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Academy Award for Best Original Score Rankings
Complete ranking of the greatest cinematic compositions honored with the Academy Award for Best Original Score. Rank iconic movie themes, orchestral epics, and modern electronic arrangements across film history.
World Ranking
▲ Top 5
#1
Star Wars (Williams, 1977)
John Williams revived the golden age of grand orchestral cinema, creating the most famous space-opera main title and character themes in film history.
+68
#2
Jaws (Williams, 1975)
John Williams created cinema's most terrifying musical signature using an alternating two-note bass motif conveying primal shark dread.
+46
#3
The Lion King (Zimmer, 1994)
Hans Zimmer integrated authentic South African choral arrangements by Lebo M. with driving, tragic orchestral cues in the African Pride Lands.
+32
#4
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Shore, 2001)
Howard Shore created an operatic masterwork utilizing over one hundred distinct leitmotifs, ancient choral texts, and specialized global folk instruments.
+31
#5
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Williams, 1982)
John Williams delivered pure childhood awe, culminating in a fifteen-minute flying bicycle sequence where the music drives the final film edit.
+11
▼ Bottom 5
#1
Babel (Santaolalla, 2006)
Santaolalla won back-to-back Oscars for his evocative cross-cultural score utilizing the Japanese bass lute (oud) and acoustic textures across continents.
-75
#2
One Night of Love (Silvers, 1934)
Louis Silvers headed the Columbia studio music department, winning the inaugural scoring Oscar for integrating classical operatic arias into Hollywood romance.
-47
#3
Thoroughly Modern Millie (Bernstein, 1967)
Elmer Bernstein arranged Roaring Twenties flapper jazz and high-spirited musical numbers for George Roy Hill's musical comedy.
-43
#4
One Hundred Men and a Girl (Previn, 1937)
Charles Previn conducted the Universal studio orchestra in a celebratory classical music comedy featuring conductor Leopold Stokowski.
-36
#5
The Milagro Beanfield War (Grusin, 1988)
Dave Grusin blended gentle acoustic guitars, flutes, and vibrant Latin folk rhythms for Robert Redford's New Mexico community fable.
-20
You should check out
Complete Guide to Film Scoring by Richard Davis
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Film Music: A Neglected Art by Roy M. Prendergast
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Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards by Mason Wiley and Damien Bona
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Oscars.org
Official Academy Awards Database: Music Categories
Film Music Society
Film Music Society Research and Preservation Archives
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All Items (92)
Star Wars (Williams, 1977)+68
Jaws (Williams, 1975)+46
The Lion King (Zimmer, 1994)+32
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Shore, 2001)+31
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Williams, 1982)+11
Lawrence of Arabia (Jarre, 1962)+9
Dune (Zimmer, 2021)+9
The Wizard of Oz (Stothart, 1939)+7
Beauty and the Beast (Menken, 1991)+4
Oppenheimer (Göransson, 2023)+4
Joker (Guðnadóttir, 2019)+2
Mary Poppins (Sherman/Sherman, 1964)+1
Sinners (Göransson, 2025)+1
The Informer (Steiner, 1935)—
Anthony Adverse (Korngold, 1936)—
The Adventures of Robin Hood (Korngold, 1938)—
Pinocchio (Harline/Smith/Washington, 1940)—
All That Money Can Buy (Herrmann, 1941)—
Now, Voyager (Steiner, 1942)—
The Song of Bernadette (Newman, 1943)—
Since You Went Away (Steiner, 1944)—
Spellbound (Rózsa, 1945)—
The Best Years of Our Lives (Friedhofer, 1946)—
The Red Shoes (Easdale, 1948)—
The Heiress (Copland, 1949)—
Sunset Boulevard (Waxman, 1950)—
A Place in the Sun (Waxman, 1951)—
High Noon (Tiomkin, 1952)—
The High and the Mighty (Tiomkin, 1954)—
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (Newman, 1955)—
Around the World in 80 Days (Young, 1956)—
The Bridge on the River Kwai (Arnold, 1957)—
The Old Man and the Sea (Tiomkin, 1958)—
Ben-Hur (Rózsa, 1959)—
Exodus (Gold, 1960)—
Breakfast at Tiffany's (Mancini, 1961)—
Tom Jones (Addison, 1963)—
Doctor Zhivago (Jarre, 1965)—
Born Free (Barry, 1966)—
The Lion in Winter (Barry, 1968)—
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Bacharach, 1969)—
Love Story (Lai, 1970)—
Summer of '42 (Legrand, 1971)—
Limelight (Chaplin/Rasch/Russell, 1972)—
The Way We Were (Hamlisch, 1973)—
The Godfather Part II (Rota/Coppola, 1974)—
The Omen (Goldsmith, 1976)—
Midnight Express (Moroder, 1978)—
A Little Romance (Delerue, 1979)—
Fame (Gore, 1980)—
Chariots of Fire (Vangelis, 1981)—
The Right Stuff (Conti, 1983)—
A Passage to India (Jarre, 1984)—
Out of Africa (Barry, 1985)—
Round Midnight (Hancock, 1986)—
The Last Emperor (Byrne/Sakamoto/Cong, 1987)—
The Little Mermaid (Menken, 1989)—
Dances with Wolves (Barry, 1990)—
Aladdin (Menken, 1992)—
Schindler's List (Williams, 1993)—
The Postman (Bacalov, 1995)—
The English Patient (Yared, 1996)—
Titanic (Horner, 1997)—
Life Is Beautiful (Piovani, 1998)—
The Red Violin (Corigliano, 1999)—
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Tan, 2000)—
Frida (Goldenthal, 2002)—
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Shore, 2003)—
Finding Neverland (Kaczmarek, 2004)—
Brokeback Mountain (Santaolalla, 2005)—
Atonement (Marianelli, 2007)—
Slumdog Millionaire (Rahman, 2008)—
Up (Giacchino, 2009)—
The Social Network (Reznor/Ross, 2010)—
The Artist (Bource, 2011)—
Life of Pi (Danna, 2012)—
Gravity (Price, 2013)—
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Desplat, 2014)—
The Hateful Eight (Morricone, 2015)—
La La Land (Hurwitz, 2016)—
The Shape of Water (Desplat, 2017)—
Black Panther (Göransson, 2018)—
Soul (Batiste/Reznor/Ross, 2020)—
All Quiet on the Western Front (Bertelmann, 2022)—
The Brutalist (Blumberg, 2024)—
A Double Life (Rózsa, 1947)-2
Lili (Kaper, 1953)-2
The Milagro Beanfield War (Grusin, 1988)-20
One Hundred Men and a Girl (Previn, 1937)-36
Thoroughly Modern Millie (Bernstein, 1967)-43
One Night of Love (Silvers, 1934)-47
Babel (Santaolalla, 2006)-75