Predicting Best Original Song at the Oscars is made more difficult by the three-stage process. In years past, many seemingly sure-fire contenders were deemed to be ineligible. Even those ditties that cleared this hurdle then have to pass muster with the 400 plus members of the music branch of the academy. (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2025 Oscar predictions for Best Original Song.)
To be even eligible for consideration, a tune must meet these criteria:
It must be an original song with words and music, both of which were original and written specifically for the film;
It must be the result of a creative interaction between the filmmaker(s) and the songwriter(s) who have been engaged to work directly on the film; and
There must be a clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition (not necessarily visually presented) of both lyric and melody used in the body of the movie or as the first music cue in the end credits.
The academy asks branch members to view clips from the films that include the performances of the original songs and then rank their favorites using preferential voting. The academy releases the shortlist of 15 semi-finalists on December 17, 2024.
A second round of voting by the members of the music branch, again using preferential voting, cuts these 15 down to the final five nominees. Those will be announced, along with the final contenders in all of the other competitive categories, on January 17. The entire voting membership of the academy will then vote for the Best Original Song winner, which will be revealed during the 97th Academy Awards ceremony on March 2.
Please note: To read full descriptions of each film, check out our 2025 Oscars Best Picture predictions.
UPDATED: July 25, 2024
LEADING CONTENDERS
“Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” from “Twisters” (Universal/Warner Bros.) — Luke Combs
“Claw Machine” from “I Saw the TV Glow” (A24) — Sloppy Jane and Phoebe Bridgers
“Compress/Repress” from “Challengers” (Amazon MGM Studios/Warner Bros.) — Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
“Harper and Will Go West” from “Will & Harper” (Netflix) — Kristen Wiig
“Mi Camino” from “Emilia Pérez” (Netflix)
“Relentless” from “Diane Warren: Relentless” (TBC) — Diane Warren
“Why I’m Here” from “Shirley” (Netflix) — Samara Joy
STRONG CONTENDERS
TBD from “Joker: Folie à Deux” (Warner Bros.)
TBD from “Mufasa: The Lion King” (Walt Disney Pictures)
TBD from “Piece by Piece” (Focus Features)
TBD from “Six Triple Eight” (Netflix)
TBD from “The Wild Robot” (DreamWorks)
POSSIBLE CONTENDERS
TBD from “The End” (Neon)
TBD from “Moana 2” (Walt Disney Pictures)
TBD from “Sing Sing” (A24)
TBD from “Spellbound” (Netflix)
TBD from “Wicked” (Universal)
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