Academy Award for Best Original Song facts for kids

The Academy Award for Best Original Song is a special prize given each year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It celebrates the talented people who write the best original songs specifically for movies. This award goes to the songwriters – the people who create the music and lyrics. Singers who perform the song don't win the award unless they also helped write the music or words. Songs nominated for this award are usually sung live at the Oscar ceremony before the winner is announced.

This award started at the 7th Academy Awards, which honored movies from 1934. Songwriters and composers who are part of the Academy choose the nominees. Then, all Academy members vote for the winners. Before the final nominations are announced, 15 songs are picked as finalists.

How Songs Qualify for an Oscar

Originality is Key

As of 2019, the Academy has clear rules for songs to be eligible. A song must have both original words and original music. It has to be written just for the movie. You must be able to hear and understand the song clearly in the film. It can be played during the movie or as the very first song in the end credits.

The rules changed after the 1941 Academy Awards. A song called "The Last Time I Saw Paris" won, even though it was released before the movie Lady Be Good. The composer, Jerome Kern, felt that this wasn't fair. He thought a song written specifically for a movie, like "Blues in the Night", should have won instead. "The Last Time I Saw Paris" was actually written in 1940, after Paris was taken over during World War II. It was even a bestseller before it appeared in the film.

Because of Kern's concerns, the Academy changed the rule. Now, only songs that are truly "original and written specifically for the motion picture" can win. This means songs that use parts of other songs (like samples) or are cover versions are not allowed. For example, "Gangsta's Paradise" from the 1995 movie Dangerous Minds couldn't be nominated because it used parts of Stevie Wonder's song "Pastime Paradise".

Songs from Musicals

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 versions of musicals now include new songs. For example, "You Must Love Me" was written for the 1996 movie Evita and won an Oscar. Other movies like Dreamgirls (2006) and Les Misérables (2012) also added new songs to be eligible.

When a Song Was Released Early

There was a discussion in 2008 about whether "Falling Slowly" from the movie Once was eligible. The song had been released on other albums before the movie came out. However, the Academy decided that the song was still eligible because it was played in minor venues that didn't affect its eligibility.

A similar situation happened with "In the Deep" from the 2004 movie Crash. This song was on an album released before the movie. The current Academy rule states that a song must be recorded for the movie before any other use. So, if the movie version was recorded first, it can still qualify, even if other versions were released earlier.

How Many Songs Get Nominated?

Past Rules

Before the 1945 Academy Awards, any number of songs could be nominated. For example, in 1945, 14 songs were nominated!

From 1946 to 2011, the Academy's Music Branch used a points system to choose nominees. Only songs that scored high enough (an average of 8.25 or more) could be nominated. This system usually led to five nominations. But sometimes there were fewer, like in 2011 when only two songs were nominated.

Current Rules

After 2011, the rules changed again. Now, the number of nominations depends on how many songs are submitted. Usually, there are five nominees. However, in 2013, one song was disqualified, so there were fewer.

Some movies have had many nominated songs. Fame (1980) was the first movie with multiple nominations. Only four movies have had three nominated songs: Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Dreamgirls, and Enchanted. Interestingly, Dreamgirls and Enchanted didn't win any of their song nominations.

Because of these results, a new rule was made in 2008. A movie can now have no more than two songs nominated. Even though up to five songs from a single film can be submitted, studios sometimes only submit one. They worry that having two nominated songs might split the votes and prevent either from winning. For example, for the 94th Academy Awards, the producers of Encanto submitted "Dos Oruguitas", which was nominated but didn't win, even though "We Don't Talk About Bruno" became a huge hit from the same movie.

Songs at the Awards Ceremony

Nominated songs are almost always performed live at the televised Academy Awards ceremonies. This tradition started at the 18th Academy Awards in 1946. Famous singers like Frank Sinatra performed back then.

In the early days, the songs were often not sung by the original artists from the movie. For example, in 1965, Robert Goulet sang all the nominated songs. Sometimes, a performance at the Oscars even made a song more famous, like when Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 sang "The Look Of Love" in 1968.

Later, the rule changed to allow only the original movie performers to sing. But this changed again in 1973. Now, the Academy usually asks the original movie artist or the artist who had a hit record with the song to perform. If they can't, or if the show's producers want someone else, a well-known entertainer might perform the song. For instance, Robin Williams sang "Blame Canada" from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut in 1999, not the original voice actors.

In 2005, "Al otro lado del río" (On The Other Side Of The River) from The Motorcycle Diaries won. It was the first Spanish song and only the second non-English song to win. The songwriter, Jorge Drexler, was not allowed to perform his own song because producers worried about TV ratings. Instead, Carlos Santana and Antonio Banderas sang it. When Drexler accepted his award, he simply sang a few lines of his song without music and said "thank you."

Sometimes, artists decline to perform. In 2009, Peter Gabriel chose not to sing his nominated song "Down to Earth" because he was only allowed to sing for 65 seconds. John Legend performed it instead.

In 2012, the Oscar ceremony didn't feature performances from either nominated song. This has happened a few times. In 2013, only three of the five nominated songs were performed. The winning song, "Skyfall", was sung by Adele by itself.

For the 91st Academy Awards in 2019, it was first announced that only two songs would be performed. But this decision was changed, and most nominated songs were performed. However, Kendrick Lamar and SZA did not perform "All the Stars" due to "logistics and timing." In 2020, Eminem gave a surprise performance of his winning song "Lose Yourself" from 2003, which he hadn't performed at the original ceremony. He received a standing ovation.

In 2021, the nominated songs were performed during a pre-show before the main ceremony. Live performances returned for the 94th Academy Awards in 2022. However, in 2025, the Academy decided not to have live performances of the nominated songs.

Winners and Nominees

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Shortlisted Finalists

The Music Branch of the Academy chooses the finalists for Best Original Song. Currently, the top fifteen songs with the most votes move on to the next round of voting.

Records

Songwriters with Multiple Wins

Some songwriters have won the Best Original Song Oscar more than once! The number in parentheses shows how many times they were nominated.

• 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 sixteen Best Original Song nominations, but has never won the award.

Some songwriters have been nominated many times but haven't won the award yet.

• 16 nominations: Diane Warren (composer and lyricist)
• 8 nominations: Mack David (lyricist)
• 5 nominations: Harold Adamson (lyricist), Nicholas Brodszky (composer), Jimmy McHugh (composer), John Williams (composer)
• 4 nominations: Elmer Bernstein (composer), James V. Monaco (composer), Cole Porter (composer and lyricist), Sting (composer and lyricist)
• 3 nominations: Bryan Adams (composer and lyricist), Jack Brooks (composer and lyricist), George Forrest (lyricist), David Foster (composer), Kim Gannon (lyricist), Ira Gershwin (lyricist), Quincy Jones (composer), Henry Krieger (composer), Robert John "Mutt" Lange (composer and lyricist), Jerry Livingston (composer), Dory Previn (lyricist), J. Ralph (composer), Marc Shaiman (composer and lyricist), Robert Wright (lyricist), Victor Young (composer)

Songs in Other Languages That Won

Most Oscar-winning songs are in English. But five times, a song in another language has won this award:

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

See Also

• 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