Buzzworthy Suggestions for Musicals & Music Awards

For films involving singing and dancing, as well as other music-related awards.

Favorite Traditional Movie Musical

We’re defining “traditional” musicals as movies that include both singing and spoken dialog (as opposed to “sung-through musicals” with virtually no spoken dialog).

Buzzworthy: 42nd Street (1933) • All That Jazz (1979) • An American In Paris (1951) • The Band Wagon (1953) • Beauty and the Beast (1991) • Beauty and the Beast (2017) • Blinded by the Light (2019) • Cabaret (1972) • Cabin in the Sky (1943) • Camelot (1967) • Chicago (2002) • Dancer in the Dark (2000) • Donkey Skin (1970) • Dreamgirls (2006) • Fiddler on the Roof (1971) • Funny Face (1957) • Funny Girl (1968) • God Help the Girl (2014) • Golden Eighties (1986) • Grease (1978) • Guys And Dolls (1955) • A Hard Day’s Night (1964) • Hedwig and The Angry Inch (2001) • In the Heights (2021) • Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) • It’s Always Fair Weather (1955) • The King and I (1956) • Kiss Me Kate (1953) • Las Cosas del Querer (1989) • The Legend of the Stardust Brothers (1985) • Lemonade (2016) • The Lion King (1994) • The Little Mermaid (1989) • Love Me Tonight (1932) • Mary Poppins (1964) • Meet Me In St. Louis (1944) • Moulin Rouge! (2001) • Mughal-e-Azam (1960) • My Fair Lady (1964) • Nashville (1975) • New York, New York (1977) • On an Island with You (1948) • On The Town (1949) • Once (2007) • Phantom of the Paradise (1974) • Purple Rain (1984) • Pyaasa (1957) • Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954) • Sholay (1975) • Show Boat (1936) • The Sound of Music (1965) • A Star Is Born (1954) • A Star Is Born (2018) • Stormy Weather (1943) • Swing Time (1936) • Tokyo Tribe (2014) • Top Hat (1935) • West Side Story (1961) • A Woman Is a Woman (1961) • Words and Music (1948) • Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) • The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)

Favorite Sung-Through Musicals

The term sung-through (also through-sung) describes a musical, musical film, opera, or other work of performance art in which songs entirely or almost entirely stand in place of any spoken dialogue. Conversations, speeches, and musings are communicated musically, for example through a combination of recitative, aria, and arioso. Early versions of this include the Italian genre of opera buffa, a light-hearted form of opera that gained prominence in the 1750s.

Buzzworthy: Annette (2021) • Art Thief Musical! (2004) • Cats (1998) • Cats (2019) • Come from Away (2021) • Evita (1996) • Hamilton (2020) • Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003) • Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (1975) • Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) • Johanna (2005) • Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1999) • The Last Five Years (2014) • Les Misérables (2012) • Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem (2003) • The Phantom of the Opera (2004) • Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982) • Rent (2005) • Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008) • Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) • Tommy (1975) • The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) • Une chambre en ville (1982)

Favorite Jukebox Musicals

A jukebox musical is a stage musical or musical film in which a majority of the songs are well-known popular music songs, rather than original music. Some jukebox musicals use a wide variety of songs, while others confine themselves to songs performed by one singer or band or written by one songwriter. In such cases, the plot is often a biography of the artist(s) in question. In other jukebox musicals, the plot is purely fictional. For musicals about a musician or musical act, some of the songs can be diegetic, meaning that they are performed within the world of the play or film. Works in which all of the music is diegetic, however, such as a biographical film about a singer who is at times shown performing their songs, are generally not considered jukebox musicals.

