Top 30 Movie Soundtracks
Imagine Trainspotting without Lust for Life. Do the right thing without “struggling with power”. Shaft without… “Shaft”. You can not. The perfect song choice can make a good cinematic moment great, while a bad one can ruin a decent scene.
Creating a stellar movie soundtrack is an art, and many of them fail to strike a balance. Some may have a catchy single, but they don’t come close to offering music worth listening to outside of the movie. The best movie soundtracks successfully support the movies they were created for, yet stand on their own—they benefit from the context provided by the movies, but are also worth a listen in their own right.
Compiling a list of the best soundtrack albums requires some ground rules: basically no explicit musicals; it seems more fair to put them in a separate category. In addition, soundtrack albums must primarily include the music that was actually used in the film; a few songs not included in the finished film are forgivable, but it’s not an “inspired” affair. All of these albums should be easily accessible wherever you stream your music.