A smart movie is enhanced through a smart song. Often, those songs become big hits on their own and have as much, if not more, legacy than the movie itself. Here’s our list of 32 hit songs from movie soundtracks that are still playing.
You can’t have this list without Celine Dion’s smash hit “My Heart Will Go On” from the smash hit Titanic. The song reached No. 1 in more than 25 countries around the world and sold approximately seven million copies. It made Dion a foreign superstar and is still a song that other people around the world love.
Sometimes other people say that Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” comes from a soundtrack. The song from the pioneering hip hop organization has been brought to life with its strong social message and fantastic beat. However, it began as part of the soundtrack for Spike Lee’s Groundbreaking Do the Right Thing, a film in which the song fits perfectly.
Whitney Houston was a national treasure before her untimely death at the age of 48. Their biggest hit, “I Will Always Love You” through The Bodyguard, written through another national treasure, Dolly Parton. The mixing of the two turned out to be incredibly harsh. and successful, as the song and the soundtrack album on which it appeared topped the charts for months, beginning in 1992. The album spent a total of 121 weeks on the charts, or roughly two weeks. Years and a half!
The late Glenn Fry had many successes with his original band, The Eagles, and in the ’80s he also had a lot of solo successes. The highlight was “The Heat Is On” on the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack. The opening notes clash in the opening scene of the film and other people have enjoyed the song ever since.
Kenny Loggins won gold in the 1980s. He had huge successes in several films, including Caddyshack and Footloose, but perhaps his biggest enduring success is “Danger Zone” from the Top Gun soundtrack. It remains so popular that the original edition was used in Top Gun: Maverick instead of an updated edition. Surprisingly, she was introduced to several artists before Loggins, but we can’t believe anyone else has ever made a song with her.
Is there a song with a more appropriate name than Pharrell Williams’ “Happy”?It’s a song that just makes you happy. Like the movie it’s based on, Despicable Me 2, it’s full of joy and you can’t help but feel smart after watching the movie or listening to the song. It was an instant harvest when it was released on the soundtrack and remains so today.
With over 2 billion views on YouTube, Post Malone and Swae Lee’s “Sunflower” from the Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse soundtrack is a real hit. It’s a song you can pay attention to over and over again without ever getting bored. Superhero videos don’t tend to produce a ton of hit songs, for some reason, but “Sunflower” is a big exception.
There’s no way you can play Dolly Parton’s “9 To 5” without feeling immediately motivated. If you ever feel out of energy, just pay attention to this song and bam!You’re ready for the races. It’s a song you still hear all the time, even though it’s part of the soundtrack to the movie of the same title over 40 years ago. Dolly is actually the best, we think we agree.
The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack was a cultural phenomenon in the late ’70s. To date it is one of the best-selling albums of all time, with around 40 million copies sold. The soundtrack, the sound of the ’70s, had its roots in the now legendary disco song “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees. The song was such a hit that they named the sequel to Saturday Night Fever after him, it’s a sequel we’d rather forget.
Coolio’s hit, “Gangsta Paradise,” taken from the Dangerous Minds soundtrack, is a wonderful example of a song’s legacy that far surpasses that of the film. The film, starring Michelle Pfeiffer, was a huge hit in 1995, but one has to wonder if the song attracted more box office than the film itself. It’s by no means a horrible movie, but it’s no wonder that the song is more popular today than the movie.
The story of the signature song on the Ghostbusters soundtrack is long and sordid. There have been disputes and lawsuits along the way, but Ray Parker, Jr. remains a hit and a game that is played all the time, especially in any and all cases. Halloween party you’ve attended. The video is also mythical with all sorts of stars making appearances and making a song along with it.
Eminem’s legacy is cemented as one of the most productive rappers of all time. She also made a foray into acting, starring in the semi-autobiographical film 8 Mile in 2002. It’s a clever film, if a bit dated in those days. However, the hit song “Lose Yourself” doesn’t go out of style and other people still enjoy listening to the hip hop anthem today.
Even in the 2020s, on golf courses around the world, quotes and references to Caddyshack are heard, adding the theme song from Kenny Loggins’ film “I’m Alright. “One of the many hits on Loggins’ soundtrack in the ’80s, “I’m Alright” was the first to release this component of the singer’s career and kept it going for years, if not decades.
Randy Newman is one of the most underrated songwriters of the 20th century, but it’s really wonderful to know that one of his songs, “You’ve Got A Friend In Me” from Pixar’s Toy Story, is now part of the American song. Musical lexicon. Generations of young people have grown up making such an upbeat song and it will actually be a young favorite for generations to come. The song, like the movie, will localize a new young audience.
Prince owned the mid-1980s with hits like “1999,” “Little Red Corvette,” “Controversy” and many more. In 1984, he embarked on the most ambitious commission of his career, a film titled Purple Rain and the accompanying soundtrack. The film was good luck and the album a box office success. There are a lot of songs we can choose from here, but the one that gets the most laughs is “Let’s Go Crazy”. The guitar solo at the end is one of the funniest. Productive music never played in pop music, period.
