My Top 10 Favorite Soundtracks From Movies

Soundtracks are an extremely important part of movies. Music helps set the tone and find the right emotions. Not all scenes need music to be memorable, some work better in total silence, but those that are more powerful thanks to music are forever cemented in the history of cinematography.

Over the years, the music used in movies has become more and more important, but sometimes you don't even feel that anything is going on. It just feels like it gets under your skin and stays there. So here's my top 10 of the best soundtracks ever used in movies.

1. La La Land ( 2016)

I've decided to start with this movie because it's the one that came to me after some thought and not the first time I saw it. However, the first song that appears on my playlist from La La Land is not City of Stars, which is now considered the ultimate anthem for people looking for true love, but I Ran by A Flock of Seagulls. It's a 1982 song that makes perfect sense in the movie, and stays with you long after as a fun memory and a song to dance the night away.

2. Cruel Intentions (1999)

It took me a while to watch this legendary movie, for no particular reason I didn't turn it on, but when I did... So the movie starts with a song by my favorite band Placebo, whose lead singer Brian Molko's voice I could recognize among thousands. The song is called Every You Every Me and it sets the tone perfectly for this romance thriller.

It's funny, though, that for me it was a perfect surprise to hear a beloved song in a movie, but later Placebo fans actually found out about the band thanks to the 1999 Cruel Intentions appearance.

3. LOL (Laughing Out Loud) (2008)

The French version of LOL was my favorite teenage drama for many years. The sweet romance combined with toxic relationships and twisted friendships seemed so perfect and glamorous, that I ended up rewatching the movie several times a year. And it’s probably the only movie where every soundtrack ended up being my favorite.

It’s been more than 15 years now, but I still remember all the lyrics to the songs Little Sister and Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime performed by Jean-Philippe Verdin, Boys and Girls by Blur, Alright by Supergrass, and of course the anthem of youth – Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know. LOL was also the first time I heard The Rolling Stones’ You Can't Always Get What You Want and made it my life’s mantra.

4. Dirty Dancing (1987)

She’s Like the Wind by Patrick Swayze and Wendy Fraser is the iconic song from this no less iconic movie. Of course the movie has a lot to offer soundtrack-wise, but for me this one is the absolute best.

“Rob Lowe was on Rogan's podcast a few years ago. He said Patrick Swayze lobbied to get this song into Youngblood, which was a hockey movie they were in together at the time. Lowe said it had been considered, but there was no place in the movie where it made sense, so they didn't use it. Then when Swayze was in Dirty Dancing, they used it because they didn't have budget for a well-known song, and it climbed all the way to #3 on the Billboard charts,” Redditor doctor-rumack said.

5. Lost in Translation ( 2003)

One of my all-time favorite movies is this Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray hit directed by Sofia Coppola. Set in Tokyo, it explores the lives of two so different, yet so similarly tired people. And the song that made us see them as a whole is the 1982 Roxy Music hit More Than This. After the scene where Bill Murray sings it in karaoke, it became my dream to recreate it in real life.

6. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)

However, what turned out to actually become my go to karaoke song is Metric’s Black Sheep. There’s no time I don’t sing it and it brings me so much joy. The song was performed by the fictional band in the movie with Brie Larson as a lead, and it was actually an amazing cover.

“When the Metric version popped up on Spotify I was like, "hey, it's the song from Scott Pilgrim. Who does this?" Then I fell down the rabbit home. Listened to metric the rest of the day at work,” Redditor Xen0bus said.

7. A Star Is Born (2018)

Well, this one comes as no surprise, actually. A Star Is Born with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper was praised for its soundtracks. But while the whole world goes crazy for Shallow, my favorite song from the movie is called Is That Alright?

8. Titanic ( 1997)

The iconic My Heart Will Go On, performed by Celine Dion, has become inseparable from the movie. I don't know what else to add, except that it is my dream to hear the song live one day.

9. Babygirl (2024)

I am probably the first person to add this movie to the list with perfect soundtracks, but it would be a crime not to. I think the rave scene is probably the best club scene ever created in the cinema, and the song they used is perfect as well. The song is called Crush and is performed by Yellow Claw & Natte Visstick & RHYME.

10. The Bodyguard (1992)

And what better way to end the list than with this iconic movie and song by Whitney Houston. I Will Always Love You is and always will be an anthem for every person in love.

For those of you who want to experience the same joy I did while listening to these songs, here's an Apple Music playlist with all of them.

Here’s the link: https://music.apple.com/ru/playlist/my-choice-best-movie-soundtracks/pl.u-gxblkP1C3y6dlo