[Unrequited Love] Heart-wrenching Love Songs | A Roundup of Tear-Inducing Crush and Breakup Tracks
“Even though I know it won’t be rewarded…” Once you fall in love, it’s not so easy to stop your feelings, is it?
You tell yourself you can’t go on like this, that you have to end it, but when you see them, you just can’t hold back your love.
In this article, we introduce love songs that portray the pain of unrequited love and lay bare those unspoken feelings.
Listen to them when you’re tired of loving.
They’ll gently wrap around you, saying, “It’s tough, I know.”
- Unrequited Love Song: A heartrending love song dedicated to you who are going through a painful romance
- [Adultery Song] A forbidden song about an affair that sings of an impossible love
- [Unattainable Love] A love song about two people who feel the same way but can’t be together
- Bittersweet love songs to listen to when the person you like already has a girlfriend or boyfriend
- Tear-jerking unrequited love songs that will break your heart: timeless classics about unattainable love
- Unattainable Love: A Heartbreaking Love Song About Falling for a Married Person
- “I Want to See You”: A love song that makes you cry when you listen to it while you can’t meet
- Songs that depict a teasing, suggestive attitude | Love songs to listen to when you're in unrequited love or a painful relationship
- [Today's Unrequited Love Song] Guaranteed to Make Your Heart Flutter! A Sweet and Bittersweet Love Song
- A heart-wrenching story that tightens the chest! A Showa-era unrequited love song
- [To Those in Love] Relatable Love Songs to Listen to When You’re Crushing Hard
- A classic song about a forbidden love
- A song of forbidden love. A love song about feelings that can't be stopped.
[Unrequited Love] Heartbreaking Love Songs | A Roundup of Tear-Jerking Crush & Breakup Tracks (101–110)
Ti AmoEXILE

EXILE’s “Ti Amo” portrays a forbidden love without a happy ending.
It served as the lead track on the 2008 single “The Birthday ~Ti Amo~.” The title means “I love you” in Italian, and it conveys the sentiment of loving someone even if that love goes unreciprocated.
The song expresses an uncontrollable feeling of “I love you,” despite not being the top priority and despite knowing nothing more will develop.
It’s a song that stands by those who carry similar feelings.
In love with Shizukuindigo la End

A gem of a love song that portrays a heartrending romance standing still in a monochrome scene.
The imagery—overlaying feelings for a longed-for person with the transience of raindrops, while being battered by rain at an old bus stop—strikes straight at the heart.
Released by indigo la End in September 2015, this work was their first new release in about seven months since the album “Shiawase ga Afuretara,” and its unique sound, woven from delicate guitar work and fragile vocals, captured listeners’ hearts.
A breakup song that seeps into the soul—one you’ll want to listen to alone on a rainy day.
ConclusionSenchimirimentaru

A profound love story chronicling meetings and partings that cannot last forever.
Born from the desire to capture memories with a loved one in music, this heartrending ballad emerged after nine years in the making.
Crafted with heartfelt care by Atushi from Centimillimental, the song was chosen as the theme for the September 2024 release Given The Movie: To the Sea, drawing attention for its beautiful harmony with the film’s world.
It’s a song that gently stays by the side of anyone struggling with a relationship and carrying a bittersweet ache in their heart.
selling oneselfRosu

Set in a red-light district, this narrative song portrays a courtesan bearing an aching love for a man she adores.
With delicate wording, it weaves the emotions of a woman wavering between her unrequited feelings for someone who won’t even meet her gaze and the reality of living as a courtesan.
Ros’s protean vocals vividly express the poignancy and sorrow.
Released digitally in March 2022 and included on the album “Yoru no Shito,” the piece has also been tied to projects such as the drama series “My Beautiful Man.” It will resonate deeply not only with those suffering from impossible love, but with anyone who knows the bittersweet ache of loving someone relentlessly.
Snow WhiteFlower

It’s a song inspired by the fairy tale Snow White.
Even while knowing the person already has someone important, the narrator falls in love—torn between the painful feeling of not being the only one and the hope that someday they might turn toward them, not knowing what to do.
That inner conflict is what’s portrayed.
[Unrequited Love] Heart-wrenching Love Songs | A Comprehensive Introduction to Tear-Jerking Crush and Breakup Songs (111–120)
catDISH//

Centered around Takumi Kitamura, DISH// is a group whose members are all active as actors as well.
Their song Neko (Cat) has become a hot topic for making listeners cry, with an addictive, heart-wrenching sense of sorrow that tightens the chest.
Written and composed by Aimyon, this moving love ballad is a breakup song that shakes the heart.
The painful longing for an ex-girlfriend and the palpable feeling of “love” come through so strongly that it can move even those who aren’t currently heartbroken to tears.
Especially for anyone in an unrequited love or freshly heartbroken, it’s a song that will almost certainly make you cry your eyes out.
chameleonKing Gnu

King Gnu’s “Chameleon” likens the ‘you’ who changed after we were separated to a chameleon.
Chosen as the theme song for the drama “Mystery to Iu Nakare,” it became a hot topic.
The song laments how the ‘you’ who used to be by my side as if it were a given has gone far away, both physically and emotionally, and now feels like someone I don’t know at all.
Tsuneta’s vocals, which seem to embody the ache in his chest through his tone, resonate poignantly.
In the final part of the song, the melody is filled with a feeling so close to bursting that it’ll have your tears flowing.


