Summary
- Best Original Song category at the Oscars celebrates talented musicians in film history.
- Between 2 and 14 songs have been nominated in a single year, but since 2012, there have been five nominees per year.
- Best Original Song winners often leave a larger mark than the movie they were featured in.
The Oscars best song awards category, Best Original Song, celebrates the talented musicians who have crafted some of the most beautiful and memorable arrangements in film history. The Academy Awards is the most prestigious movie awards ceremony and a win in any category is an acknowledgment of technical, cultural, and industry success. Nearly every aspect of filmmaking is recognized, and music has two awards celebrating their efforts: Best Original Song and Best Original Score. Best Original Song goes to the songwriters of one original song made specifically for a movie of that year.
The award was first presented at the 7th Academy Awards, which took place in 1935 with the Oscar going to "The Continental" from The Gay Divorcee. Since then, the Oscar has been presented at every Academy Award ceremony. How movies get nominated for Oscars can be a complex process and, over its history, between two and 14 songs have been nominated in a single year. However, since 2012, the rules have outlined that there would be five nominees per year, via Billboard. Best Original Song winners have sometimes left a larger mark than the movie they featured in, and often, they've managed to elevate an already celebrated title.
Every Disney Renaissance Soundtrack, Ranked
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50 "Let The River Run" By Carly Simon (Music & Lyrics)
Working Girl (1988) at the 61st Academy Awards
Singer-songwriter Carly Simon earned an Oscar for "Let the River Run", which she wrote and performed for Working Girl, a 1988 rom-com about a secretary (Melanie Griffith) who takes over her boss' job after she goes on sick leave. The film earned six Academy Award nominations, only winning for Best Original Song. "Let the River Run" is an electric and thrumming ode to New York City and, with Simon's gospel-like melody, also earned a Grammy win for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television.
49 "Gigi" By Frederick Loewe (Music); Alan Jay Lerner (Lyrics)
Gigi (1958) at the 31st Academy Awards
Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe won an Academy Award for "Gigi", the title song of the 1958 movie that went nine for nine at the ceremony, winning all awards it was nominated for. The song is sung by Gaston Lachaille (Louis Jourdan) about the titular Gilberte "Gigi" (Leslie Caron) who Gaston has fallen in love with. It's romantic and exciting with Jourdan, expertly dressed, running through a lonely-looking Paris as he extols why he loves Gigi.
48 "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" By Peter Allen, Burt Bacharach, Christopher Cross & Carole Bayer Sager (Music & Lyrics)
Arthur (1981) at the 54th Academy Awards
Arthur follows the titular character, played by Dudley Moore, a playboy millionaire who halts his arranged marriage to a wealthy heiress when he falls in love with a working-class girl from Queens. The film earned four Oscar nominations and won Best Supporting Actor for John Gielgud and Best Original Song for "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)". The song is a catchy rock ballad that swings between well-written, nostalgic lyrics like "When you get caught between the moon and New York City," and describing exactly what Arthur does daily.
47 "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" By Burt Bacharach (Music); Hal David (Lyrics)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) at the 42nd Academy Awards
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" and Burt Bacharach and Hal Davis won one of the whopping seven Oscars that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were nominated for at the 42nd Academy Awards. The buddy Western starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman ended up winning four awards that night. The song is an upbeat tune about keeping one's head up even when it seems everything is going wrong. Spider-Man 2 famously employed the song when Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) decides to stop fighting crime.
46 "Theme From Shaft" By Isaac Hayes (Music & Lyrics)
Shaft (1971) at the 44th Academy Awards
Most people may know the controversial Isaac Hayes for playing Chef in South Park, but long before that, Hayes was a Grammy-winning soul musician who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 (via Rockhall). He composed the theme song for the blaxploitation crime thriller Shaft, which plays at the beginning of the film, making him the first Black man to win the award. Funky, cool, and setting the groove for the movie, the song could be considered one of the first superhero themes.
45 "No Time To Die" By Billie Eilish & Finneas O'Connell (Music & Lyrics)
No Time To Die (2021) at the 94th Academy Awards
No Time to Die
- Release Date
- October 8, 2021
- Cast
- Daniel Craig , Rami Malek , Lea Seydoux , Ralph Fiennes , Lashana Lynch , Jeffrey Wright , Billy Magnussen , Dali Benssalah , Naomie Harris , Rory Kinnear , Ben Whishaw , Ana De Armas , David Dencik
The James Bond theme songs are key aspects of the enduring franchise and are just as important to the movies as new villains or gadgets. Billie Eilish became the youngest person to write one of the themes when she and her brother Finneas O'Connell composed "No Time to Die" for the movie of the same name. The groundbreaking and hip Eilish went for a more classical approach to the theme, which helps to make it a dark and mysterious number to open Craig's final Bond movie.
