Summer songs with great lyrics. Tracks that make your summer memories even more wonderful.
Great lyrics enhance the tone and add even more color to a song, don’t they? Works that take a literary approach as well as a musical one often become classics.
This time, I focused my research on summer songs with outstanding lyrics! Of course, “good lyrics” can mean many things: lines that move you to tears, words that tug at your heart with bittersweet emotion, or lyrics that sparkle with a touch of humor.
From masterpieces that artfully paint summer scenes with words to one-summer love songs, we’ve got them all.
Be sure to find your favorite lyrics!
- A collection of summer-like songs: tracks that go perfectly with summer, like the sea and the sky.
- [July Songs] A selection of Japanese summer tunes perfect for the start of the season!
- [Classics] Timeless Summer Hits Recommended for All Ages [Summer Songs]
- [2026] A summer song that tightens your chest with bittersweet feelings. A classic summer tune that touches the heart.
- [Masterpieces to Enjoy During Summer Vacation] A collection of summer songs bursting with summer vibes
- Recommended summer songs for people in their 20s: classic and popular J-pop tracks
- [Oldies] Summer Songs Recommended for People in Their 50s [2026]
- 1990s J-Pop to listen to in summer: classic and hit summer songs
- A song by a rock band bursting with exhilarating energy and a sense of speed that you want to listen to in the summer.
- Get fired up for the hot season! Summer songs recommended for Gen Z
- Summer songs sung by idols: a roundup of classic hits about the sea and love
- Famous and popular Japanese summer songs you’ll want to sing at karaoke
- Tear-jerking summer classics: recommended popular songs
Summer songs with great lyrics. Summer tunes that make your memories even more special (11–20)
Run Through the MemoriesMy Hair is Bad
A refreshing, exhilarating track that races through summer memories.
The lyrics are packed with joyful moments from the past and hope for the future.
Belonging to the pop-punk genre, its energetic and moving melody will resonate with your heart.
Released digitally in June 2024, it’s also included on My Hair is Bad’s sixth album, “ghosts,” and was chosen as the theme song for the film Crayon Shin-chan: Our Dinosaur Diary.
Recommended for those who feel the end of summer approaching yet want to take a new step forward.
It’s a sure-fire crowd-pleaser at My Hair is Bad’s live shows.
Summertime CinderellaRyokushokushakai
A song that captures the bittersweet feeling of summer drawing to a close and the unspoken words “I like you.” It portrays the beginning of a romance.
With Ryokuoushoku Shakai’s characteristically clear sound and Haruko Nagaya’s translucent vocals, it beautifully expresses the sweet romance of summer.
Released digitally in August 2023, it was written as the theme song for the Fuji TV drama “Midsummer Cinderella.” The CD followed in September, and the coupling track “Magic Hour” was also used as an insert song in the same drama.
This work charms with a refreshing atmosphere that colors summer memories—perfect as background music for a drive or a date.
fireworksSandaime J Soul Brothsers
A love song that paints the night sky and overlays the fleeting glow that vanishes in an instant with traces of a bygone romance—its bittersweetness presses upon the heart.
Sung by Sandaime J Soul Brothers, this track emotionally portrays, from a woman’s perspective, the blaze of infatuation and the helpless feelings that follow after it ends.
Included on the single “0 ~ZERO~,” released in August 2012, it was used as the ending theme for TV Asahi’s “Onegai! Ranking.” If you’re carrying the pain of a broken heart, this song may gently stay by your side.
DESIREKato Miria
This is a song by Miliyah Kato that captures the irresistible sense of freedom of a summer romance.
It’s one of the tracks included on the double A-side single “DESIRE / BABY! BABY! BABY!” released in June 2011, and it was chosen as the opening theme for TV Tokyo’s music program DANCE@TV.
The lyrics beautifully link summer scenery with a rising feeling of love.
You can really feel the protagonist’s emotions accelerating in the sun and breeze.
As a danceable, up-tempo tune, it’s perfect for livening up summer drives and events.
GarnetOku Hanako
It’s a bittersweet yet beautiful song that sparkles deep in your heart like memories of a summer now gone.
Singer-songwriter Hanako Oku, known for moving listeners with her voice and keyboard accompaniment, delivers a piece that centers on the unwavering feelings symbolized by gemstones’ meanings, portraying the radiance of youth, the sorrow of inevitable parting, and how that sorrow transforms into hope that lights the future.
From everyday snapshots to subtle shifts of the heart, the lyrics are woven with care, as if tracing your own summer memories.
A tender, sweet-and-sour emotion spreads warmly through your chest.
Released as a single in July 2006, the song became the theme for the animated feature film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, leaving a deep impression on many hearts.
Revisit your cherished memories—and give it a listen.
The summer you gave meieiri reo
Some of you may have had the experience of a fleeting summer memory resurfacing so vividly it tightens your chest.
This work beautifully captures the memories of a bygone love, the accompanying heartache, and the complex feelings we hold as we grow into adulthood.
It’s a song by Leo Ieiri, a singer-songwriter from Fukuoka Prefecture, released in August 2015 as her 10th single.
It also drew attention as the theme song for the Fuji TV Monday 9 p.m.
drama Koinaka, starring Sota Fukushi and Tsubasa Honda.
On a night when you want to immerse yourself in sweet yet bittersweet memories, why not listen quietly on your own?
Summer songs with great lyrics. Summer tunes that make your memories even more special (21–30)
That gentle girlsupittsu
On a sunny summer day, be sure to give it a listen first thing in the morning.
It’s a song by Spitz, the popular band known for signature hits like “Sora mo Toberu Hazu” and “Cherry.” Released in 2019 as their 42nd single, it was used as the opening theme for the morning drama series Natsuzora.
Since the drama is set in Hokkaido, Ainu language is incorporated into the lyrics.
