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Ken Hirai's Unrequited Love Songs: Popular Song Ranking [2026]
Ken Hirai is known for his captivating love songs that make your heart flutter, as if longing itself were sealed inside the music.
We’ve gathered a selection of unrequited-love songs in which he beautifully sings of unstoppable feelings and emotional turmoil.
We’ll present them in a ranking format.
Ken Hirai's Unrequited Love Songs: Popular Song Ranking [2026]
#302Hirai Ken1rank/position
“#302,” a song by Ken Hirai that painfully captures one-way feelings—aching, bittersweet, and sad.
Paired with his vocals, it’s a heartbreaking unrequited love song that tightens your chest.
Every lyric is poignant and painful, and it even makes you feel like you’re watching a drama.
The song conveys, with striking clarity, the strong yet gentle desire to stay close to someone you love, even knowing they love someone else.
If you’re experiencing a similar kind of love, it’s a sorrowful love song that will surely bring you to tears.
even ifHirai Ken2rank/position
Ken Hirai’s timeless classic “even if” always brings me to the verge of tears whenever I listen to it.
Released as a single in 2000, it serves as the theme song for “Ken’s Bar,” his acoustic live series performed in a bar-style setting.
The song captures the reality of having a good rapport and an enjoyable connection, yet knowing the other person already has someone they like.
The opening lines are deeply relatable, highlighting the special and fragile nature of the moments you can spend together.
It’s heartbreaking how, overwhelmed by love, you want to confess your feelings but can’t—and how those unreturned emotions ache so deeply.
The final chorus, where raw feelings burst forth, is utterly tear-jerking.
It’s a bittersweet heartbreak song and a mature piece that gently accompanies all kinds of love.
Close your eyesHirai Ken3rank/position
Singer-songwriter Ken Hirai captivates listeners with his deep, resonant voice.
This work poignantly yet purely sings of love—bearing the sense of loss after losing a loved one, yet being able to meet them in your heart whenever you close your eyes.
The lingering traces of absence in everyday life intersect with warm memories of the past, evoking a tightness in the chest.
Released in April 2004 as his 20th single, the song was written as the theme for the film “Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World” and became a million-selling smash hit.
It is a gem of a ballad that stirs the heart—perfect for nights when you want to immerse yourself in memories of someone precious or quietly let the tears fall.
sentimentalHirai Ken4rank/position
This is a gentle and very heartrending song by Ken Hirai.
It portrays a situation that feels like it could really happen in everyday life.
Because of that, I think many people will be able to relate to it.
The melody is extremely relaxed and tender, and it’s a song that may leave you with a profound sense of sorrow.
Nevertheless, I want to do it.Hirai Ken5rank/position
When you reach your forties, mutual love can take many forms.
Ken Hirai’s “Soredemo Shitai” sings about a romance with a man who has a home to return to.
It beautifully captures a woman’s feelings—the desire to love and to be loved all the same.
Thanks to the bright, India-inspired music video and the pop sound, it avoids turning gloomy and even conveys a sense of bold acceptance.
Because it won’t reach / Because it doesn’t reachHirai Ken6rank/position
“Todokanai Kara,” released in 2018 by singer-songwriter Ken Hirai and used as the theme song for the film “50 First Kisses,” features lyrics that evoke the story’s characters, candidly expressing feelings for a loved one who repeatedly loses their memory.
The simple arrangement of guitar and vocals is complemented by a striking electronic chorus.
It’s a song imbued with a bittersweet yet beautiful sentiment of falling in love with the person you love over and over again.
It gently embraces the unspoken words and unreachable feelings for someone with whom the love remains unrequited on both sides.
ElegyHirai Ken7rank/position
This is a masterpiece whose poignant love story, told from a woman’s perspective, resonates in the rich vocals of Ken Hirai.
It delicately portrays the feelings of a woman consumed by love, expressing the intense emotions of fixation on her partner and a fierce willingness to embrace even the pain of love.
Released in January 2007 as the theme song for Toho’s film Love’s Crucible, it was also included on the album FAKIN’ POP and performed at the 58th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen.
In 2021, it was covered by Fuyumi Sakamoto on her album Love Emotion, continuing to influence many artists.
It’s a song to listen to on nights after heartbreak or when you’re suffering from thoughts of someone you love.