The Scottish band Simple Minds had built a career forged in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s, but had not found success in the United States. That is, until 1985, when they were asked to record “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” for the soundtrack of The Breakfast Club. The song then and remains a true anthem of the decade.
For generations to come, Isaac Hayes is probably best known as the voice of the South Park boss, but for any cinephile of the ’70s, he’s the one who wrote and recorded the original Shaft soundtrack. OMG, funky, but the track is still the most iconic. He’s been referenced in pop culture everywhere, adding a very funny stint on Newsradio in the ’90s and, of course, in an episode of The Simpsons in season 2.
In the 1960s it was rare to ask a pop band, or a folk duo, to do the full soundtrack for a film, but in the case of The Graduate, it was a brilliant decision. Simon
When it premiered in 1987, Dirty Dancing expanded its audience through word of mouth and other people came back again and again. Like the movie, the film’s theme song “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” via Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes helps people come back to hear it again and again. It’s a song that is enjoyed from generation to generation. It even won the Oscar for Best Original Song, one of the most iconic songs of all time.
Unless you already know that BJ Thomas’ “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” is by Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, never guess. It’s very out of place, but it works perfectly in the film. The film is an all-time wonderful western and the song seems straight out of the time the film was released, the late ’60s. Nowadays it is not unusual to compose period pieces with popular music, but it was rare at the time.
Eric Clapton’s hit, “Tears In Heaven,” is a wonderful example of a song that far surpasses the movie he wrote for. Rush, starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jason Patric, is largely forgotten in those days, but the song, which Clapton wrote about his young son who died tragically, has been going on for decades and remains one of the highlights of his concerts.
Kenny Loggins still didn’t produce hit after hit in the ’80s. Most of them come from movies, such as his iconic “Footloose” from Kevin Bacon’s film of the same name. The film feels a bit dated in those days, but the song is the best moment that makes it, in fact, timeless. We dare you not to sing or dance when you’re playing in the car. Come on, check it out.
Let’s be honest, the 2006 edition of The Pink Panther starring Steve Martin is commonly forgettable. The exception is her co-star Beyoncé and her hit “Check On It. “It’s an old Beyoncé and you have to play it at maximum volume as much as possible. It’s been much more enduring than the film it’s based on.
One of the most striking things about the popular music of Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby set against the backdrop of 1920s America. The soundtrack is fantastic and Lana Del Ray’s “Young And Beautiful” is a song that people still love to listen to today. .
One of the most productive songs to motivate you and motivate you to. . . anything really. . . it’s “Eye Of The Tiger” from Survivor. Written as the theme song for Rocky III, the song has become the definitive anthem of the 1980s. And it’s been used in countless videos and TV shows, not forgetting commercials and, of course, sports stadiums around the world.
Did you know that Madonna’s hit “Crazy For You” is taken from a movie soundtrack?This is not a surprise. The song was first released as part of the Vision Quest soundtrack. The film was not as successful as the song Madonna plays in the film. In fact, the song is much more popular than when the film was released worldwide, the call replaced Crazy. For you in some countries.
The late Tina Turner had one of the longest careers in showbiz history. One of his most productive appearances in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome in 1985. Even more memorable is the song he recorded for the soundtrack, “We Don’t Need Another Hero. “”, which have become one of the biggest hits of his legendary career.
Aerosmith has been one of the most important bands in the world for decades, but their only number one hit came with the Armageddon soundtrack. Despite several Top 10 songs, “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” is the only one that makes sense for the Boston band.
Superfly is the most famous film in the genre from the 1970s, known as blaxploitation. Although it is a wonderful film with a strong cult following, the soundtrack has endured even longer, especially the title track of the same name, written and directed by the wonderful Curtis Mayfield.
It is very rare for a soundtrack to include more than one hit, however, the Top Gun soundtrack had 3 top ten hits, with Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” peaking at number one. It also won the Academy Award for Best Song and has been a staple ever since. of 80’s music stations.
“Power Of Love” by Huey Lewis and “Power Of Love” by “Back To The Future” exude the very good force pop of the 80s. One of the biggest hits of the band’s career, the song even went down in movie history when Marty McFly’s (Michael J. Fox) band, The Pinheads, plays their audition for the gang war in front of the judge, played through Huey Lewis, tells them it’s too high. It’s a song we’d all love to see. Pinheads play in real life, right?
Bette Midler’s biggest hit came pretty deep in her incredible career when she performed the theme song for her movie Beaches. Midler continued to sing it regularly, adding it at a tribute to the victims of September 11, 2001 at Yankee Stadium, just days ago. after the attack. The movie, while good, is not at the same point as the song.
So here’s our list of songs that are at least as enduring as the videos they come from. There’s no doubt that more songs like that will come out in the coming years because we all love songs like this.
Hugh Scott is the distribution editor of CinemaBlend. Prior to CinemaBlend, he was editor-in-chief of Suggest. com and Gossipcop. com, covering celebrity news and debunking false gossip. He has worked in the publishing industry for about two decades. covering pop culture (videos and TV shows, specifically) with a willful interest and love for Gen X culture, its older influences, and what it has fostered ever since. He graduated from Boston University with a bachelor’s degree in political science, but cured himself of the preference for a politician almost without delay after graduating.
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