Since before the birth of talkies, music has been one of the most important elements of a film. Different genres and different stories demand different kinds of music, but there are several qualities that all the best movie scores have in common. They set the pace and mood of the story, elevate the world and characters, and offer plenty of tracks that stick in audiences’ minds for years after the credits roll.
Throughout the past 25 years, there have been some beyond-exceptional scores that can already be counted among the greatest of all time. From massive sci-fi blockbusters to legendary fantasy epics to momentous dramas, these are the films that have the best music of any movie since 2000. Moving, grand, and complex, these scores prove the importance of the art form. This list will rank them based on their overall sound, how they contribute to their film, and how well they have aged since their release.
10
‘Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith’ (2005)
Composer: John Williams
The legendary John Williams is lauded by many as the single greatest film composer who has ever lived, and for good reason. He has composed countless of the most iconic scores in film history, some of the most popular being his work on the Star Wars franchise. While not every Star Wars score Williams has written in the 21st century has been great, there’s one in particular that can be counted among his greatest works: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith.
Williams, who has composed some of the greatest movie scores of all time, really outdid himself here. The new leitmotifs — including General Grievous’ theme and the theme that scores Anakin and Obi-Wan’s duel on Mustafar — are absolutely brilliant. The usage of old leitmotifs, too, is the kind of musical genius that only a man like Williams is capable of. Full of tracks of haunting and profound emotion, uncontainable excitement, and grand epicness, the score of Revenge of the Sith may not be the best in the franchise, but it sure is the best 21st-century Star Wars score.
9
‘Challengers’ (2024)
Composers: Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor
It’s absolutely criminal that Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor weren’t Oscar-nominated for their staggering work on Challengers, a film where the music shapes the narrative just as much as the script does. The duo has composed some others of the best movie scores of the past 25 years, but their magnum opus (at least to date) is undoubtedly this one.
The techno-heavy score is beyond electrifying, always used at the most fitting moments and in the most creative ways. In a lot of senses, it’s the beating heart of the whole film, as it punctuates the character dynamics, dictates the rhythm of both the tennis matches and the argument scenes, and loudly says what the characters refuse to put into words. It’s a flawless example of how a score should accompany, not overwhelm, the story it’s supporting.
8
‘The Incredibles’ (2004)
Composer: Michael Giacchino
The great Michael Giacchino has been one of the composers of choice of both Pixar and the action genre for many years, and his best-ever work happens to be at the intersection of both categories. The Incredibles is easily one of the greatest superhero films ever made. With its Big Band flavors infusing the story with an old-timey spy thriller feel, it’s essential to the tone of the film.
Hauntingly suspenseful tracks like “Kronos Unveiled” raise the stakes astonishingly well; songs like “100 Mile Dash” greatly elevate the tension and fun factor of the action scenes, turning this into one of the best action movies of the past 25 years. Meanwhile, “The Incredits” is by far one of the most iconic songs from any superhero movie ever. Some of Giacchino’s other work deservedly earns him tons of praise, but it’s hard to argue against the complexity and heart of The Incredibles being number one.
7
‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ (2018)
Composer: Nicholas Britell
One of the most gorgeous yet criminally underappreciated romance films of the 2010s, If Beale Street Could Talk is what Barry Jenkins followed his Best Picture Oscar-winning Moonlight with. Moonlight also has a heart-achingly beautiful score by Nicholas Britell, but anyone who has seen Beale Street will agree that it’s undeniably the composer’s magnum opus.
If feelings like yearning and love made a sound, it would probably go something like what the score of Beale Street sounds like. Sweet like honey but never neglecting the struggle and complexity of Black love in the ’70s, it’s an album packed with beautifully flowing melodies anchored by deep brass and eloquent strings. It single-handedly manages to elevate the whole movie to an almost transcendental, ethereal dimension.
6
‘How to Train Your Dragon’ (2010)
Composer: John Powell
Arguably the single best score ever written for an animated movie, John Powell‘s music for the first How to Train Your Dragon is rousing beyond what words can describe. The film itself is widely loved and iconic thanks to its rich world-building, moving character dynamics and arcs, and adventurous tone. None of these elements would pack nearly as much of a punch without Powell’s expert score.
Before 2010, Powell had scored five other DreamWorks Animation films, always accompanied by another composer. This was the first score that he composed for the studio by himself, and the result would prove that he was very much a composer more than capable of helming a project like this one on his own. With traditional Scottish and Irish influences giving each track an air of excitement and personality, it’s the kind of album where every single song is worth listening to in full, even if not watching the film.
