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Ahead of the 2026 Oscars, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revealed its shortlists for nominees in several categories, including Best Original Song and Best Original Score. Among this year’s shortlisted artists are Nine Inch Nails, Nick Cave, and the recording artists behind the Pop Culture Event of the Year, KPop Demon Hunters.
For Best Original Song, 65 songs were eligible for nomination this year. Now shortened to a selection of 15 songs, the list includes the massive 2025 hit “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters’ fictional girl group HUNTR/X, which we named as one of the best songs of the year.
For the second year in a row, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross appear on the shortlists for both Best Original Song and Best Original Score. This time, however, it’s for their work as Nine Inch Nails (our Live Act of the Year) on the recent TRON: Ares film, with “As Alive As You Need Me” appearing on the Best Original Song shortlist.
Two films received more than one listing for Best Original Song on this year’s shortlist: The pair of new songs from Wicked: For Good, “No Place Like Home” (sung by Cynthia Erivo) and “The Girl in the Bubble” (sung by Ariana Grande) received nods, while two original tracks from Sinners, “I Lied to You” and “Last Time (I Seen The Sun),” made the list.
Elsewhere in the Best Original Song selections are: Nick Cave for his song “Train Dreams” from the film of the same name; Miley Cyrus for “Dream As One,” her contribution to the new film Avatar: Fire and Ash; Kesha for “Dear Me,” a track from Diane Warren: Restless; Sara Bareilles for “Salt Then Sour Then Sweet” from Come See Me in the Good Light; and Billy Idol and J. Ralph for their song “Dying to Live,” which appears in Idol’s new documentary, Billy Idol Should Be Dead. Check out the full shortlist for the 2026 Oscar for Best Original Song below.
In the Best Original Score category, 20 scores were shortlisted out of a total of 132 eligible films. Among the highlights are the aforementioned Nine Inch Nails for TRON: Ares; Jonny Greenwood for One Battle After Another; Jerskin Fendrix for Bugonia; Ludwig Göransson for Sinners; Daniel Lopatin (A.K.A. Oneohtrix Point Never) for Marty Supreme; Bryce Dessner for Train Dreams; Hildur Guðnadóttir for Hedda; and Hans Zimmer for F1. See the full shortlist for Best Original Score below.
The 98th Academy Awards will take place on March 15th, 2026, with Conan O’Brien returning as host. The full list of nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22, 2026.
See where many of these movies landed in our Best Films of 2025 list, and read our Composers of the Year interview spotlighting original scoring and soundtrack contributions from IDLES, Son Lux, and more.
Best Original Song Shortlist:
“As Alive As You Need Me To Be” from Tron: Ares — Nine Inch Nails, Boys Noize
“Dear Me” from Diane Warren: Relentless — Kesha
“Dream As One” from Avatar: Fire and Ash — Miley Cyrus
“Drive” from F1 — Ed Sheeran
“Dying To Live” from Billy Idol Should Be Dead — Billy Idol, J. Ralph
“The Girl In The Bubble” from Wicked: For Good — Ariana Grande
“Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters — HUNTR/X
“Highest 2 Lowest” from Highest 2 Lowest — Aiyana-Lee
“I Lied To You” from Sinners — Miles Caton
“Last Time (I Seen The Sun)” from Sinners — Alice Smith, Miles Caton
“No Place Like Home” from Wicked: For Good — Cynthia Erivo
“Our Love” from The Ballad of Wallis Island — Tom Badsen, Carey Mulligan
“Salt Then Sour Then Sweet” from Come See Me in the Good Light — Sara Bareilles
“Sweet Dreams Of Joy” from Viva Verdi! — Nicholas Pike, Ana María Martínez
“Train Dreams” from Train Dreams — Nick Cave
Best Original Score Shortlist:
Avatar: Fire and Ash — Simon Franglen
Bugonia — Jerskin Fendrix
Captain America: Brave New World — Laura Karpman
Diane Warren: Relentless — Lesley Barber
F1 — Hans Zimmer
Frankenstein — Alexandre Desplat
Hamnet — Max Richter
Hedda — Hildur Guðnadóttir
A House of Dynamite — Volker Bertelmann
Jay Kelly — Nicholas Britell
Marty Supreme — Daniel Lopatin
Nuremberg — Brian Tyler
One Battle After Another — Jonny Greenwood
Sinners — Ludwig Göransson
Sirât — Kangding Ray
Train Dreams — Bryce Dessner
Tron: Ares — Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Truth and Treason — Aaron Zigman
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery — Nathan Johnson
Wicked: For Good — John Powell, Stephen Schwartz
English (US) · 