Academy Award for Best Original Song facts for kids

The Academy Award for Best Original Song is a special prize given each year to talented people in the movie world. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) gives this award to the songwriters who create the very best original song specifically for a film. This means the song must be brand new and made just for that movie!

Usually, the singers who perform these nominated songs get to sing them live during the exciting Academy Awards ceremony. This award started a long time ago at the 7th Academy Awards, which celebrated the best movies from 1934.

First, a group of songwriters and composers from the Academy pick about fifteen songs they think are the best. Then, all the members of the Academy vote to choose the final winner.

What Makes a Song Eligible?

Rules for Original Songs

The Academy has clear rules for songs to be considered. An original song must have both words and music created especially for the movie. It needs to be heard clearly in the film, either during the story or as the first song in the end credits.

Why the Rules Changed

The rules for this award have changed over time. At first, a song just needed to appear in a movie from the past year. But this changed after the 1941 Academy Awards. A song called "The Last Time I Saw Paris" won, even though it was already a popular song before it was used in the movie Lady Be Good.

The composer, Jerome Kern, felt it wasn't fair because the song wasn't brand new for the film. He believed a song like "Blues in the Night" should have won instead. Because of this, the Academy changed the rule. Now, a song must be truly original and written only for the movie to be eligible.

What Songs Are Not Allowed?

This new rule means that songs that use parts of other songs (called 'samples'), or are cover versions, are not allowed. For example, "Gangsta's Paradise" from the movie Dangerous Minds couldn't be nominated because it used parts of an older song.

Also, if a movie is based on a stage musical, none of the songs from the original musical can be nominated. To get around this, many movie musicals now include new songs written just for the film. For instance, "You Must Love Me" from Evita won an Oscar because it was a new song for the movie. Other examples include new songs in Dreamgirls and Les Misérables.

Special Cases: "Falling Slowly" and "In the Deep"

There was a discussion about "Falling Slowly" from the movie Once, which won in 2008. The songwriters, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, had released the song on other albums before the movie came out. However, the Academy decided that these earlier performances were small and didn't make the song ineligible.

A similar situation happened with "In the Deep" from Crash. The current rule now states that a song must be recorded for the movie prior to any other usage. So, if the movie's version was recorded first, it's still okay, even if other versions were released later.

How Many Songs Get Nominated?

Changes in Nomination Rules

For a long time, any number of songs could be nominated. For example, in 1945, 14 songs were nominated!

From 1946 to 2011, the Academy used a special points system. Members of the Music Branch would score songs, and only those with a high enough average score would be nominated. This often resulted in five nominees, but sometimes there were fewer, like in 2011 when only two songs were nominated.

After that, the rules changed again. Starting with the 85th Academy Awards, there are now always five nominees for Best Original Song. This makes the competition fair and exciting every year!

Movies with Multiple Nominated Songs

The first movie to have more than one song nominated was Fame in 1980. A few movies, like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, even had three songs nominated!

However, movies like Dreamgirls and Enchanted had three songs nominated but didn't win any awards. Because of this, a new rule was made in 2008: a movie can now have no more than two songs nominated. This helps spread the nominations around and prevents votes from being divided among too many songs from one film.

Sometimes, even if a movie has many popular songs, studios might only submit one for consideration. For example, "We Don't Talk About Bruno" from Encanto was a huge hit, but the movie's creators submitted "Dos Oruguitas" for the 94th Academy Awards, which was nominated but didn't win.

Performances at the Awards Ceremony

Singing Live on TV

Nominated songs are usually performed live during the televised Academy Awards ceremonies. This tradition started at the 18th Academy Awards in 1946, with famous singers like Frank Sinatra performing.

Who Gets to Perform?

In the early days, the songs were often sung by different artists than those in the movie. For example, in 1965, Robert Goulet sang all the nominated songs. Later, the rules changed to allow only the original movie performers.

Then, the rules changed again in 1973. Now, the Academy first asks the original artist from the film to perform. If they can't, or if another artist made the song very popular, that artist might be asked. Sometimes, the Academy chooses other entertainers to perform.