44 "I'm Easy" By Keith Carradine (Music & Lyrics)
Nashville (1975) at the 48th Academy Awards
Nashville is a satirical musical-comedy by Robert Altman that follows five different people in the lead-up to a gala concert. There is nearly an hour of musical numbers in the film, but it's "I'm Easy" by Keith Carradine that received the Oscar for Best Original Song. Carradine, who plays Tom Frank, sings this love ballad about a man who is enraptured by the woman of his dreams. The song makes a funny juxtaposition compared to Tom's character as a cad and manipulative womanizer.
43 "If I Didn't Have You" By Randy Newman (Music & Lyrics)
Monsters, Inc. (2001) at the 74th Academy Awards
Monsters, Inc.
- Release Date
- November 2, 2001
- Cast
- John Goodman , Billy Crystal , Steve Buscemi , James Coburn , Jennifer Tilly , Mary Gibbs
Randy Newman continues his long collaboration with Pixar in Monsters, Inc. with the Academy Award-winning song "If I Didn't Have You". Monsters, Inc. is the third feature-length Pixar movie and a sign that the studio's success with Toy Story was not a fluke after the excellent but less critically lauded A Bug's Life. Newman's "If I Didn't Have You" is a catchy and whip-smart duet between Sulley (John Goodman) and Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal). It's a bit of a riff on "You've Got A Friend In Me" but Goodman and Crystal's earnest vocals give it heart and charm.
42 "Fight For You" By D'Mile & H.E.R. (Music); H.E.R. & Tiara Thomas (Lyrics)
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) at the 93rd Academy Awards
Judas and the Black Messiah
- Release Date
- February 12, 2021
- Cast
- Algee Smith , LaKeith Stanfield , Lil Rel Howery , Dominique Thorne , Jesse Plemons , Jermaine Fowler , Ashton Sanders , Dominique Fishback , Terayle Hill , Martin Sheen , Daniel Kaluuya
D'Mile, H.E.R., and Tiara Thomas won an Oscar for "Fight for You" in Judas and the Black Messiah, a historical film about Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) and the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party. The film earned six Oscar nominations, winning in two categories. "Fight for You" was also nominated for three Grammys and won for Best Traditional R&B Performance. The song has a funky and uplifting beat that obscures the frightening and foreboding lyrics that are a warning to Hampton and his allies.
41 "I Just Called To Say I Love You" By Stevie Wonder (Music & Lyrics)
The Woman in Red (1984) at the 57th Academy Awards
Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You" also earned three Grammy nominations to go along with its Oscar win for its role as the lead single on the soundtrack for The Woman in Red. It's a bubbly and optimistic song that fits well with this sex farce where Ted Pierce (Gene Wilder) becomes infatuated with a woman in a red dress and attempts to start a relationship with her.
40 "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again" By Elton John (Music); Bernie Taupin (Lyrics)
Rocketman (2019) at the 92nd Academy Awards
Rocketman
- Release Date
- May 31, 2019
- Cast
- Bryce Dallas Howard , Tate Donovan , Jamie Bell , Gemma Jones , Charlie Rowe , Stephen Graham , Jess Radomska , Taron Egerton , Richard Madden
Taron Egerton plays Elton John in the jukebox musical biopic, Rocketman. The soundtrack is filled with many of the legendary musician's greatest hits, but the end credits have an original song newly written for the film by John and performed by Egerton, "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again". It's a poppy, joyous end to the movie and a perfect capper to the vivid and colorful movie with some commendable singing from Egerton.
39 "Fame" By Michael Gore (Music); Dean Pitchford (Lyrics)
Fame (1980) at the 53rd Academy Awards
The title track for Fame is performed by Irena Cara in the movie, but the music is by Michael Gore and the lyrics are by Dean Pitchford. Cara plays Coco Hernandez in the teen musical drama about aspiring students attending a performance arts school in New York City. "Fame" serves as the theme song of both the movie and the TV show that followed, and it was Cara's debut single. It's an inspiring and uplifting tune that serves as an appropriate lead into Fame.
38 "Last Dance" By Paul Jabara (Music & Lyrics)
Thank God It’s Friday (1978) at the 51st Academy Awards
Thank God It's Friday is a musical-comedy that tells several intertwining stories of the patrons and employees of the LA disco, The Zoo, over one Friday night. "Last Dance" is a funky, disco-infused party song that would still be appropriate at clubs four decades later. Donna Summer sings as Nicole Sims, an aspiring disco act, and Summer won a Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues Song while Paul Jabara took home the Oscar.
