Tear-jerking summer classics: recommended popular songs
When you think of summer songs, many people might imagine upbeat, catchy tracks that everyone can sing and dance to together.
However, there are times in summer when you feel like listening to tearjerkers—like bittersweet love ballads or breakup songs.
So in this article, we’ll introduce a wide selection of moving, cry-worthy songs with a summer theme, spanning different eras and genres!
We’ve picked not only heartbreak songs, but also tracks that express a variety of emotions and situations.
Be sure to read the lyrics and listen closely!
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Tear-jerking summer classics: recommended popular songs (21–30)
Night journeyYorushika
This is a moving song where a literary narrative and Suis’s pure vocals resonate deeply in the heart.
The melodies crafted by n-buna delicately portray the stillness and loneliness of the night, as well as a glimmer of hope.
Listening to this piece feels as if you’re standing beside the characters, and it might even bring some listeners to tears.
Released in March 2020, it is also included on the highly acclaimed album “Tōsaku” (“Plagiarism”).
This masterpiece won an award at the 13th CD Shop Awards in 2021, and it beautifully colored the story as an insert song in the anime film “A Whisker Away,” released in June 2020.
It’s perfect for listening when you’re gazing at the night sky alone or when you need a gentle push forward.
It’s an ideal song for those who want to feel the emotions woven into the lyrics.
To my dear youInoue Sonoko
It’s a song suffused with Sonoko Inoue’s voice, which awakens that sweet-and-sour feeling that tightens your chest in a fleeting moment on a summer evening.
From everyday fragments like scenes of commuting to school and long late-night phone calls, the track beautifully captures a straightforward yet heartrending first love.
The pure wish to “always be by your side” and the delicate murmur of “I don’t want to lose you” will likely resonate with listeners’ own youthful memories.
Released in July 2015 as the lead track on her major-label debut mini-album “#17,” it reached No.
66 on the Oricon Weekly Chart.
You may have heard it as a Sumitomo Life insurance commercial song.
It’s a gem I’d recommend when you want to sink into a sentimental mood or lean into a pure love song.
Promise of SunflowersHata Motohiro
On summer evenings, when you’re suddenly overcome with a tinge of melancholy, many people turn to Motohiro Hata’s warm ballads.
His voice—often described as “made of steel and glass”—gently soaks into the heart as it conveys messages about deep bonds with loved ones and how hearts remain connected even when apart.
Released in August 2014, this song is also known as the theme for the film STAND BY ME Doraemon and has been widely cherished, earning a million-download certification from the Recording Industry Association of Japan.
It is also included on the album “Ao no Kōkei” (Scenes of Blue).
When you look back on your joyful summer memories and feel a touch of loneliness, try listening while savoring the lyrics.
It’s sure to warm your heart.
Tears of Tropical FishFlower
This is “Netsujou no Namida” (Tears of a Tropical Fish), a song released in 2014 by Flower, a female dance and vocal group that sadly disbanded in 2019.
It depicts a woman’s feelings as summer brings back memories of a past lover.
It seems to have been a painful romance; although she tells herself she won’t go back to those days, the way she likens herself to a fish in a tank shows she’s still trapped in the past.
Since it was her first love, it’s only natural she can’t forget.
A classic by Flower that you’ll want to listen to when summer comes.
I’ve listened to so many heartbreak songs, and I’m done with being someone who just keeps crying.riria.
On a summer night, with a refreshingly cool breeze, Riria’s heartrending vocals resonate in the air.
The song’s warm arrangement is memorable, gently embracing the feelings of those bearing the pain of heartbreak.
Released in July 2022, this piece was selected as the ending theme for the second cour of the anime “Summer Time Rendering.” The lyrics, reflecting the heroine’s bittersweet love, are impossible not to empathize with.
It’s a perfect track for anyone who has experienced a breakup and hasn’t yet sorted out their feelings.
How about listening quietly on a summer night? It’s sure to be an experience that seeps into your heart.
The End of Summerofukōsu
When it comes to songs that make you feel the passage of time, this classic by Off Course comes to mind.
The lyrics, which sing of longing for summer and winter, beautifully capture the fluctuations of the human heart.
Included on the album “FAIRWAY,” the song was released in October 1978.
The album title, taken from a golf term, is said to reflect the idea of progressing along music’s fairway.
This song, which sings of lost love and the melancholy of seasons gone by, will surely resonate with those carrying the bittersweet feelings that come at summer’s end.
It’s best enjoyed on a cool summer night.
Why not surrender yourself to Kazumasa Oda’s vocals and spend some time in gentle repose?
Harmony at the End of SummerInoue Yosui & Anzen Chitai
Beloved by many as a gem of a mid-tempo ballad, this song weaves a poignant scene with exquisite harmonies from singers of different styles.
The lyrics evoke the melancholy of late summer, and the emotionally rich vocals sink into the heart.
Released in September 1986, it reached No.
6 on the Oricon chart.
After its first performance at Jingu Stadium, it has been covered by numerous artists.
Recommended for those nursing the pain of a broken heart or wishing to bask in summer memories.
Listen as the late-summer night breeze blows, and it will become a song that truly resonates.