Memorable Performances and Moments

• At the 72nd Academy Awards, Robin Williams performed "Blame Canada" from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. This was instead of the film's voice actors.
• Beyoncé sang three nominated songs at the 77th Academy Awards, even though she didn't perform them in the movies.
• In 2004, the Spanish song "Al otro lado del río" from The Motorcycle Diaries won. The songwriter, Jorge Drexler, was not allowed to perform it. Instead, Carlos Santana and Antonio Banderas sang it. When Drexler won, he sang a few lines a cappella as his thank you speech.
• Phil Collins was not allowed to perform his nominated song "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" in 1985. The producers felt they weren't familiar with his work.
• In 2009, Peter Gabriel chose not to perform "Down to Earth" because he was only given a short time to sing. John Legend performed it instead.
• Sometimes, songs are not performed at all. This happened at the 84th Academy Awards for "Man or Muppet" and "Real in Rio."
• At the 91st Academy Awards, there was a plan to only have two songs performed. This decision was changed, but "All the Stars" from Black Panther was still not performed.
• Eminem's winning song "Lose Yourself" was not performed in 2003. He later gave a surprise performance of it at the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020, which received a standing ovation.
• In 2021, performances were shown during a pre-show. Live performances returned for the 2022 ceremony.
• The 97th Academy Awards in 2025 did not feature live performances of the nominated songs.

Winners and Nominees

Con Conrad was the first winner for "The Continental" from The Gay Divorcee in 1934.

Jerome Kern won twice for "The Way You Look Tonight" (1936) and "The Last Time I Saw Paris" (1941).

Dorothy Fields was the first female winner for "The Way You Look Tonight" (1936).

Leo Robin won for "Thanks for the Memory" (1938).

Harold Arlen won with Yip Harburg for "Over the Rainbow" (1939).

Oscar Hammerstein II won twice for "The Last Time I Saw Paris" (1941) and "It Might as Well Be Spring" (1945).

Irving Berlin won for "White Christmas" (1942).

Jimmy Van Heusen won four times, including for "Swinging on a Star" (1944) and "High Hopes" (1959).

Johnny Mercer won four times, including for "Moon River" (1961) and "Days of Wine and Roses" (1962).

Frank Loesser won for "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (1949).

Sammy Cahn won four times, including for "Three Coins in the Fountain" (1954) and "All the Way" (1957).

Henry Mancini won twice for "Moon River" (1961) and "Days of Wine and Roses" (1962).

Jule Styne won for "Three Coins in the Fountain" (1954).

Frederick Loewe won for "Gigi" (1958).

Alan Jay Lerner won for "Gigi" (1958).

Richard M. Sherman won with his brother Robert B. Sherman for "Chim Chim Cher-ee" (1964).

Burt Bacharach won for "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" (1969).

Isaac Hayes won for "Theme from Shaft" (1971).

Marvin Hamlisch won twice for "The Way We Were" (1973) and "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (1981).

Keith Carradine won for "I'm Easy" (1975).

Barbra Streisand won for "Evergreen" (1976).

Paul Jabara won for "Last Dance" (1978).

Christopher Cross won alongside Peter Allen, Burt Bacharach, and Carole Bayer Sager for "Arthur's Theme" (1981).

Irene Cara won alongside Giorgio Moroder and Keith Forsey for "Flashdance... What a Feeling" (1983).

Stevie Wonder won for "I Just Called to Say I Love You" (1984).

Lionel Richie won for "Say You, Say Me" (1985).

Carly Simon won for "Let the River Run" (1988).

Stephen Sondheim won for "Sooner or Later" (1990).

Alan Menken won four times, including for "Under the Sea" (1989) and "A Whole New World" (1992).

Bruce Springsteen won for "Streets of Philadelphia" (1993).

Sir Elton John won twice for "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" (1994) and "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again" (2019).

