"How Do I Say Goodbye" is a song by Australian singer and songwriter Dean Lewis. The song was released on 2 September 2022 as the third single from Lewis's second studio album, The Hardest Love.
At the 2023 ARIA Music Awards, the song was nominated for Song of the Year.
At the APRA Music Awards of 2024, the song won Most Performed Australian Work and Most Performed Pop Work.
Background Lewis wrote the song for his father, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2019. Dean Lewis later said, "Although I wrote the song about my dad, my dad ended up being okay. I wrote the song assuming I was gonna have to say goodbye, and I didn't have to. My dad got a stem cell transplant and his cancer was an aggressive form of pre-leukemia, and he had a very small percentage chance of getting out of it."
Music video The official video was directed by Sean Loaney (Lewis's brother) and premiered on 6 September 2022. The music video features footage taken by Lewis's father during the singer's childhood.
Track listings
Charts
Weekly charts + Weekly chart performance for "How Do I Say Goodbye" Chart (2022–2023) Peakposition Australia (ARIA) 14 Denmark (Tracklisten) 7 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) 40 Norway (VG-lista) 5 San Marino Airplay (SMRTV Top 50) 27 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) 19
Year-end charts + 2022 year-end chart performance for "How Do I Say Goodbye" Chart (2022) Position Australian Artist (ARIA) 28 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) 111 Denmark (Tracklisten) 99 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) 36 Netherlands (Single Top 100) 60 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) 69 + 2023 year-end chart performance for "How Do I Say Goodbye" Chart (2023) Position Australia (ARIA) 68 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) 27 Denmark (Tracklisten) 49 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) 81 Netherlands (Single Top 100) 40 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) 59 US Adult Contemporary (Billboard) 43 US Adult Top 40 (Billboard) 7
+ 2024 year-end chart performance for "How Do I Say Goodbye" Chart (2024) Position Australian Artist (ARIA) 24
+ 2025 year-end chart performance for "How Do I Say Goodbye" Chart (2025) Position Australian Artist (ARIA) 28
Certifications
References