Songs that won Oscars

The Oscars – or Academy Awards as they’re also called – are prestigious accolades that are associated with the film industry.  For instance, in order for a track to qualify for the highly-coveted Best Original Song Academy Award, said track would have had to be written specifically to be featured on the movie in which it appeared. 

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for Billie Eilish's No Time to Die at Lyrics.org.

As far as the music side of the Academy Awards go, there is also a category called Best Original Score, with scores being the instrumentals which lie at the backdrop of a film.

It can be said that many major motion pictures, i.e. the ones that actually go as far as to create their own music as opposed to compiling a soundtrack of previously-released songs, do so with the specific goal of winning an Academy Award in mind. As such many of the tracks that have won Best Original Song are by proven popular musicians. 

Some, though definitely not all “Best Original Songs” experience notable mainstream success also. Owing to this, there are tunes on this list that you’re bound to be familiar with, even if you haven’t watched the movies they’re connected to. Meanwhile, others may be such that they’re so heavily intertwined with the film that you probably never heard the song unless you’ve seen the associated movie also.  In any event, prepare yourself to be treated to some true musical classics on this list.

Songs
Oscar-wining Songs

Oscar-Winning Songs (1930s)

Song/Year ReleasedYear WonPerformed ByFilm
“The Continental” (1934)1934Erik Rhodes
Lillian Miles
“The Gay Divorcee”
“Lullaby of Broadway” (1935)1935Wini Shaw“Gold Diggers of 1935”
“The Way You Look Tonight” (1936)1936Fred Astaire“Swing Time”
“Sweet Leilani” (1937)1937Bing Crosby
Lani McIntyre and His Hawaiians
“Waikiki Wedding”
“Thanks for the Memory” (1938)1938Bob Hope
Shirley Ross
Shep Fields and His Orchestra
“The Big Broadcast of 1938”
“Over the Rainbow” (1939)1939Judy Garland“The Wizard of Oz”

Oscar-Winning Songs (1940s)

Song/Year ReleasedYear WonPerformed ByFilm
“When You Wish Upon a Star” (1940)1940Cliff Edwards“Pinocchio”
“The Last Time I Saw Paris” (1940)1941Ann Sothern“Lady Be Good”
“White Christmas” (1942)1942Bing Crosby
Ken Darby Singers
John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra
“Holiday Inn”
“You’ll Never Know” (1943)1943Alice Faye“Hello, Frisco, Hello”
“Swinging on a Star” (1944)1944Bing Crosby
Williams Brothers Quartet
John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra
“Going My Way”
“It Might as Well Be Spring” (1945)1945Jeanne Crain“State Fair”
“On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe” (1944)1946Judy Garland
Ben Carter
Marjorie Main
Virginia O’Brien
Ray Bolger
“The Harvey Girls”
“Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” (1946)1947James Baskett“Song of the South”
“Buttons and Bows” (1948)1948Dinah Shore and her Happy Valley Boys“The Paleface”
“Baby, It’s Cold Outside” (1949)1949Esther Williams
Ricardo Montalbán
Betty Garrett
Red Skelton
“Neptune’s Daughter”

Oscar-Winning Songs (1950s)

Song/Year ReleasedYear WonPerformed ByFilm
“Mona Lisa” (1950)1950Nat King Cole“Captain Carey, U.S.A.”
“In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening” (1951)1951Bing Crosby
Jane Wyman
Matty Matlock’s All Stars and the Four Hits and a Miss
“Here Comes the Groom”
“The Ballad of High Noon” (1952)1952Tex Ritter“High Noon”
“Secret Love” (1953)1953Doris Day“Calamity Jane”
“Three Coins in the Fountain” (1954)1954Frank Sinatra (not credited)“Three Coins in the Fountain”
“Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing” (1955)1955The Four Aces“Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing”
“Que Sera, Sera” (1956)1956Doris Day“The Man Who Knew Too Much”
“All the Way” (1957)1957Frank Sinatra“The Joker Is Wild”
“Gigi” (1958)1958Louis Jourdan“Gigi”
“High Hopes” (1959)1959Frank Sinatra“A Hole in the Head”

Oscar-Winning Songs (1960s)

Song/Year ReleasedYear WonPerformed ByFilm
“Never on Sunday” (1960)1960Melina Mercouri“Never on Sunday”
“Moon River” (1961)1961Audrey Hepburn“Breakfast at Tiffany’s”
“Days of Wine and Roses” (1962)1962Andy Williams“Days of Wine and Roses”
“Call Me Irresponsible” (1962)1963Jackie Gleason“Papa’s Delicate Condition”
“Chim Chim Cher—ee” (1964)1964Dick Van Dyke
Julie Andrews
“Mary Poppins”
“The Shadow of Your Smile” (1965)1965Jack Sheldon“The Sandpiper”
“Born Free” (1966)1966Matt Monro“Born Free”
“Talk to the Animals” (1967)1967Rex Harrison“Doctor Dolittle”
“The Windmills of Your Mind” (1968)1968Noel Harrison“The Thomas Crown Affair”
“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” (1969)1969B.J. Thomas“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”