Andrew Lloyd Webber won for "You Must Love Me" (1996).

James Horner won for "My Heart Will Go On" (1997).

Stephen Schwartz won for "When You Believe" (1998).

Phil Collins won for "You'll Be in My Heart" (1999).

Bob Dylan won for "Things Have Changed" (2000).

Randy Newman won twice for "If I Didn't Have You" (2001) and We Belong Together (2010).

Eminem won for "Lose Yourself" (2002).

Annie Lennox won for "Into the West" (2003).

Adele won for "Skyfall" (2012).

Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez won twice for "Let It Go" (2013) and "Remember Me" (2017).

John Legend won alongside Common for "Glory" (2014).

Sam Smith won for "Writings on the Wall" (2015).

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul won alongside Justin Hurwitz for "City of Stars" (2016).

Lady Gaga won alongside Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando & Andrew Wyatt for "Shallow" (2018).

Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell won twice for "No Time to Die" (2021) and "What Was I Made For" (2023).

H.E.R. won alongside D'Mile and Tiara Thomas for "Fight For You" (2020).

M. M. Keeravani won alongside Chandrabose for "Naatu Naatu" (2022).

Camille won alongside Clément Ducol and Jacques Audiard for "El Mal" (2024).

Ejae won alongside Mark Sonnenblick, Ido, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Mark Sonnenblick, Teddy an 24 for "Golden" from KPop Demon Hunters (2025).

1930s

1940s

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2010s

2020s

Shortlisted Finalists

The Music Branch of the Academy chooses a group of fifteen songs as finalists. These songs receive the most votes and then move on to the next round of voting. Here are some of the songs that made it to the finalist list over the years.

Records

Age Superlatives

Winners of Multiple Awards

Here are the songwriters who have won this award more than once:

• 4 wins: Sammy Cahn (25 nominations) (lyricist)
• 4 wins: Johnny Mercer (18 nominations) (16 as lyricist, 2 as composer and lyricist)
• 4 wins: Alan Menken (14 nominations) (composer)
• 4 wins: Jimmy Van Heusen (14 nominations) (composer)
• 3 wins: Paul Francis Webster (16 nominations) (lyricist)
• 3 wins: Harry Warren (11 nominations) (composer)
• 3 wins: Ray Evans (7 nominations) (composer and lyricist)
• 3 wins: Jay Livingston (7 nominations) (composer and lyricist)
• 3 wins: Tim Rice (5 nominations) (lyricist)
• 2 wins: Alan and Marilyn Bergman (15 nominations) (lyricist)
• 2 wins: Randy Newman (13 nominations) (composer and lyricist)
• 2 wins: Henry Mancini (11 nominations) (composer)
• 2 wins: Ned Washington (11 nominations) (lyricist)
• 2 wins: Sammy Fain (10 nominations) (composer)
• 2 wins: Howard Ashman (7 nominations) (lyricist)
• 2 wins: Jerome Kern (7 nominations) (composer)
• 2 wins: Burt Bacharach (5 nominations) (composer)
• 2 wins: Oscar Hammerstein II (5 nominations) (lyricist)
• 2 wins: Stephen Schwartz (5 nominations) (1 as lyricist, 1 as composer and lyricist)
• 2 wins: Elton John (5 nominations) (composer)
• 2 wins: Joel Hirschhorn (3 nominations) (composer and lyricist)
• 2 wins: Will Jennings (3 nominations) (lyricist)
• 2 wins: Al Kasha (3 nominations) (composer and lyricist)
• 2 wins: Kristen Anderson-Lopez (3 nominations) (composer and lyricist)
• 2 wins: Robert Lopez (3 nominations) (composer and lyricist)
• 2 wins: Giorgio Moroder (2 nominations) (composer)
• 2 wins: Billie Eilish (2 nominations) (composer and lyricist)
• 2 wins: Finneas O'Connell (2 nominations) (composer and lyricist)

Most Nominations Without a Win

Diane Warren has seventeen Best Original Song nominations, but has not yet won the award.

