Tear-jerking coming-of-age songs in Western music
We’ve put together a collection of moving youth-themed songs from Western music.
Whether you’re in the thick of your youth or looking back on it with nostalgia, these tearjerkers will tug at your heartstrings.
From nostalgic classics to the latest hits, we’ve gathered timeless tracks across the decades.
Savor those bittersweet memories as you listen.
- Youth-themed Western music. World classics and recommended popular songs.
- Coming-of-age Western songs recommended for high school students: world classics and popular hits.
- Tear-jerking Western songs: recommended classics and popular tracks
- Songs That Make You Cry: Heart-Wrenching Western Music—from Timeless Classics to the Newest Hits
- Heart-wrenching Western songs recommended for middle schoolers: world-class masterpieces and popular hits
- Tear-jerking, moving songs in Western music
- Tear-jerking friendship songs in Western music: recommended masterpieces and popular tracks
- [2025] Youthful Western Music Songs: A Collection of Recommended Hidden Gems
- Recommended Western pop coming-of-age songs for weddings and wedding receptions
- [2025] Focus on the lyrics! A roundup of coming-of-age Western songs you’ll totally relate to
- Youth Anthems in Western Music: Ranking [2025]
- Touching Western songs recommended for high school students: world classics and popular hits
- Classic Western songs to listen to when you want to cry: the world’s tearjerker songs and popular tracks for shedding tears
Tearjerking Youth Songs in Western Music (41–50)
Everybody HurtsR.E.M.
They say that whenever overseas web media put together features on sad songs, this track—Everybody Hurts—always makes the list.
It’s included on the hit album Automatic for the People, which also won a Grammy.
While the album as a whole carries a heavy tone, this song has a gentle quality that quietly envelops the listener.
Tonight I’m Getting Over YouCarly Rae Jepsen
This song portrays the budding feelings of love in a pop, cute, teenage-girl style.
It fully brings out the adorable charm of a girl in love, making it irresistibly heartwarming.
The melody is also very pleasant, and it’s the kind of track that might just make you fall in love if you listen to it with someone you’re interested in.
I Need To Be In LoveCarpenters
The unstable feelings of being underage during adolescence.
It’s very hard to keep believing, and when that trust is betrayed, the sorrow runs deep.
Yet humans are creatures who fall in love again, and in this imperfect world, that is the way of being our hearts truly seek and can believe in.
Without YouChris Brown
It’s a very heartrending song that sings about caring for someone important.
The simple melody line is incredibly soothing.
Anxiety about the future always lingers in relationships between men and women, and I think that’s the same even when we’re young.
It’s a song I’d love you to listen to when you’re feeling the future with your lover.
You’re BeautifulJames Blunt
It’s a classic tear-jerking love song by James Blunt.
Its somewhat bittersweet vibe makes it a perfect match for one’s youth.
Surely, listening to this song with a lover when you’re young would make for a truly wonderful time.
Don’t Stop Believin’Journey
Journey’s massive hit song appealed to the youth of the time, urging them not to stop believing, saying that’s the only way to make your dreams come true.
This beautiful track, which vividly showcased an uncompromising attitude—never blaming talent or circumstances, never slacking in effort, and never giving up—became a monster hit.
Cry Me A RiverJustin Timberlake
A song by the hugely popular artist Justin Timberlake about his ex-girlfriend Britney Spears.
It may not leave you with a refreshing feeling, but many of us have bitter memories of love from our younger days.
In such times, letting out your frustrations with this song and shedding some cathartic tears might be one way to cope.