Songs you want to listen to at the end of summer: Late-summer classics to look back on the season
Doesn’t the end of summer make you feel strangely sentimental? It’s the season when the dazzling sunlight softens bit by bit and dusk comes earlier.
You feel like lingering over summer memories or spending unhurried time with someone special, don’t you? And at the farewell of summer, the music you want to hear is somehow wistful and nostalgic.
In this article, we’ll introduce lovely songs that are perfect for the end of summer—gems that seep into the heart as the seasons change.
- [The Last Fireworks] An Emotive Song to Listen to at Summer’s End [2026]
- Songs to Listen to in September: Popular J-POP Tracks That Capture the End of Summer and Early Autumn
- [2026] A summer song that tightens your chest with bittersweet feelings. A classic summer tune that touches the heart.
- [Oldies] Summer Songs Recommended for People in Their 50s [2026]
- Tear-jerking summer classics: recommended popular songs
- Heartbreak songs to listen to at the end of summer. Classic and popular summer tracks.
- Ballads to Listen to in Summer | Exquisite Summer Songs That Embrace Bittersweet Longing
- [Heart-throbbing] Cute summer classics. The charm of adorable summer songs [2026]
- Recommended summer songs for high school students. Midsummer classics and popular tracks.
- [Masterpieces to Enjoy During Summer Vacation] A collection of summer songs bursting with summer vibes
- Girls’ band summer tunes: Recommended summer songs you’ll want to hear in summer [2026]
- [August Songs] Carefully selected masterpieces, classics, and the latest hits you’ll want to listen to in midsummer!
- Summer songs with great lyrics. Tracks that make your summer memories even more wonderful.
Songs to listen to at the end of summer: Late-summer classics to look back on the season (71–80)
First NightYorushika
The song “Daiichi-ya” paints summer scenes with emotional depth, and its lyrics are sure to grip your heart.
Many listeners will likely relate to the way it recalls someone who’s no longer by your side, bringing that person to mind in various moments.
Those memories of someone you loved surface at unexpected points in everyday life.
With vocalist sui’s voice and the melody working together, the sense of longing swells even more—making this a ballad you’ll want to listen to on a summer night.
SorlemToki Asako
Asako Toki, a singer who made her debut as the lead vocalist of Cymbals and has since been active across a wide range of fields including commercial jingles and narration, delivers an impressive opener for her 11th major album, “Twilight,” with the track “Solrem.” Its floating, airy vocals and nostalgic sound leave a strong impression.
The slightly shadowy lyrics—linked to a title that, in Korean, signifies fluttering excitement or an uneasy stirring—create a mysterious atmosphere reminiscent of a summer night.
With arrangements that carry a pop sensibility amid a sense of wistfulness, it’s a track you’ll want to keep listening to.
HANABIHamasaki Ayumi
Ayumi Hamasaki’s “HANABI” is a song included on the single “H,” released in 2002, and on the album “RAINBOW.” It was used as the image song for Tu-Ka Cellular Tokyo, and both the single and the album topped the Oricon charts and became million-sellers, achieving huge hits.
The lyrics, which overlay the end of fireworks with the end of a romance, are deeply poignant, making it a ballad perfectly suited to the close of summer.
Songs you’ll want to listen to at summer’s end: Late-summer classics to look back on the season (81–90)
maybe, surely/probably, absolutely/definitelyTakeuchi Anna
Before her major debut, singer-songwriter Anna Takeuchi, whose talent had already been drawing attention—including her participation in the “Japan Nite US tour 2018” across seven U.S.
cities—released a digital-only single on August 23, 2023 titled “Tabun, Kitto, Zettai” (“Maybe, Surely, Definitely”).
The track was created around the theme of “the end of the summer of one’s second year in high school.” Its lyrics, which wish for an unrequited love to be fulfilled, vividly bring back the feelings of youth.
With its airy ensemble and faintly nostalgic atmosphere perfectly suited to a twilight view, it’s a bright, pop-leaning number.
SUMMER ENDiri
It’s a song by singer-songwriter iri that seems to express the feelings that come as summer draws to a close.
The beat’s curious sense of rhythm and the deep timbre of the other instruments give the entire sound an intriguing, floating quality.
The overall sonic image evokes a dream you might have on a humid summer night—unreal and fantastical.
It feels like a piece that conveys both the many memories tinged with the ephemerality of summer’s limited time, and the importance of cherishing and accumulating those memories precisely because that time is fleeting.
Ms. SeptemberAimer
Aimer’s husky, warm vocals gently accompany the loneliness of summer’s end in this cover song.
Delicately portraying the bittersweet feeling of “cherishing the passing seasons” along with sparkling memories of youth, the piece has drawn a big response on TikTok, where nostalgic videos praise it as “perfect for summer scenery.” The original song is by the rock band RADWIMPS.
It was included on the single “Chouchou Musubi,” released in August 2016, whose title track was also used as a theme song for an information program.
If you listen closely by yourself at summer’s end, precious memories you’d forgotten may suddenly resurface in your heart.
Sentimental Ghost feat. OkiishiNatsunose
A bittersweet yet passionate ode to the end of summer, composer Natsunose’s number “Sentimental Ghost feat.
Okiishi.” Released in 2023, this track features vocalist and singer Okiishi.
As the title suggests, it portrays a protagonist who lingers like a ghost, steeped in sentimentality as summer comes to a close, trying desperately to convey feelings to someone precious.
The gently placed, softly spoken words sung by the protagonist make this a song that tightens the chest.
