History TearJerker / PopMusic

* A lot of songs by Music/{{Eurobeat}} vocalist Clara Moroni, who goes by many stage names such as Cherry, Leslie Parrish, and (formerly) Vanessa, have some pretty moody themes to them:

* A lot of songs by Music/{{Eurobeat}} vocalist Clara Moroni, who goes by many stage names such as Cherry, Leslie Parrish, and (formerly) Vanessa, have some pretty moody themes to them:
** It's hard to pick a specific part of "Killing My Love"; from the first verse ("You always give me bad surprises, so tell me tell me why you treat my feelings like a toy?") to the refrain ("[...] A dream is forever if we dream together / ''I don't wanna believe in love anymore''"), it gives off the vibe of an apathetic or abusive lover.
** "Lonely Night" is, as the title implies, about missing a lover, with the opening lines implying that said lover is ''dead'':
---> "All my life \\
Searching for someone \\
All my heart \\
Given to that one \\
'''Now you're gone''' \\
And [[DespairEventHorizon I just can't go on]]"

* Music/TakeThat's "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KII1ruAfvsg Rule The World]]", inspired by the film ''Film/{{Stardust}}''.

* Considering her CreatorBreakdown after struggles with an eating disorder, self-harm, and bipolar disorder (which was not yet diagnosed or treated) the previous year, the comeback single "Skyscraper" by DemiLovato (and the song's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_8ydghbGSg&ob=av2e accompanying video]]) certainly count as this, along with CrowningMomentOfAwesome and CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming. Especially considering she recorded it prior to her stint in rehab, at the height of her anguish, her voice affected by bulimia, and [[HeroicBSOD it came out like a cry for help]].

* "Where Everybody Knows Your Name", a.k.a. the Series/{{Cheers}} ThemeTune, by Gary Portnoy can make one slightly teary.

** "Save a Prayer".

* "What a Wonderful World" by Music/LouisArmstrong. Because, in spite of it all, it really is. It can straddle the line between happy tears and Jeez-why-can't-it-always-be-so-beautiful tears.

* The BarbraStreisand and [[Music/TheBeeGees Barry Gibb]] duet "What Kind of Fool".

*** Just TRY to hear this at the end of Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVolume2 [[spoiler: during Yondu's funeral]] without tearing up.

** According to TheOtherWiki, the funeral she was going to was for "her heart" to fit in the song. This is sad and creepy now due to AuthorExistenceFailure.

* "The Rose" by Bette Midler (also performed by Westlife and Bianca Ryan.

--->"How can I try to explain? When I do, he turns away again. It's always been the same, same old story. From the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen."

* DianaRoss' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVlbbk4SPC4 "Missing You"]] -- her tribute to her fallen friend, Marvin Gaye. The video ratchets things up by including Tami Terrell and Ross' bandmate, Florence Ballard.

* The Bee Gees has a couple:

* Gordon Lightfoot has a few:

** "Reflection" from ''Film/{{Mulan}}'', particularly if you're trans or have body image issues.

* Music/TheCarpenters' "Merry Christmas, Darling". "I've just one wish on this Christmas Eve, I wish I were with you." Anyone who's ever lived through a holiday away from loved ones will be suffering from lumps in the throat by the end of this one. It's probably no accident that this song, like "I'll Be Home for Christmas" some three decades earlier, first achieved popularity during a time when many people had loved ones away at war.

-->''But they could not love you, though your love was true.''

** "Vincent" is another one. It's about Van Gogh, the artist who made beautiful things -- even as the world rejected them, until he finally went mad and killed himself... And the fact that the whole song describes his paintings in great details only makes it even worse.
** "The Grave". Grab some Kleenex. You'll need them.

* "The Living Years" by Mike and the Mechanics. Rumor has it that Rolf Harris was brought to tears on live TV by this song. It's about a son's troubled relationship with his father and the fact that he regrets not being able to talk with his father about the subject while his father was still alive. The RealitySubtext makes it especially hard-hitting: the song's writers, Mike Rutherford and B. A. Robertson, had both just lost their fathers (with whom they had particularly strained relationships).

** Cancer Research UK used "Fields of Gold" by Eva Cassidy for a fundraising advert. If you didn't cry during that advert, you have no soul.

** "Objects in the Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are". If you don't cry after hearing this song, you have no soul.

* 2nu's ''A Father's Day", about an old man who lived an unremarkable (but fufulling) life reflecting upon it on his deathbed, as well as "32", about a man reunited with his father in heaven (where they're both the ages of the best years of their lives, the son's being 32).

