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Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media

Award for visual media soundtrack From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media is an honor presented to a composer (or composers) for an original score created for a film, TV show or series, or other visual media[1] at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards.[2][3] Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by The Recording Academy of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".[4]

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It has been awarded since the 2nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1959. The first recipient was American composer and pianist Duke Ellington, for the soundtrack to the 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder. Originally known as the Grammy Award for Best Sound Track Album – Background Score from a Motion Picture or Television, the award is currently (2025) known as the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media (Includes Film and Television).[5] Until 2001, the award was presented to the composer of the music alone.[5] From 2001 to 2007, the music producer(s) and sound engineer/mixer(s) shared the award.[5] In 2007, the award reverted to a composer-only award.[5] John Williams holds the record for most wins and nominations for the award, with eleven wins out of thirty-four nominations. Austin Wintory's nomination for Journey at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards was the only time that a video game was nominated in this category before the new category of Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media was created in 2022.[6]

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Recipients

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Duke Ellington was the first recipient of the award in 1959 for the Anatomy of a Murder soundtrack.
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Henry Mancini won in 1962 for the Breakfast at Tiffany's soundtrack.
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Richard M. Sherman won for Mary Poppins (1965)
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Robert B. Sherman won for Mary Poppins (1965).
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Lalo Schifrin won in 1968 for the TV series Mission: Impossible soundtrack.
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Dave Grusin has won twice, in 1969 for The Graduate soundtrack, alongside Paul Simon, and in 1990 for The Fabulous Baker Boys soundtrack.
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Paul Simon won in 1969 for The Graduate soundtrack, alongside Dave Grusin.
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Burt Bacharach won for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in 1968
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The Beatles won in 1971 for the Let It Be soundtrack.
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Isaac Hayes won in 1972 for the Shaft soundtrack.
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Neil Diamond won in 1974 for the Jonathan Livingston Seagull soundtrack.
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John Williams has won six times in a row, eleven times total, and has been nominated twenty-three more times.
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Prince and The Revolution won in 1985 for the Purple Rain soundtrack.
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Ennio Morricone won in 1988 for The Untouchables.
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David Byrne won for The Last Emperor (1989)
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James Horner won in 1991 for Glory.
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Alan Menken has won twice, for Beauty and the Beast in 1993 and Aladdin in 1994.
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Hans Zimmer has won twice, for Crimson Tide in 1996 and The Dark Knight in 2009, winning the latter with James Newton Howard.
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Randy Newman has won twice, for A Bug's Life in 2000 and Toy Story 3 in 2011.
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Thomas Newman has won twice, for American Beauty in 2001 and Skyfall in 2014.
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Chinese composer Tan Dun won in 2002 for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Dun is currently the only Chinese composer to win the category.
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Howard Shore has won the award (alongside John Kurlander and Peter Cobbin) for all three films of The Lord of the Rings film series in 2003, 2004, and 2005.
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Michael Giacchino won twice for two Pixar films Ratatouille (2008) and Up (2010).
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Alexandre Desplat has won twice, for The King's Speech in 2012 and The Grand Budapest Hotel in 2015.
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Trent Reznor (left) and Atticus Ross (right), of Nine Inch Nails, has won twice, for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in 2013 and Soul in 2022, winning the latter with Jon Batiste.
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Antonio Sánchez won in 2016 for Birdman.
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Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir became the first solo woman to win the award back-to-back (in 2020 for Chernobyl and 2021 for Joker).
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Jon Batiste won for Soul in 2022.
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Ludwig Göransson won twice for Black Panther in 2019 and for Oppenheimer in 2024.

Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were presented, for works released in the previous year.

1950s

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1960s

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1970s

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1980s

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1990s

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2000s

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2010s

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2020s

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Name changes

There have been several minor changes to the name of the award:[1][5][74]

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Multiple wins and nominations

Up to and including the 67th Annual Grammy Awards (2025)

See also

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Notes

  1. [a]
    John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr
  2. [b]
    For Flashdance, various artists include Michael Boddicker, Irene Cara, Kim Carnes, Doug Cotler, Keith Forsey, Richard Gilbert, Jerry Hey, Duane Hitchings, Craig Krampf, Ronald Magness, Dennis Matkosky, Giorgio Moroder, Phil Ramone, Michael Sembello, and Shandi Sinnamon
  3. [c]
    For Beverly Hills Cop, various artists include Marc Benno, Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey, Micki Free, John Gilutin Hawk, Howard Hewett, Bunny Hull, Howie Rice, Sharon Robinson, Danny Sembello, Sue Sheridan, Richard Theisen, and Allee Willis
  4. [d]
    For The Last Emperor, various artists include David Byrne, Cong Su, and Ryuichi Sakamoto
  5. [e]
    6 consecutive
  6. [f]
    consecutive for The Lord of the Rings
  7. [g]
    consecutive
  8. [h]
    consecutive
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References

External links

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