5
‘Gladiator’ (2000)
Composers: Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard
Many people’s favorite film composer of all time, Hans Zimmer, loves collaborating with a wide array of fellow musicians and composers. For Ridley Scott‘s Best Picture-winning Gladiator, he worked alongside Australian singer and composer Lisa Gerrard. Together, they created one of the most epic and hauntingly beautiful scores of any film of the 2000s.
A perfect encapsulation of what Ancient Rome would probably have sounded like if it had had background music.
Zimmer has plenty of underrated scores, but this is one that’s more than perfectly rated. His and Gerrard’s work on Gladiator is both exciting and ethereal, a perfect encapsulation of what Ancient Rome would probably have sounded like if it had had background music. The instrumentalizations are fresh and creative, the action scenes are boosted by some incredibly suspenseful tracks, and the more emotional moments are flawlessly accompanied by Gerrard’s heavenly vocals.
4
‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ (2001)
Composer: John Williams
The Harry Potter franchise as a whole has some of the best and most iconic music of any big blockbuster franchise, but it was John Williams who started it all. Indeed, at least as far as Harry Potter scores go, you can’t beat the original. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone has some of the catchiest, most imaginative, wondrous, and instantly recognizable tracks of any fantasy film ever made.
Williams’s score for Sorcerer’s Stone tells a self-contained story in and of itself. It can be enchanting, thrilling, eerie, or innocent, depending on what the tone demands in any given scene, but what it never ceases to be is magical. The charming world-building that would make this franchise so successful all started here, and the shockingly complex and nuanced score is absolutely vital to that. It’s easily one of Williams’ best and most iconic scores, which is saying something.
3
‘Babylon’ (2022)
Composer: Justin Hurwitz
Damien Chazelle rocked the world with his sophomore feature, Whiplash, and then cemented that reputation with the enchanting yet poignant La La Land. It’s abundantly clear that he refuses to be a one-note director, though, because his fifth film, Babylon, is a 3-hour epic so unbelievably bonkers that it’s defined by its divisiveness. But although it’s one of the biggest box office flops of the 2020s so far, it’s a phenomenal drama, and its score may just be even better than the film itself.
Justin Hurwitz, Chazelle’s friend and the composer of all of his movies, made Babylon‘s score a masterpiece that he’ll have a hard time topping, no matter what he does next. The sizzling jazz compositions thunder and boom through the excess and depravity depicted in the narrative — but when it’s necessary to go low-key, Hurwitz is up to the challenge. His score is bombastic, true, but it can also be deeply and subtly moving when it’s required. Tracks like “Call Me Manny” and “Voodoo Mamma” are among the best songs that have been composed for movies throughout the 2020s.
2
‘Interstellar’ (2014)
Composer: Hans Zimmer
Although they have recently started experimenting with working apart, Hans Zimmer used to be Christopher Nolan‘s composer of choice. Together, they concocted some of the best and most iconic music of 21st-century cinema, but their work together peaked in 2014 without a doubt. Zimmer has never been better than in Interstellar, and it’s quite possible that he never will be. It’s the kind of career-best work that cinephiles will surely still be talking about a century from now.
Zimmer’s best score, the music of Interstellar is a perfect encapsulation of everything that makes sci-fi music distinct and enchanting. Zimmer composed the score without having read the script or even knowing the plot of the film. Nolan just gave him a story about a father leaving a child to complete an important job, with just two sentences of dialogue: “I’ll come back” and “When?” The tremendously moving, epic, creative, and brilliantly instrumentalized music that Zimmer was able to come up with using just that emotional beat as a reference is a testament to his quality as an artist.
1
‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’ (2001)
Composer: Howard Shore
Peter Jackson‘s Lord of the Rings trilogy is typically regarded as not just the best trilogy of the past 25 years but one of the greatest film series of all time. Everything about it is about as close as cinema can come to true perfection, from the storytelling to the visuals to the world-building to — of course — the music. Howard Shore‘s scores for each of the three installments are flawless, but there’s one in particular that stands out above all other movie scores of the 21st century: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
Fellowship is one of the most essential films of the 2000s, an epic start to the most epic trilogy in film history. Shore’s music, quite fittingly, is as gargantuan and larger-than-life as film scores come. Tracks like “The Prophecy” set the stakes and anchor the mood of menace and suspense laid by Sauron. Others, like “Concerning Hobbits,” perfectly balance that gloominess by establishing the hope and beauty that the Fellowship will be fighting for over 10 hours. It’s a layered, haunting, dynamic, absolutely gorgeous piece of music for the ages.
