed by American pop rock singer-songwriter Kelly Clarkson. It is the first single from her fourth studio album, All I Ever Wanted. Dr. Luke and Max Martin, writers of her hit "Since U Been Gone", co-produced and co-wrote the song. Claude Kelly also contributed to the lyrics. It is her second number-one single in the United States after 2002's "A Moment Like This", her second number-one in Canada after "A Moment Like This", and her first number-one in the United Kingdom.

"My Life Would Suck Without You" is a moderately fast pop rock song composed in the key of A major with 145 beats per minute. The tempo is set in common time. Clarkson's vocal range spans from A ₃to E ₅. The instruments used in this song are synthesizers, guitars, a drum machine, and bass. The song begins with mellow guitar plucking and transcends into a melody of synthesizers, guitars, and synthesized drums. The melody then cascades into a chorus of crashing cymbals, bass, synthesizers, and loud guitars.

The song received generally positive reviews. Billboardlabelled it "a propulsive blast of rock-tinged pop" and stated that "the countdown to No. 1 begins." About.com's Bill Lamb named it "pop perfection that could easily end up one of the biggest hits of the year." Rolling Stonecalled the song "fantastic — the early favorite for single of the year." and "straight-up pop [that] cascades into an avalanche of synths and a steady beat," mentioning that it "has all the characteristics of a surefire radio hit."

Brian Mansfield from USA Todaystated that there were "disco rhythms and lots of synth-dance-pop layers over the top, but the guitar pattern... keeps it from sounding too artificial"; eventually stating that he was "liking it". The Los Angeles Timessaid the song "zooms forward from its guitar-plucky intro toward a cymbal-crashing climax without ever slowing down", commenting that the song would be "huge"; however, it also stated that the song had "empty calories delivered within those compressed, subtly Auto-Tuned vocals [riding] high-fructose beats."

Originally scheduled to hit airwaves on January 19, the song debuted on New York Top 40 station Z100 on January 13, and the single was then transmitted digitally to radio stations at 6:00pm EST for immediate airplay. It went officially for adds on radio station playlists on January 20, 2009. It was given a digital release on January 16, 2009 at Amazon.com's MP3 store, with a subsequent release on the US and Canadian iTunes Stores on January 20, 2009.

The song was also released as a download on January 16 in Australia on iTunes. On January 23, the song was announced as the most added song to radio in Australia. The song was sent to UK radio stations the week of January 19 and was digitally released there on February 21.

On the fall finale of the first season of the hit new Fox television series Glee, "Sectionals", "My Life Would Suck Without You" was performed by the main characters as the finale of the episodes, and the first half of the first season. Their version of the song has been released as a single on iTunes and is the final song on the soundtrack compilation Glee: The Music, Volume 2.

"My Life Would Suck Without You" debuted at #97 on the BillboardHot 100, setting the record for the furthest jump to #1 in history. This makes it the second time Clarkson has set this record, after her debut single "A Moment Like This" went from #52 to #1 in 2002. "My Life Would Suck Without You" is also the first song by an Idolalum to top the chart that is not associated with the show. The song also advanced to #3 on Billboard's Mainstream Top 40 chart, giving her her first top ten airplay hit since "Because of You". The song was dethroned from the top of the Hot 100 chart by Eminem's "Crack a Bottle". The song has so far sold over 2,000,000 downloads in the United States.

On the American Top 40, "My Life Would Suck Without You" made a high jump on February 19, 2009. It rose 21 spots to #10 from #31.

On the Canadian Hot 100, the song debuted at #82. The following week, it jumped to the top spot, breaking the record previously set by Rihanna with "Take A Bow", which moved from #70 to #1.. She took that record for 10 months, until October 2009, when Britney Spears' "3" jumped from 86 to 1.

"My Life Would Suck Without You" debuted on the Australian ARIA Charts at #16 and peaked at #5, and is also Clarkson's first physical number #1 single. The single debuted on the New Zealand RIANZ chart at #25 and peaked at #11.

"My Life Would Suck Without You" became Clarkson's biggest hit in Sweden (peaking at #2), Ireland (#4), and Germany (#6).

In the Netherlands, "My Life Would Suck Without You" debuted at number 26 and peaked at number 3, becoming her first top 10 hit in the Netherlands since the release of Breakaway's last European single "Because of You".

On March 1, 2009, the song climbed from #103 on the UK Singles Chart to #1, becoming Clarkson's first UK number-one single, selling 51,114 copies in its first week as a digital release. Despite being Clarkson's highest charting single in the UK, it's stay on the chart is considerably less than some of her other singles. With 17 weeks in the top 100 UK Singles it ranks behind her #5 hit "Since U Been Gone" at 37 weeks and her #7 hit "Because of You" at 25 weeks.

"My Life Would Suck Without You" has been certified Platinum in Australia and Canada, Gold in New Zealand, and Silver in the UK.

It made it to the 2009 Year-End Billboard Chart at #23, becoming the highest peak for a Clarkson single in the Year-End chart since "Behind These Hazel Eyes" (#10) and "Since U Been Gone" (#4) charted in 2005.

The music video for the song was directed by Wayne Isham and was shot in Los Angeles in December 2008. It is now available for digital download on iTunes and is featured on the DVD of the Deluxe Edition of All I Ever Wanted. A preview of the video was shown during a commercial break for American Idolon its January 28, 2009, episode. The full video then premiered via AT&T's website directly after the broadcast.

The video begins with a small boy and girl playing on a playground together, teasingly pushing each other around. The young girl is intended to be Clarkson as a child, presumably with her young male best friend. The boy hands her a beaded necklace, which she puts on admiringly. The shot closes in on the necklace, then pulls back to reveal it's still worn as a bracelet on the wrist of now-adult Clarkson.

Clarkson's boyfriend (played by Houston Rhines) shows up at her apartment door, presumably after an argument. Clarkson teases him with a set of keys, which she then throws down the toilet.

The two are then shown sitting on a couch, reading magazines, when Clarkson grabs her boyfriend's magazine. The two are shown throwing various possessions of one another out of the apartment window, though in a playful manner. Such items include numerous articles of clothing, magazines, a guitar, and a fishbowl (with the fish being taken out and put in a glass first, after which they look out the window). After throwing these items out the window, the two are seen sitting affectionately on the couch. Clarkson and her boyfriend are shown still fighting and bickering as they did as children, over the TV Guideand remote control.

The latter portion of the video shows the two driving in a car (with the necklace/bracelet hanging from the rear view mirror), eventually getting into an argument. Distracted by the tiff over directions, the Jeep nearly ends up in a head-on collision with an approaching car. After spinning out to avoid the crash, Clarkson simply grabs her boyfriend and pulls him into a kiss, where the video ends.

Interspersed with the storyline are performance shots of Clarkson on a swing set and band shots of Clarkson singing throughout the chorus with bright, football stadium lighting behind her. The lights fluctuate along with the song, becoming bright during certain key moments of musical crescendo and then dimming for others.

The video was nominated for a 2009 MTV Video Music Award in the category for Best Female Video.

Promotional single

Digital single

CD single (B001PS0EWU)

Maxi CD single (88697463372)