Legends and longshots highlight the music nominees for the 98th Academy Awards

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The Academy Awards has announced its nominees for two music categories, and the list includes a major frontrunner, two iconic rock musicians, a widely beloved artist, and one unexpected contender. We’ll find out who wins the awards on March 15th.

As a movie buff and gamer, I always appreciate a good soundtrack! The Oscars actually have two music awards: one for Best Original Song, and another for Best Original Score. The song award showed up a few years after the very first Oscars – back in 1934, to be exact. The first song to ever win was “The Continental” – it was a huge dance number from that classic Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie, The Gay Divorcee. It really set the bar high!

The award for film scores has a bit of a tangled past, with the rules and even the award’s name changing over time, often depending on how unique the movie’s music was considered. It’s been given out since 1934, with One Night of Love being the first winner.

This year, nine different movies are nominated for the ten awards.

Best Original Song at the 98th annual Oscars

This award category can be confusing. It’s not always clear whether voters should choose the song they simply like best, or the song that’s most effectively used in the movie. These aren’t necessarily the same thing. Last year, “El Mal” from the film Emilia Perez won the award.

“Dear Me” from Diane Warren: Relentless

Many people are rooting for Diane Warren to finally win. She’s one of the most celebrated songwriters of the past half-century, but surprisingly, she’s never won in this category despite being nominated 16 times. (She did receive a special award in 2022.) This year marks her eleventh time as a finalist in the last twelve years, making her a consistent contender.

It seems perfect that Diane Warren would finally win an award for a song featured in a documentary about her own life. The song, titled “Dear Me” and performed by Kesha, is written as a letter to her younger self.

“Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters

Diane Warren is unlikely to win, as “Golden” is the clear frontrunner. It has already received several awards, including those from the Critics’ Choice and Golden Globes.

“I Lied to You” from Sinners

Miles Caton’s soulful ballad from the record Sinners – which received an unprecedented 16 nominations – is the main song that could challenge the frontrunner, “Golden.” The song’s chances also benefited from the fact that another potential competitor from Sinners, “Last Time (I Seen the Sun),” wasn’t considered.

“Sweet Dreams of Joy” from Viva Verdi

Opera isn’t exactly what most people expect to hear in 2025. When Variety magazine ranked the potential nominees last month, this song was last on the list – it barely made the cut. Yet, despite being a long shot, it’s still in the running while songs by more contemporary artists like Miley Cyrus, John Mayer, Brandi Carlile, and from the musical Wicked have been eliminated.

“Train Dreams” from Train Dreams

Nick Cave perfectly embodies the delicate and restrained style of Clint Bailey in this beautiful piano and bass ballad.

Best Original Score

If you’re interested, you can learn about the long and complicated story behind this award. Historically, it’s often been given to the same group of well-known film composers, but recently – in the last ten years or so – the Academy has started recognizing a wider range of talent. Last year, British composer Daniel Blumberg won the award for his first nomination, with his score for The Brutalist.

Jerskin Fendrix for Bugonia

That isn’t his actual name. Fendrix is the composer Yorgos Lanthimos frequently works with. He previously scored the films Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness, and recently earned his second Oscar nomination for Bugonia – following the two nominations Poor Things received a couple of years ago.

Alexandre Desplat for Frankenstein

Alexandre Desplat is one of today’s most celebrated film composers, and his work on Frankenstein has earned him his twelfth Oscar nomination. He’s already won two Oscars, for The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Shape of Water (both directed by Guillermo del Toro, who also directed Frankenstein). This nomination is particularly noteworthy, as it’s his first since 2020.

Max Richter for Hamnet

Hans Zimmer, known for his diverse work across many different types of film and music, has finally received his first Academy Award nomination.

Jonny Greenwood for One Batlle After Another

Jonny Greenwood, best known as a member of Radiohead, is an experienced film composer. He’s been nominated for an Oscar three times before, previously for his work on Phantom Thread in 2017 and The Power of the Dog in 2021. This year, he’s considered a frontrunner to win the award.

Ludwig Goransson for Sinners

However, Greenwood faces tough competition from Ludwig Göransson, the Swedish composer who has already won two Oscars in the last seven years – for Black Panther and Oppenheimer, demonstrating his impressive range. He’s also up for an award this year for co-composing the score to “I Lied to You.”

Just a quick heads-up for anyone who’s into film scores like me – this year’s nominees are a really interesting mix! We’ve got three composers from Britain, one from Sweden, and one from France. It struck me as a bit unusual, and I was thinking it might be worth looking into why so many international composers are being recognized this year. I’m not an expert on economics or anything, but it just seemed like a noteworthy trend!

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2026-01-22 20:00