Tear-jerking youth songs: recommended classics and popular tracks
What comes to mind when you hear the word “youth”? For some, it’s the club activities or studies you poured your heart into; for others, the friends you spent joyful days with, or a straightforward, mutual romance—the images differ from person to person.
In this article, we’ll introduce many songs themed around different scenes of youth.
Among them, we’ve especially picked tracks that can overflow the feelings you’ve kept in your heart and move you to tears.
Be sure to listen while reading the lyrics!
- [Guaranteed to resonate!] Youth songs that strike a chord with teens. Recommended coming-of-age tracks.
- [For adults too] Youth songs that let you look back on your memories
- A collection of songs you’ll want to listen to when retiring from your school club [Youth]
- Club Activity Youth Songs: Motivational Anthems and Timeless Tracks of Memories with Teammates
- A classic, bittersweet youth song. Recommended popular tracks.
- A youth song with great lyrics. A lovely message that stays with your heart.
- [A moving friendship song] For dear friends and best friends. Songs of friendship that make you feel the bond.
- [Clubs, Friendship, Romance] Youth songs middle schoolers should listen to
- Packed with everything from friendship to romance! Youth anthems recommended for Gen Z
- A poignant masterpiece that sings of adolescence. Popular songs you’ll want to hear during your teenage years.
- [Tearjerker] Songs that make your heart tremble with tears & moving tracks with lyrics that touch the soul
- Popular Youth Songs Ranking [2026]
- Tear-jerking songs recommended for high school students: classic and popular Japanese hits
Tear-jerking youth songs: Recommended masterpieces and popular tracks (1–10)
FateOfisharu Higedan Dism
Official HIGE DANDism’s third single, “Shukumei,” released in 2019.
As it was the support song for the 2019 National High School Baseball Championship, you probably heard it often on TV.
It starts gently and gradually builds, and by the chorus it bursts with an exhilarating, explosive energy—a track whose beautiful melody is truly captivating.
Fitting for the high school baseball theme, it brims with passion and has a stirring quality that fires you up.
Gray and Blue (+Masaki Suda)Yonezu Kenshi
Both Kenshi Yonezu and Masaki Suda are artists whose every release becomes a hot topic.
This song is a collaboration between the two, and it’s easy to see why it’s been a long-running hit.
It’s included on Kenshi Yonezu’s fourth album, BOOTLEG, released in 2017.
With a nostalgic feel that looks back on the past and brings to mind one’s youth, it’s the kind of track that may suddenly make many listeners think of someone.
It’s a song that grips you, as if awakening feelings that had been sleeping deep in your heart.
confessionFUNKY MONKEY BABYS
A signature song by FUNKY MONKEY BABYS, an artist loved for warm vocals and bright melodies that encourage listeners.
It’s a youth anthem that pours out heartfelt love for someone special, and has become a moving classic that brings listeners to tears.
Tear-jerking youth songs: Recommended masterpieces and popular tracks (11–20)
From Me to Youflumpool
Kimi ni Todoke is a shōjo manga that portrays a hugely popular, frustrating yet heart-pounding romance.
The song Kimi ni Todoke by flumpool is strongly associated with the live-action film adaptation—also a hot topic for starring Mikako Tabe and Haruma Miura—where it served as the theme song.
When it comes to youth, romance is inseparable, and many people were surely moved by this track, which is packed with that worldview.
It’s a profoundly touching song, brimming to the fullest with the feeling of being in love.
Precious thingsroodo obu mejyaa
Lord of Major’s debut indie single “Taisetsu na Mono” was released in 2002.
Although the group disbanded in 2007, this first single became a major hit and an enduring long-seller, and it remains their signature song.
Even if you’re from a different generation and have never heard it, please give it a listen.
And if you’ve heard it before, listening to it again with fresh ears reveals how moving it is.
The song, true to its title, prompts you to reflect on what your own “precious things” are.
Promise of SunflowersHata Motohiro
Hata Motohiro’s signature song “Himawari no Yakusoku” is his 17th single, released in 2014, and became widely known across generations as the theme song for the film STAND BY ME Doraemon.
With Hata’s touching vocals, it’s a friendship anthem that many people have also heard through numerous tie-ins.
Not only does it work as a youth and friendship song, but it’s also a moving track that resonates with anyone’s heart—one that can bring you to tears when you listen while thinking of someone special.
All of the YouthFujifaburikku
One of Fujifabric’s signature and most popular songs among their catalog is Wakamosu Subete (All the Young).
Released in 2007, it was the band’s 10th single.
It’s been used in TV commercials in recent years, so many people have likely heard it.
This is a track where a unique, youthful wistfulness and emotion well up—one that naturally brings tears to your eyes when you listen to it at summer’s end.
While it’s categorized as a youth anthem, it’s also a song that makes you quietly reminisce about your own younger days and sink into a gentle, sentimental mood.