Ranking every Best Original Song contender for the 2024 Oscars

Written by: Dua Lipa, Caroline Ailin, Mark Ronson, and Andrew Wyatt

Performed by: Dua Lipa

The fact that “Dance The Night” ranks last on our list doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve a nomination. After all, what would a night in Barbie Land be without a bespoke song to dance to? It’s just that the chances are slim it will actually land a nomination based on the Academy’s current rules. While any number of songs from a single film can be shortlisted as long as they don’t have the same writers, only two songs from any one film can be nominated. That means one of the three Barbie contenders won’t make the final cut, and “I’m Just Ken” and “What Was I Made For?” are two very strong candidates. Don’t blame us, blame the Academy.

Written by: Scott George

Performed by: Osage Tribal Singers

As we learned in Killers Of The Flower Moon, Wahzhazhe means “people of the middle water,” and this song features an authentic performance by Indigenous singers from that culture. Whether or not it gets a nomination, the fact that it was included on the shortlist is a small victory in itself. There’s still a long way to go, and a lot of shameful Hollywood history to contend with, but honoring a song for consideration is a sign that we’re moving in the right direction.

Written by: Olivia Rodrigo and Dan Nigro

Performed by: Olivia Rodrigo

Given that music is an important part of the story of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, it’s not so surprising that a song from the film made the shortlist. Olivia Rodrigo’s folk rock ballad ties into the doomed love affair between Coriolanus and Lucy Grey, with a hint of the venom that seeps into their relationship, or perhaps was there all along. It’s a pretty and melodic track, but lacks the gravitas of many of the others on this list.

Written by: Denisia Andrews, Brittany Coney, Halle Bailey, and Morten Ristorp

Performed by: Halle Bailey and Phylicia Pearl Mpas

The most likely Oscar nominations for the newest iteration of The Color Purple are likely to come from its cast and music. But since most of the musical numbers come from the pre-existing Broadway musical or the 1985 film, in the case of “Miss Celie’s Blues,” and were already nominated for an Oscar, they’re not eligible for Original Song this time. Of course, the producers weren’t going to let an opportunity pass them by completely. They added a few new tunes to the mix, including this one from Halle Bailey, who plays Nettie. She sings “Keep It Movin’” in the film along with Young Celie, played by Phylicia Pearl Mpas. It’s an upbeat ditty with a retro feel, but not the most memorable number in the film.

Written by: Diane Warren

Performed by: Becky G

Diane Warren has received 14 nominations for Best Original Song over her multi-decade career in the music industry, but has technically never won in the category. The Academy finally just ended the suspense by giving her an Honorary Oscar in 2022 (the only one ever awarded to a songwriter), thus elevating her to EGOT status, but with an asterisk she’d probably like to erase. We’re not convinced this will be the year she does it, though. It’s a spicy track befitting a spicy film, but it’s no “I Don’t Want To Miss AThing.” When asked about the title, Warren said it was the first thing she wrote down after director Eva Longoria showed her Flamin’ Hot for the first time. “It was such a great title because if you eat Flamin’ Hot Cheetos you’re going to have a fire inside.”

Written by: Wes Anderson, Jarvis Cocker, and Richard Hawley

Performed by: Jarvis Cocker, Jean-Yves Lozac’h, Perè Mallén, Preston Mota, Rupert Friend, and Seu Jorge

Since Jack Black’s “Peaches” didn’t make the cut, “Dear Alien (Who Art In Heaven)“ might be the wackiest novelty song on the shortlist this year. It’s the latest successful collaboration between Jarvis Cocker of the U.K. band Pulp and director Wes Anderson, who previously worked together on The Fantastic Mr. Fox and The French Dispatch. Cocker also appears in the film as a cowboy musician, who chimes in during the scene in which a young student (Preston Mota) presents this song to his class.

Written by: John Carney, Gary Clark, Eve Hewson, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Performed by: Eve Hewson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Irish filmmaker John Carney plucked our heartstrings in Once, Begin Again, and Sing Street, and this year he added Flora And Son to his repertoire. The film features a total of 18 original songs, but no more than two songs from a single film by the same writer can make the Oscars shortlist. One of them is “Meet In The Middle,” a fun, long-distance duet between Flora (played by Eve Hewson, the daughter of U2’s Bono), a mother struggling to connect with her son, and her virtual guitar teacher Jack (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Carney has been in the Best Original Song category twice before, for “Falling Slowly” from Once, and “Lost Stars” from Begin Again, so he’s clearly a favorite with Academy voters. But with so many songs in contention this year, that might not be enough to carry this tune through.

