Joey Magidson
Well folks, we’re on to the newest list for 2026! Continuing a tradition I’ve been keen on for years, I’m ranking the new crop of Academy Award winners. For nearly all of the Oscar categories, you’ll see me list the top 25 recipients of that prize. Sometimes, our newest winner will appear. Other times, they’ll be relegated to the Honorable Mention category. Who knows, maybe one or two won’t even make the cut? It’s a list series that I’ll do each and every single year, in the weeks after the ceremony concludes. So, while this is a fun way to think about the Oscars in the aftermath of the latest telecast, it’s also a beginning for another column here on the site. Of course, definitely show us your own lists as well, in the comments section below. We’re definitely keen to know what you think!
Today, Best Original Song is the category that’s in our sights. For my money, the winners here are some of the best, pound for pound, of any category. Now, the nominees themselves these days don’t stack up to where we once were at, but still…the victors are beyond reproach. Just look at one of our most recent winners in No Time to Die‘s song of the same name by Billie Eilish. It’s certainly good, but as it as good as the best Bond titles? No. And where does it even rank on this updated list?. You’ll see where it fell below this time in a moment. This is the category, after all, where people Lady Gaga and Bruce Springsteen can take home Oscars, so you do get some classics. My selections for the best of the Academy Award bunch below, in my humble opinion, are out and out classics. It’s no secret I loved Barbie, so how highly does What Was I Made For? place here a few years later? Where does Naatu Naatu from RRR stack up from the year prior to Barbie? Plus, what of last year’s winner in El Mal from Emilia Pérez? or our newest winner in Golden from KPop Demon Hunters? Find out now…
Here now are what I consider to be the 25 best winners of the Best Original Song Oscar, to date:
25. Moon River (Breakfast at Tiffany’s)
24. City of Stars (La La Land)
23. Golden (KPop Demon Hunters)
22. Up Where We Belong (An Officer and a Gentleman)
21. Colors of the Wind (Pocahontas)
20. Take My Breath Away (Top Gun)
19. The Way We Were (The Way We Were)
18. Remember Me (Coco)
17. (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life (Dirty Dancing)
16. When You Wish Upon a Star (Pinocchio)
15. Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)
14. Theme from Shaft (Shaft)
13. My Heart Will Go On (Titanic)
12. Let it Go (Frozen)
11. Skyfall (Skyfall)
10. The Weary Kind (Crazy Heart)
9. Under the Sea (The Little Mermaid)
8. What Was I Made For? (Barbie)
7. A Whole New World (Aladdin)
6. Over the Rainbow (The Wizard of Oz)
5. Can You Feel the Love Tonight (The Lion King)
4. Streets of Philadelphia (Philadelphia)
3. Beauty and the Beast (Beauty and the Beast)
2. Falling Slowly (Once)
1. Shallow (A Star Is Born)
Honorable Mention: I’m Gonna Love Me Again (Rocketman), Man or Muppet (The Muppets), Naatu Naatu (RRR), No Time to Die (No Time to Die), Talk to the Animals (Dr. Doolittle), and You’ll Be in My Heart (Tarzan)
Stay tuned for another list early next week!
I’ve never understood the excitement around Shallow. Never done anything for me. Each to their own, though.
If I may offer a defense of “Shallow,” the worthiest winners of this award, in my view, are the ones that most successfully integrate into the film’s narrative and articulate its core themes. Even if you don’t find the composition or lyrics from Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, and Andrew Wyatt all that compelling on their own, it’s kind of indisputable that the song itself is integral to both the storyline and the emotional core of A Star Is Born.
The same can also be said of my personal favorite winner of this award: “I’m Easy” by Keith Carradine for Nashville. Yes, it’s beautifully-written. Yes, it’s catchy. But it’s also the centerpiece of one of the best-directed scenes of one of the best-directed films of the postwar era. The song itself actively drives a major character arc.
(it’s also why, with all due respect to the folks behind KPop Demon Hunters, “I Lied To You” should have won Best Original Song two months ago in a walk, and this is coming from someone who has become profoundly irritated with the Sinners Should Have Won Literally All The Oscars brigade)
That’s always a good barometer, even if the Academy doesn’t quite follow along with that thought process, at least most of the time…
Bummer, but duly noted.
A debate on best song! Cool ! I have a similar feeling about You’ll Be in My Heart ( Tarzan) getting it over When She Loved Me ( Toy Story 2)
25. The Steets of Philadelphia ( Philadelphia)
24. On the Atchison and Topeka and the Santa Fe ( The Harvey Girls )
23. Que Sera Sera ( The Man. Who Knew Too Much )
22. My Heart Will Go On ( Titanic)
21. Glory ( Selma)
20. Last Dance ( Thank God It’s Friday)
19. Fame ( Fame)
18. Flashdance ( Flashdance )
17. What Was I Made For ( Barbie)
16. Can You Feel The Love Tonight ( The Lion King)
15. Raindrops Are Falling on My Head ( Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
14. Skyfall ( Skyfall)
13. Moon River ( Breakfast at Tiffany’s )
12 . The Way We Were ( The Way We Were)
11. Chim Chim Cher ee ( Mary Poppins)
10. Let The River Run ( Working Girl)
9. Colors of the Wind ( Pocahontas)
8. Let It Go ( Frozen)
7. Under the Sea ( The Little Mermaid)
6. Shallow( A Star is Born )
5. Beauty and The Beast ( Beauty and the Beast)
4.I’m Easy ( Nashville)
3. When You Wish Upon A Star ( Pinocchio)
2. Over The Rainbow ( The Wizard of Oz)
1. A Whole New World ( Aladdin)
HM Fight for You ( Judas and the Black Messiah)
Remember Me ( Coco)
Shaft ( Theme from Shaft )
Jai Ho ( Slumdog millionaire)
I Just Called to Say I Love You ( The Woman in Red )
It Goes Like It Goes ( Norma Rae )
Golden ( KPop Demon Hunter:ms)
When She Loved Me would be in my top ten!
Mine too!
Great minds think alike!