37 "The Weary Kind" By Ryan Bingham & T Bone Burnett (Music & Lyrics)
Crazy Heart (2009) at the 82nd Academy Awards
"The Weary Kind" is the main theme from Crazy Heart, and it's heard multiple times throughout the movie. Colin Farell (Tommy Sweet) and Jeff Bridges (Otis "Bad" Blake) both play the song at different points in the movie, with Ryan Bingham and his Dead Horses band serving as backup. It's a sad, beautiful arrangement that also won a Grammy for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media thanks in part to how well it paints the picture of "Bad" as a talented but self-sabotaging country star.
36 "Naatu Naatu" By M. M. Keeravani (Music); Chandrabose (Lyrics)
RRR (2022) at the 95th Academy Awards
RRR
- Release Date
- March 24, 2022
- Director
- S.S. Rajamouli
- Cast
- S.S. Rajamouli , Ram Charan , N.T. Rama Rao Jr. , Ajay Devgn , Alia Bhatt , Ray Stevenson
The much-hyped RRR took the English-speaking world by storm as Tollywood movies do not often gain much traction with audiences outside India. The Academy recognized the film's achievement by giving M. M. Keeravani and Chandrabose an Oscar for their centerpiece dance number "Naatu Naatu". It was the first song from an Asian film to win the award. As would be expected of a Tollywood or Bollywood movie, the dance number for "Naatu Naatu" is extremely catchy and incredibly choreographed.
35 "Up Where We Belong" By Jack Nitzsche & Buffy Sainte-Marie (Music); Will Jennings (Lyrics)
An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) at the 55th Academy Awards
Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes perform "Up Where We Belong" in An Office and a Gentleman, a song written by Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Will Jennings. The song is a romantic duet that uses pieces from the score of the movie and lyrics about struggling with life and love. An Officer and a Gentleman follows Zack Mayo (Richard Gere), an Aviation Officer Candidate (AOC), who falls in love with a local, Paula Pokrifki (Debra Winger). The film earned six Academy Award nominations and "Up Where We Belong" also earned a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
34 "When You Believe" By Stephen Schwartz (Music & Lyrics)
The Prince of Egypt (1998) at the 71st Academy Awards
DreamWorks' animated film The Prince of Egypt tells the biblical story of Moses and the plagues of Egypt, and it doesn't hold back from any of the violence or terror, despite ostensibly being a children's movie. "When You Believe" is one of the many fantastic songs on the soundtrack and is a powerful and beautiful number sung when the Jewish slaves are released from Egypt. In the movie, the song is sung by Sally Dworsky, who provides the singing voice of Miriam, and Michelle Pfeiffer, who voices Tzipporah. The end credits feature a pop version sung by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston.
33 "Glory" By Common & John Legend (Music & Lyrics)
Selma (2014) at the 87th Academy Awards
Grammy-winning musicians Common and John Legend won an Oscar for "Glory", which features in Selma. The movie tells the story of the voting rights march from Selma to Mongomery, Alabama led by Martin Luther King, Jr. The song is a piano arrangement with haunting vocals from Legend accompanied by powerful rap lyrics from Common as they compare the Ferguson Riots with the fight for Civil Rights by Black people in America.
32 "Flashdance... What a Feeling" By Giorgio Moroder (Music); Irene Cara & Keith Forsey (Lyrics)
Flashdance (1983) at the 56th Academy Awards
Flashdance
- Director
- Adrian Lyne
- Cast
- Jennifer Beals , Michael Nouri , Lilia Skala , Sunny Johnson , Kyle T. Heffner , Lee Ving , Ron Karabatsos , Phil Bruns , Micole Mercurio
Irene Cara wrote and performed "Flashdance... What a Feeling" on the Flashdance soundtrack. The song plays over the opening credits as Alexandra "Alex" Owens (Jennifer Beals) works as a welder, then reprises in the climactic dance-off sequence. The inspiring and fist-pumping song perfectly encapsulates the movie about a young woman working every day to achieve her dream of being a dancer and also won a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
31 "Take My Breath Away" By Giorgio Moroder (Music); Tom Whitlock (Lyrics)
Top Gun (1986) at the 59th Academy Awards
Top Gun
- Release Date
- May 16, 1986
- Cast
- Tom Cruise , Kelly McGillis , Val Kilmer , Anthony Edwards , Tom Skerritt
"Take My Breath Away" by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock, and sung by the band Berlin, plays during a romantic meetup in Top Gun. Tom Cruise's air combat movie about cocky pilots in the elite Top Gun flight program already had one well-known song written for the film with "Danger Zone" performed by Kenny Loggins. However, "Take My Breath Away" is in some ways a more distinctive number with its warbling bass line and sensual vocals.