** "You Are Not Alone". It's a MoodWhiplash compared to the rest of their songs. It's absolutely ''heartbreaking''. The June Tabor version ends with "Flowers of the Forest". There is a version in German and English that become even more of a tear jerker, especially if you read the translation for the German Lyrics.

* Vanessa Carlton's "White Houses" could be quite a tear jerker due to the beautiful melody while a girl talks about her "First Mistake" (IE losing her virginity).

** The song "One World". No matter how cliche'd the message of world peace and unity may seem in this cynical age, ''it really works''.

** Her rendition of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzVbf5IWTSk&feature=related "You Raise Me Up"]] pulls at one's heart strings, especially when all of the voices come together and sing. There was a beautiful video someone made, set to fanarts from ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'', but the video is, sadly, private.

** While we're on that note, "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0upiGvnwSRA With Hope]]". The tragic accident? The little girl was hit by a car pulling out of their driveway. The driver? Her teenaged brother. The saddest part may be thinking about the hell the poor kids has to have gone through emotionally and mentally because of this.

** "We Said Hello Goodbye", the piano and the vocals really make it sad, but what really cues the waterworks are the lyrics. Yes, the whole lyrics.

* "Someday Never Comes" by Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival. It's sad enough that the narrator's singing about his parents' divorce and asking why it had to happen -- but, at the end, it turns out he's also going through a divorce with ''his'' son asking the same question he did.

** "Then You Look at Me" from the ending credits of ''Bicentennial Man''. It helps that it plays immediately after the DownerEnding (or is it a BittersweetEnding?), and its tune is in fact played as an instrumental when [[spoiler:Andrew and Portia die]].

** Also, from the B-side of the same album, "Falling Angel". "I don't believe it all, but I believe in you..." Damn, 1993 was their most magical year.

** "Domino" is about a man who tries to search for his love, who he knows is dead, dreams about the good times he had with his life, but he gets nightmares about the fact that his place is getting blown up and by the time it gets to the part of the kids getting vapourised by an atomic bomb (Maybe, it doesn't specify what liquidises them.) The fact that the song is based on the fact that Israelites bombed a Lebanese hotel for no goddamn reason.

** "Sleepwalker" can be a tear jerker for anyone haunted by a break up.

** "Falling Free" is especially a tear jerker. It's about finding peace at the end of a relationship and moving in while still wishing you were with the said person. It especially gets the tears flowing when she sounds as if she's about to cry at the end,

* "When I Was Your Man" by Music/BrunoMars is about a man who regrets not loving his girlfriend more and all the things he could have done for her. Now he wants her to be happy with [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy someone else.]] Makes me cry my eyes out.

** Oh gawd, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0auCDOERZyE We All Stand Together]] makes this troper cry EVERY SINGLE TIME. Some may find it a bit {{Narm}}ish with the singing frogs, but arguably that's what makes it all the more poignant—and seeing the happy frog families together is absolutely shattering if you're estranged from your own family.

* "The Christmas Shoes" by [=NewSong=] is a pretty extreme song to play on the radio, precisely because so many people start crying when they hear it, it's only a matter of time before it causes a car crash. Although, other people may find it goes way too overboard into Narm territory.

** "All The Right Moves" sounds harmless enough at first. And then you pay attention to the lyrics, and realize what's being said. He's given up any hope of ever being with the girl because, the way he sees it, there's no way that they can be together; the world quite literally will break them up and keep them from being together, no matter what. No one will ever stop this. And then he starts with the "It don't matter what you say, I know I could never face someone that could sound like you". *sniffles*

*** And stay far, far away from the version by Seal.

* The Pretenders, "I'll Stand By You". NOT the bog-awful Girls Aloud version.

* Music/LindaRonstadt's "Winterlight", especially when played over the ending credits to the 1993 version of "The Secret Garden".

** "I'm Yours". ("You touch these tired eyes of mine/ And map my face out line by line/ And somehow growing old feels fine") I sniffle every time.

** "This is Your Time" was written in memory of Cassie Bernall, the Columbine victim who supposedly was killed because she said she believed in God. This story turned out to be an urban legend, but the song is tearjerking nonetheless:

* Vitamin C's "Graduation" can be especially affecting at the end of the school year.

** "You're The Inspiration". Yes, it's [[{{Narm}} cheesy]]. But then ''EliteBeatAgents'' came and made it unbelievably touching, to the point anyone who's played the game will never hear it the same way again.