Memories Come Flooding Back: Tearjerker Graduation Songs. Moving, Tear-Inducing Ballads [2026]

Song of DepartureMr.Children

Mr.Children “Tabidachi no Uta” MUSIC VIDEO

It’s a song that truly resonates with the heart.

The gentle, enveloping vocals and warm melody beautifully capture both the loneliness of parting and the hope of a new beginning.

Released in October 2007, it gained attention as the theme song for the film “Sky of Love.” It was also included on the album “SUPERMARKET FANTASY,” winning over many fans.

The lyrics, which stay close to you on nights filled with anxiety or loneliness and give you the courage to look forward, are especially memorable.

It’s a track you’ll want to listen to at graduations and other turning points in life.

Mr.Children’s soul-stirring vocals are sure to bring tears to your eyes.

It’s a song I highly recommend to anyone feeling uneasy about stepping into a new environment.

GRADUATIONSBACK-ON

GRADUATIONS (Theme song for V-Cinext 'Kamen Rider Gotchard GRADUATIONS')

This is a song that gently encourages you as you say goodbye to close friends and take a step onto a new path.

Holding the memories of precious friends you spent time with, it captures the wavering feelings of young people heading toward their respective futures through an emotional melody and powerful guitar sound.

The track serves as the theme song for “Kamen Rider Gotchard GRADUATIONS,” released by BACK-ON in February 2025, and stands as a supportive anthem that stays close to the major life turning point of graduation.

It blends seamlessly with the worldview of the V-Cinext production, further heightening the work’s emotional impact.

It’s a perfect song for the grand finale of a school or cultural festival and for making memories with friends.

While feeling the importance of friendship and bonds, this song gives you the courage to take your first steps toward the future.

It’s goodbye, but it’s not goodbye.yamadakatsutenai Wink

It's goodbye, but it's not goodbye.

Yamada Katsutenai Wink wraps this classic spring song—one you want to hear around graduation season—in warm, gentle vocals.

Its melody, which sings of the sorrow of parting and the hope of reunion, nestles close to the heart and gives you courage to face a new future.

Released in February 1991, the song was used as an insert track on Fuji TV’s “Hō-chan no Yamada Katsutenai Terebi” and became a major hit, reaching No.

2 on the Oricon weekly chart.

With lyrics by Kuniko Yamada and music by KAN in beautiful harmony, it’s a gem of a message song that teaches us that parting is not an end but a beginning.

Listened to in the season of departures, it’s a wonderful, heartwarming cheer song that continues to be loved by many.

Sakura Clear SkiesYuuri

To You Graduating This Year [Sakura Clear Skies] [First Performance of New Song]

When it comes to graduation songs, many of them express farewells with friends and the anxieties and excitement about the future.

“Sakurabare,” sung by Yuuri, is a moving song that conveys gratitude to the father and mother who raised you, just before graduation.

The song was released digitally in 2021.

Yuuri’s heartfelt, piercing vocals heighten the emotion even more, powerfully gripping your heart.

Even those who usually feel too shy to express their feelings will surely be inspired to thank their parents by this number.

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utatane

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Petals, heralding the beginningsakura shimeji

Sakurashimeji “Petals, Announcing the Beginning” Lyric Video

The folk duo Sakura Shimeji’s “Hanabira, Hajimari o Tsugete” is a graduation song that uses cherry blossoms—also featured in their group name—as its motif.

It’s filled with the mixed feelings of “I don’t want the petals to fall yet, I don’t want to say goodbye,” and a gentle message that softly encourages, “Even so, we have to look forward and move on.” Each beautiful word resonates in the heart, staying close to the loneliness that wells up, and in the end, it just might give you a push to take that first step toward a new journey.

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hiyori

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