25 Best Movie Soundtracks That Changed the Game

When it was announced that Kendrick Lamar was going to produce the curated soundtrack to Black Panther, a lot of people said, “Okay, that’s awesome… but wait, what?” Lamar is a wordsmith by trade, not a soundtrack curator. But his work on Black Panther proved that there’s truly no limit to his musical genius.

The soundtrack, officially titled Black Panther: The Album, was released on February 9th, 2018. Only a few of the songs from “the album” are played in the film. Lamar collaborated with composer Ludwig Göransson to integrate the soundtrack with the orchestral score as seamlessly as possible.

Easy Rider is one of those films that can’t be separated from its soundtrack. What would the movie even be if not for its iconic music? But Easy Rider isn’t just “good” because of its soundtrack, it also has a resonant story with an all-star cast, including Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Jack Nicholson.

Easy Rider was so influential on the late '60s "cinemascape" that many consider it a foundational film in the New Hollywood Movement.

Nearly every one of the Coen Brothers best movies contains an awesome soundtrack — like O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Big Lebowski. But for my money’s worth, I’d say that the 2013 character study Inside Llewyn Davis has the best soundtrack of any of the Coen Brothers’ films.

T. Bone Burnett served as the executive music producer, and cited Bob Dylan and Dave Van Ronk as major influences on the soundtrack. Inside Llewyn Davis is a love letter to everything “good” and “bad” about indie folk music.

Wes Anderson movies contain some truly off-the-wall music. But fans of Anderson’s style know that zany and whimsical music are hallmarks of his pictures. The Royal Tenenbaums and The Aquatic Life of Steve Zissou are both movies with great soundtracks, Rushmore that takes the top ranking here.

Anderson initially wanted the Rushmore soundtrack to feature music exclusively from The Kinks. As time went on, the list carved out Kinks songs until there was only one left. The end result was a diverse soundtrack of some absolute hits.

John Hughes made a point to have music play a huge part in all of his movies. The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, make frequent appearances on lists of the best movie soundtracks of all time, but I’m going to say Pretty in Pink beats out the rest.

Hughes didn’t direct Pretty in Pink, but he did write the script — which features write-ins for some iconic music.

Martin Scorsese uses music in cinema like nobody else. For that reason, the best soundtracks to his films are generally well-praised; and of all Scorsese’s soundtracks, Goodfellas is the very best.

The soundtrack is awesome on its own, but it’s also used to communicate tone in the film. Who could ever forget the montage of murders in which “Layla” by Derek and the Dominoes plays to juxtapose emotions from actions.

Sofia Coppola may have won an Academy Award for writing Lost in Translation, but many argue that the film’s soundtrack is its most enduring aspect. Lost in Translation isn’t the only Coppola film to feature an awesome soundtrack — both The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette are top movie soundtracks as well.

The Lost in Translation soundtrack features the song “Too Young” by Phoenix. Fun fact: eight years after the film’s release, Coppola married Phoenix front-man Thomas Mars.

Ben Stiller’s directorial feature debut, Reality Bites, is among many awesome soundtracks that perfectly transport us into the '90s grunge scene. The soundtrack contains singles from The Knack, Lisa Loeb, Lenny Kravitz, Dinosaur Jr. and many more.

Ethan Hawke fans may be surprised to hear him sing on the soundtrack. He doesn’t quite have the gravel of Kurt Cobain, but that didn’t stop him from trying to imitate it.

Magnolia is one of Paul Thomas Anderson’s best movies, and it’s host to an absolutely killer soundtrack. The soundtrack mostly contains music from the acclaimed singer/songwriter Aimee Mann, but it also features tracks from Gabrielle, Supertramp, and Jon Brion.

PTA has always surrounded himself with brilliant musicians, like Mann, Brion, Fiona Apple, Johnny Greenwood and many, many more. PTA credits Mann’s music as a major inspiration for Magnolia.

Trainspotting finds a rare symbiotic balance between its visuals and its music. Many consider the Trainspotting soundtrack to be a masterclass example of how to properly use music in film. The soundtrack was so well-received that a second disc was ordered the following year, featuring new music as well as some songs that didn’t make the first cut.

Repo Man is no doubt one of the strangest 80s movies, and its soundtrack is just as bonkers, if not more so than the film itself. Iggy Pop headlines the soundtrack as writer and performer of the title song. Suicidal Tendencies, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, The Plugz, Burning Sensations, and Fear all perform tracks as well.

The American Graffiti soundtrack, aptly titled “41 Original Hits from the Soundtrack of American Graffiti,” is an auditory time capsule. If you yearn to go back to the days of jukeboxes and surf rock, simply close your eyes, turn on the American Graffiti soundtrack, and dream of a cool ocean breeze.

Some of the artists to appear on the soundtrack include: Buddy Holly, The Beach Boys, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, and The Flamingos.

It’s well known that Quentin Tarantino loves music similarly to how he loves movies. In all of Tarantino’s movies, music plays an essential role in communicating mood and tone.

Pulp Fiction features some of the best songs in Tarantino movies, like “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon” and “You Never Can Tell.”

It could certainly be argued that Perry Henzell’s The Harder They Come is one of the most underrated movies ever made. The film is most famous for its reggae soundtrack, performed by Desmond Decker, The Slickers, The Maytals, and Jimmy Cliff, and more Jamaican artists.

There’s no doubt about it, the soundtrack to The Harder They Come is amazing, but so is the story behind the music. For its infectious soundtrack and genre-deconstructionist narrative, we regard The Harder They Come as one of the best gangster movies of all time.

A reverence for music history lies at the heart of Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous. As such, it should come as no surprise that the soundtrack is one of the best movies soundtracks ever made. There are too many great artists on the soundtrack to go over here, but some names include Simon and Garfunkel, The Who, The Beach Boys, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.