Oscar-Winning Songs (1970s)

Song/Year ReleasedYear WonPerformed ByFilm
“For All We Know” (1970)1970Larry Meredith“Lovers and Other Strangers”
“Theme from Shaft” (1971)1971Isaac Hayes“Shaft”
“The Morning After” (1972)1972Renée Armand“The Poseidon Adventure”
“The Way We Were” (1973)1973Barbra Streisand“The Way We Were”
“We May Never Love This Again” (1974)1974Maureen McGovern“The Towering Inferno”
“I’m Easy” (1975)1975Keith Carradine“Nashville”
“Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)”1976Barbra Streisand“A Star Is Born”
“You Light Up My Life” (1977)1977Kasey Cisyk“You Light Up My Life”
“Last Dance” (1978)1978Donna Summer“Thank God It’s Friday”
“It Goes Like It Goes” (1979)1979Jennifer Warnes“Norma Rae”

Oscar-Winning Songs (1980s)

Song/Year ReleasedYear WonPerformed ByFilm
“Fame” (1980)1980Irene Cara“Fame”
“Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” (1981)1981Christopher Cross“Arthur”
“Up Where We Belong” (1982)1982Joe Cocker
Jennifer Warnes
“An Officer and a Gentleman”
“Flashdance… What a Feeling” (1983)1983Irene Cara“Flashdance”
“I Just Called to Say I Love You” (1984)1984Stevie Wonder“The Woman in Red”
“Say You, Say Me” (1985)1985Lionel Richie“White Nights”
“Take My Breath Away” (1986)1986Berlin“Top Gun”
“(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” (1987)1987Bill Medley
Jennifer Warnes
“Dirty Dancing”
“Let the River Run” (1988)1988Carly Simon“Working Girl”
“Under the Sea” (1989)1989Samuel E. Wright“The Little Mermaid”

Oscar-Winning Songs (1990s)

Song/Year ReleasedYear WonPerformed ByFilm
“Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)” (1990)1990Madonna“Dick Tracy”
“Beauty and the Beast” (1991)1991Angela Lansbury“Beauty and the Beast”
“A Whole New World” (1992)1992Brad Kane
Lea Salonga
“Aladdin”
“Streets of Philadelphia” (1993)1993Bruce Springsteen“Philadelphia”
“Can You Feel the Love Tonight” (1994)1994Elton John“The Lion King”
“Colors of the Wind” (1995)1995Judy Kuhn“Pocahontas”
“You Must Love Me” (1996)1996Madonna“Evita”
“My Heart Will Go On” (1997)1997Celine Dion“Titanic”
“When You Believe” (1998)1998Mariah Carey
Whitney Houston
“The Prince of Egypt”
“You’ll Be in My Heart” (1999)1999Phil Collins“Tarzan”

Oscar-Winning Songs (2000s)

Song/Year ReleasedYear WonPerformed ByFilm
“Things Have Changed” (2000)2000Bob Dylan“Wonder Boys”
“If I Didn’t Have You” (2001)2001John Goodman
Billy Crystal
“Monsters, Inc.”
“Lose Yourself” (2002)2002Eminem“8 Mile”
“Into the West” (2003)2003Annie Lennox“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”
“Al otro lado del río” (2004)2004Jorge Drexler“The Motorcycle Diaries”
“It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp” (2005)2005Three 6 Mafia“Hustle & Flow”
“I Need to Wake Up” (2006)2006Melissa Etheridge“An Inconvenient Truth”
“Falling Slowly” (2006)2007Glen HansardMarkéta Irglová“Once”
“Jai Ho” (2008)2008A.R. Rahman
Sukhwinder Singh
Tanvi Shah
Mahalaxmi Iyer
Vijay Prakash
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“The Weary Kind” (2009)2009Ryan Bingham“Crazy Heart”

Oscar-Winning Songs (2010s)

Song/Year ReleasedYear WonPerformed ByFilm
“We Belong Together” (2010)2010Randy Newman“Toy Story 3”
“Man or Muppet” (2011)2011Jason Segel
Walter (voiced by Peter Linz)
“The Muppets”
“Skyfall” (2012)2012Adele“Skyfall”
“Let It Go” (2013)2013Idina Menzel“Frozen”
“Glory” (2014)2014Common
John Legend
“Selma”
“Writing’s on the Wall” (2015)2015Sam Smith“Spectre”
“City of Stars” (2016)2016Ryan Gosling
Emma Stone
“La La Land”
“Remember Me” (2017)2017Benjamin Bratt“Coco”
“Shallow” (2018)2018Bradley Cooper
Lady Gaga
“A Star Is Born”
“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” (2019)2019Elton John
Taron Egerton
“Rocketman”

Oscar-Winning Songs (2020s)

Song/Year ReleasedYear WonPerformed ByPerformed By
“Fight for You” (2021)2020/21H.E.R.“Judas and the Black Messiah”
“No Time to Die” (2020)2021Billie Eilish“No Time to Die”

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