Some talented songwriters have been nominated many times but have not yet won this award:

• 17 nominations: Diane Warren (composer and lyricist)
• 8 nominations: Mack David (lyricist)
• 5 nominations: Harold Adamson (lyricist)
• 5 nominations: Nicholas Brodszky (composer)
• 5 nominations: Jimmy McHugh (composer)
• 5 nominations: John Williams (composer)
• 4 nominations: Elmer Bernstein (composer)
• 4 nominations: James V. Monaco (composer)
• 4 nominations: Cole Porter (composer and lyricist)
• 4 nominations: Sting (composer and lyricist)
• 3 nominations: Bryan Adams (composer and lyricist)
• 3 nominations: Jack Brooks (composer and lyricist)
• 3 nominations: George Forrest (lyricist)
• 3 nominations: David Foster (composer)
• 3 nominations: Kim Gannon (lyricist)
• 3 nominations: Ira Gershwin (lyricist)
• 3 nominations: Quincy Jones (composer)
• 3 nominations: Henry Krieger (composer)
• 3 nominations: Robert John "Mutt" Lange (composer and lyricist)
• 3 nominations: Jerry Livingston (composer)
• 3 nominations: Dory Previn (lyricist)
• 3 nominations: J. Ralph (composer)
• 3 nominations: Marc Shaiman (composer and lyricist)
• 3 nominations: Robert Wright (lyricist)
• 3 nominations: Victor Young (composer)
• 2 nominations: Ralph Blane (lyricist)
• 2 nominations: Frank Churchill (composer)
• 2 nominations: Carol Connors (composer and lyricist)
• 2 nominations: Bill Conti (composer)
• 2 nominations: Fred Ebb (lyricist)
• 2 nominations: Roger Edens (composer)
• 2 nominations: Eliot Daniel (composer and lyricist)
• 2 nominations: Sylvia Fine (composer and lyricist)
• 2 nominations: Charles Fox (composer)
• 2 nominations: Siedah Garrett (lyricist)
• 2 nominations: Friedrich Hollaender (composer)
• 2 nominations: James Ingram (composer and lyricist)
• 2 nominations: Michael Kamen (composer)
• 2 nominations: John Kander (composer)
• 2 nominations: Burton Lane (composer)
• 2 nominations: Hugh Martin (composer)
• 2 nominations: Paul McCartney (composer and lyricist)
• 2 nominations: Lin-Manuel Miranda (composer and lyricist)
• 2 nominations: Larry Morey (lyricist)
• 2 nominations: Alfred Newman (composer)
• 2 nominations: Lionel Newman (composer)
• 2 nominations: James Newton Howard (composer)
• 2 nominations: Dolly Parton (composer and lyricist)
• 2 nominations: André Previn (composer)
• 2 nominations: Don Raye (composer)
• 2 nominations: Ayn Robbins (composer and lyricist)
• 2 nominations: Bob Russell (lyricist)
• 2 nominations: Tom Snow (composer)
• 2 nominations: U2 (composer and lyricist)

Foreign-Language Song Winners

The Academy Award for Best Original Song has been given to songs in languages other than English five times:

• In 1960, for "Never on Sunday" (Greek) from the film Never on Sunday. Manos Hatzidakis was the first to win for a non-English song.
• In 2004, for the Spanish song "Al otro lado del río" from The Motorcycle Diaries. Jorge Drexler was the second foreign language songwriter to win.
• In 2008, for the Hindi song "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire. A. R. Rahman and Gulzar won for this song. Another Hindi song from the same film, "O... Saya", was also nominated that year.
• In 2022, for the Telugu song "Naatu Naatu" from RRR. M. M. Keeravani and Chandrabose won this award.
• In 2024, for the Spanish song "El Mal" from Emilia Pérez. Camille, Clément Ducol, and Jacques Audiard won this award, even though they are French composers.

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:Óscar a la mejor canción original para niños

• Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song
• Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
• Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media
• List of Academy Award–nominated films