Written by: Metro Boomin, Mike Dean, Peter Lee Johnson, Scriptplugg, A$AP Rocky, and Roisee

Performed by: Metro Boomin, A$AP Rocky, and Roisee

The music in both Spider-Verse films has been consistently great, so it’s about time the franchise got some recognition for it. This buzzy track from Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is certainly worthy. A cool echo of the mix of styles and genres in the film itself, it features a string quartet and distorted vocals, building to a hip-hop beat with verses that tap into the point of view of Miles Morales. The track can be heard in the opening sequence, but it also plays through the closing credits and significantly colors your lasting impressions of the film.

Written by: Sharon Van Etten and Zachary Dawes

Performed by: Sharon Van Etten

If the goal of an original song is to capture the mood of a film and translate it into an audio soundscape, “Quiet Eyes” is a perfect example of that. Even as the visuals of Celine Song’s rich and intimate narrative fade away into the closing credits, we feel like we’re still inside the contemplative world of the film, thanks to this haunting and beautiful ballad. It makes you never want to leave. “Quiet Eyes” might not be showy enough to snag a nomination, but it’s still one of our favorite tracks on this list.

Written by: John Carney, Gary Clark, and Eve Hewson

Performed by: Eve Hewson and Orén Kinlan, Jack Reynor, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt

The other song from Flora And Son to make the shortlist might have a better chance at a nomination simply by virtue of where it appears in the film. Whereas “Meet In The Middle” is a cheeky love song played on a pair of acoustic guitars, “High Life” is a more upbeat pop song about Flora’s relationship with her son and it’s performed on a stage with a full band at the emotional climax of the film. It was kind of a no-brainer that it would be among the Flora And Son songs on the shortlist, and it’s the one that we think has a better chance of getting a nomination.

Written by: The-Dream

Performed by: Fantasia Barrino

The second, and we think more likely, of the two new songs from The Color Purple to make the shortlist is “Superpower (I),” sung during the end credits by Fantasia Barrino, who plays the grownup Celie in the film. The rousing ode to sisterhood is the last thing you hear walking out of the film, and not only does it leave an impression, it sums up the themes of love, support, and power pretty nicely. Plus, Fantasia sings the hell out of it. If she gets a chance to perform at the Oscars, it’s sure to bring the house down.

Written by: Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson

Performed by: Jon Batiste

For American Symphony, a documentary that chronicles a year of incredible highs and lows in his life, singer-songwriter Jon Batiste wanted to write a new song that captured everything he was feeling while making it. The result was “It Never Went Away,” a soulful anthem based on the lullabies he would sing to his wife while she was in the hospital undergoing treatment for leukemia. “I wanted it to feel as tied to the film as your spirit is to your body,” Batiste says. It’s exactly the kind of thing the Academy looks for in a nominated song.

Written by: Lenny Kravitz

Performed by: Lenny Kravitz

“Road To Freedom” is the only song on the shortlist not from Barbie to receive a nomination at the Golden Globe Awards for Best Original Song. It didn’t win, but that recognition ought to give it an advantage over the rest of the field when it comes to the Oscars. It would be a first-time nomination for Lenny Kravitz, who wrote and performed the song for the film’s end credits. The Academy loves inspirational songs like this one, which pays tribute to the civil rights movement and Rustin himself. Kravitz has said that director George C. Wolfe wanted the song to inspire the audience to action, and we think it will inspire Academy voters to take the action of nominating it for an Oscar.

Written by: Mark Ronson, and Andrew Wyatt

Performed by: Ryan Gosling

We can see the Academy nominating this Barbie song just to ensure a performance of it during the live broadcast. Whether Ryan Gosling or any of the other Kens actually reprise their roles, or someone else pays tribute to them, it’s one of those numbers that’s just flat-out fun to watch. The exquisite dance-fight sequence that accompanies the song in the film could also give it an edge when it comes to voting, though it’s going to have some tough competition from the film’s other big hits in the category.

Written by: Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell

Performed by: Billie Eilish

Naturally, the winner of the Golden Globe for Best Original Song would have to be at the top of this list, but we probably would have put it here anyway. “What Was I Made For?” is a vital element of Barbie, and it sets the tone for the film’s emotional climax, so it’s a pretty sure bet that it’s going to get a nomination, and possibly a win, too. If that happens it would be Eilish and O’Connell’s second Oscar, after winning for their James Bond theme No Time To Die in 2022.