Aerith had to die in order to save the planet. *shrugs* Only by becoming one with the planet could she summon holy. Cloud would have ended up with Tifa anyway, because they were childhood loves and everything he had done was leading to them getting together.
For my money though, the greatest sacrifice scene in an anime was Ryoko, despite being injured, helping Tenchi get to Jurai to save her rival. It was made even worse because the little #%*$%&*ing idiot didn't even notice...
15-Feb-2005