Weather shows up in pop music as mood, as metaphor, and sometimes just as a good excuse to stay in. This list gathers the sunshine, the storms, the rain, and the wind. Some are literal, some use the sky to talk about something else entirely.
Updated 2026
Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles 1969
Harrison's little dawn after a long winter, and it still feels like relief.
Have You Ever Seen the Rain by Creedence Clearwater Revival 1971
Sunshine and downpour at once, which is the whole trick of the song.
Riders on the Storm by The Doors 1971
Rain, thunder, and Morrison drifting through all of it like a ghost.
Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers 1971
He turns an empty house into weather, gray until she comes back.
I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash 1972
The rain finally lifts and the whole song steps into the light.
Blowin' in the Wind by Bob Dylan 1963
Dylan hands the hardest questions to the wind and lets them hang there.
Sunny by Bobby Hebb 1966
Written in grief, it still shines like the first clear morning after a storm.
Rainy Days and Mondays by The Carpenters 1971
Karen Carpenter makes a gray afternoon sound almost cozy.
Umbrella by Rihanna 2007
A downpour becomes a promise to stand close no matter what falls.
Set Fire to the Rain by Adele 2011
Adele throws the whole sky at a breakup and somehow wins.
November Rain by Guns N' Roses 1991
Nine minutes of storm, strings, and one very long guitar solo.
Thunderstruck by AC/DC 1990
The closest a guitar riff ever came to an actual lightning strike.