Buzzworthy: 20 centímetros (2005) • Across the Universe (2007) • All That Jazz (1979) • An American in Paris (1951) • American Pop (1981) • At Long Last Love (1975) • The Band Wagon (1953) • The Blues Brothers (1980) • Blues Brothers 2000 (1998) • Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) • Can’t Stop the Music (1980) • Cinderella (2021) • Cruella (2020) • Don’t Knock the Rock (1957) • Easter Parade (1948) • Everyone Says I Love You (1996) • Gnomeo & Juliet (2011) • Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) • Happy Feet (2006) • Happy Feet Two (2011) • Hootenanny Hoot (1963) • Idlewild (2006) • Jersey Boys (2014) • Love Me or Leave Me (1955) • Love’s Labour’s Lost (2000) • Lovestruck: The Musical (2013) • Mamma Mia! (2008) • Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) • Meet Me in St. Louis (1945) • Moulin Rouge! (2001) • My Heart Goes Boom! (2020) • One Sunday Afternoon (1948) • Painting the Clouds with Sunshine (1951) • A Piece of My Heart (2019) • Pitch Perfect (2012) • Rock Around the Clock (1956) • Rock of Ages (2012) • Rocketman (2019) • Romance & Cigarettes (2006) • Sing (2016) • Singin’ in the Rain (1952) • Son of Dracula (1974) • Spice World (1997) • Stilyagi (2008) • Strange Magic (2015) • Sunshine on Leith (2013) • Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) • Toi, moi, les autres (2011) • Trolls (2016) • Valley Girl (2020) • Walking on Sunshine (2014) • Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) • Yellow Submarine (1968) • Yesterday (2019)

Favorite Musical Biopics

Musical biopics tell the biographical story of a real musician or musical group, generally showing the musicians performing their own music. They differ from jukebox musicals in that the jukebox musicals use the music to advance the story, while the biopics are more likely to show performances of the musicians’ songs. That said, there may be considerable overlap between the two.

Buzzworthy: 24 Hour Party People (2002) • 8 Mile (2002) • Amadeus (1984) • Backbeat (1994) • Behind the Candelabra (2013) • Bird (1988) • Blaze (2018) • Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) • Born To Be Blue (2015) • Bound For Glory (1976) • The Buddy Holly Story (1978) • Cadillac Records (2008) • Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980) • Control (2007) • Funny Girl (1968) • Gainsbourg (2010) • Get On Up (2014) • The Glenn Miller Story (1953) • Great Balls Of Fire! (1989) • Greetings From Tim Buckley (2012) • Hilary And Jackie (1998) • I’ll See You In My Dreams (1951) • I’m Not There (2007) • Immortal Beloved (1994) • Jimi: All Is By My Side (2013) • La Bamba (1987) • La Môme (2007) • Lady Sings the Blues (1972) • Love & Mercy (2014) • Miles Ahead (2016) • Nowhere Boy (2009) • One Chance (2013) • The Pianist (2002) • Ray (2004) • Rocketman (2019) • Round Midnight (1986) • The Runaways (2010) • Selena (1997) • Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010) • Shine (1996) • Sid & Nancy (1986) • Song Without End (1960) • The Sound of Music (1965) • Straight Outta Compton (2015) • Sweet Dreams (1985) • Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993) • Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) • Walk the Line (2005) • What’s Love Got To Do With It (1993) • Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Favorite Dance and Choreography in a Musical

When Contact (unrelated to the Jodie Foster movie) won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2000, the award was controversial because the show features dancing without any singing or original songs. (In response, the Tony Awards created a new category the following year for Best Special Theatrical Event.) This Cosmo award recognizes the best dancing in films regardless of whether the film features live signing like West Side Story, or whether the performers are dancing to a musical number (like Footloose).

Buzzworthy: 42nd Street (1933) • And Then We Danced (2019) • The Band Wagon (1953) • Billy Elliot (2000) • Black Swan (2010) • Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940) • Burlesque (2010) • Cabaret (1972) • Center Stage (2000) • Chicago (2002) • A Chorus Line (1985) • The Company (2003) • Dance Academy: The Movie (2017) • Dance with Me (1998) • Dancers (1987) • Dirty Dancing (1987) • Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004) • Easter Parade (1948) • Fame (2009) • Feel the Beat (2020) • The Fits (2015) • Flashdance (1983) • Footloose (1984) • Footloose (2011) • Full Out (2020) • The Gay Divorcee (1934) • High Strung (2016) • Holiday Inn (1942) • Honey (2003) • Leap! (2017) • Magic Mike (2012) • Magic Mike XXL (2015) • The Nutcracker (1993) • The Red Shoes (1948) • Saturday Night Fever (1977) • Save the Last Dance (2001) • Shall We Dance? (2004) • Showgirls (1995) • Singin’ in the Rain (1952) • Step Up (2006) • Stomp the Yard (2007) • Strictly Ballroom (1992) • Suspiria (1977) • Swing Time (1936) • Top Hat (1935) • The Turning Point (1977) • West Side Story (1961) • The White Crow (2019) • White Nights (1985) • You Got Served (2004)

Favorite Movie Soundtrack

Awarded to the film whose score or soundtrack you liked the best. This may include new songs, pre-released songs, or be purely orchestral or instrumental.

