A Tearful Farewell Song: A Love Song About Parting with Someone You Love
Even when you understand it in your head, an unexpected breakup with a partner is hard because your feelings can’t keep up.
Everyone has different reasons for breaking up, but I imagine most people feel the same way—“it hurts,” “I just want to cry.”
In this article, we’re picking out tear-jerking breakup songs from popular love songs.
Focusing on tracks that sing about lingering feelings of love, we’ll introduce breakup songs that stay close to your heart.
When you feel like crying, give them a listen.
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- Farewell Song: A goodbye song. A tearful parting song.
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- Farewell Songs: Tracks that sing various kinds of “goodbyes”
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- [Tear-Jerking Breakup Songs] A curated selection of love songs that gently comfort a wounded heart!
- [Upbeat Breakup Song] Love songs and anthems that give you the courage to take a new step forward
- “I Want to See You”: A love song that makes you cry when you listen to it while you can’t meet
- Masterpieces of bittersweet breakup songs. Recommended popular tracks.
- [Once More…] A lingering-attachment song: a song about a love you can’t forget
- Just listening makes my chest tighten... Breakup songs recommended for the Yutori generation
- [Heart-wrenching] Vocaloid breakup songs. Classic love tracks that make your chest ache
[Tear-Jerking Farewell Songs] Love songs about parting with someone you love (11–20)
Goodbye, my loverKoresawa
A poignant love ballad by Koresawa that delicately portrays the protagonist’s aching feelings after an unexpected heartbreak against the backdrop of an after-school sunset.
Vivid scenes capture her hurrying home while holding back tears, the unfulfilled wish to walk hand in hand, and how memories with her lover fade one by one—like the movie they had promised to see together finally being released.
Released in November 2022, the song was selected as the ending theme for Fuji TV’s “Love music” in December.
It is also included on the album “Kawaiku Shinagara Matterune” and was performed with a full band arrangement live.
This is a song that stays close to the pain of heartbreak while supporting the resolve to move forward, step by step.
Before GoodbyeAAA
AAA, a group especially popular among young people.
This song portrays the realities of love.
It carries a message akin to a truth of romance: spending time loving each other even as you head toward a breakup.
Love involves meetings and partings… and yet we keep on falling in love.
You can feel the human, dramatic emotion throughout.
Recommended even for those who aren’t AAA fans.
HeyDREAMS COME TRUE
Although it’s a bittersweet song, you can also feel a positive message urging us not to be bound by memories forever and to keep moving forward.
It was released in 2010 as DREAMS COME TRUE’s 46th single.
Miwa Yoshida’s soaring vocals are truly wonderful.
The emotions packed into the song come through so powerfully.
Given its content, I’d recommend it not so much as a breakup song to listen to yourself, but as a song to give to a friend who’s heartbroken and feeling down.
I became someone else’s girlfriend.wacci
A song by wacci included on the 2018 album Ultramarine Refrain.
It sparked mixed reactions because a man sings from a woman’s perspective, but it’s a breakup song that really hits home.
She gets fed up with her boyfriend and starts dating someone else, but the more time she spends with her new partner, the more she’s reminded of her ex and compares them—realizing, “I still love him.” Haven’t you ever felt that way too?
366 daysHY
HY’s “366 Days,” a quintessential heartbreak song, is a must-listen when you feel like crying.
Released on the 2008 album “HeartY,” it’s one of HY’s most popular tracks.
The piano melody in the intro alone brings tears to your eyes.
The lyrics capture the sorrow of loss and the ache in your chest that you come to understand only by loving someone wholeheartedly—anyone who’s experienced heartbreak will feel it deeply.
The chorus in particular, written as the singer recalls someone they truly loved, pierces the heart.
Let your feelings flow and have a good cry.
Instead of goodbyeJUJU
Sung about the moment of parting with a lover whose heart has drifted away, JUJU’s “Instead of Goodbye.” It’s the ultimate heartbreak song that pierces the hearts of those who’ve gone through a painful breakup, those who suspect their partner’s feelings have changed, and those who are about to face that moment.
JUJU’s beautiful high-tone voice further accentuates the poignancy of the song.
The more memories of happy moments you have, the deeper and greater the wound at the time of parting—what a bitter irony.
Tear-Jerking Farewell Songs: Love Songs About Parting with Someone You Love (21–30)
Tulipindigo la End
A gemlike ballad by indigo la End that richly portrays the process of losing someone dear, using the language of flowers that symbolizes the end of love as its motif.
It deftly weaves in the tulip’s meanings—red for a confession of love, yellow for unrequited love, and white for lost love—delicately expressing how feelings once fully dyed begin to fade.
Released as a digital single in February 2020 and later included on the album “Yakō Himitsu,” this song gently accompanies those who cannot yet accept a farewell or who wish to linger in memories of someone special.