Buzzworthy: 2001: A Space Odyssey (2001) • The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) • Amadeus (1984) • American Graffiti (1973) • Baby Driver (2017) • Before I Fall (2017) • Belly (1998) • Ben-Hur (1959) • The Big Chill (1983) • Black Panther (2018) • The Bodyguard (1992) • Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) • Boogie Nights (1997) • Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) • Call Me by Your Name (2017) • Can’t Hardly Wait (1998) • Chinatown (1974) • Crazy Heart (2009) • Dazed and Confused (1993) • Death Proof (2007) • De-Lovely (2004) • Dirty Dancing (1987) • Donnie Darko (2001) • Drive (2001) • E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) • Easy Rider (1969) • Eden (2014) • Empire Records (1995) • Footloose (1984) • Garden State (2004) • The Godfather (1972) • Gone with the Wind (1939) • The Graduate (1967) • Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2014) • A Hard Day’s Night (1964) • The Harder They Come (1972) • High Fidelity (2000) • High Noon (1952) • Hot Summer Nights (2018) • How the West Was Won (1962) • Hustle & Flow (2005) • Jaws (1975) • Judgment Night (1993) • Kill Bill (2003) • King Kong (1933) • Laura (1944) • Lawrence of Arabia (1962) • The Lion King: The Gift (1994) • Magical Mystery Tour (1967) • The Magnificent Seven (1960) • Malcolm X (1992) • The Mambo Kings (1992) • Mamma Mia! (2008) • Marie Antoinette (2006) • Maximum Overdrive (1986) • Midnight Cowboy (1969) • The Mission (1986) • Mo’ Better Blues (1990) • Moana (2016) • O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) • On Golden Pond (1981) • On the Waterfront (1954) • Once (2007) • Out of Africa (1985) • The Pink Panther (1964) • Pitch Perfect (2012) • Planet of the Apes (1968) • Pretty in Pink (1986) • Psycho (1960) • Purple Rain (1984) • Reality Bites (1994) • Repo Man (1984) • River’s Edge (1986) • Rock ’n’ Roll High School (1979) • Rocketman (2019) • Romeo + Juliet (1996) • Rushmore (1998) • Saturday Night Fever (1977) • Selena (1997) • Shaft (1971) • Shutter Island (2010) • Sing Street (2016) • Singles (1992) • Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) • Stand by Me (1986) • A Star Is Born (2018) • Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) • Straight Outta Compton (2015) • A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) • Sunset Blvd. (1950) • Superfly (1972) • Tangerine (2015) • To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) • Trainspotting (1996) • The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2020) • Vertigo (1958) • Waiting to Exhale (1995) • Wild Rose (2018) • Wild Style (1983)

Best Song in a Film

Awarded to the song that Cosmo voters deemed to be the best in a movie, or most effectively used in the film. The song may be original to the movie or the play it’s adapted from, or it may have predated the film if it was used particularly effectively.

Buzzworthy: “42nd Street” – 42nd Street (1933) • “Lose Yourself” – 8 Mile (2002) • “9 To 5” – 9 To 5 (1980) • “I Got Rhythm” – An American In Paris (1951) • “Seems Like Old Times” – Annie Hall (1977) • “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” – Arthur (1981) • “That’s Entertainment” – The Band Wagon (1953) • “Wind Beneath My Wings” – Beaches (1988) • “Beauty and the Beast” – Beauty and the Beast (1991) • “Thanks for the Memory” – The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938) • “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” – The Big Chill (1983) • “Rock Around the Clock” – Blackboard Jungle (1955) • “I Will Always Love You” – The Bodyguard (1992) • “Moon River” – Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) • “On the Good Ship Lollipop” – Bright Eyes (1934) • “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) • “Cabaret” – Cabaret (1972) • “As Time Goes By” – Casablanca (1942) • “Memory” – Cats (2019) • “All That Jazz” – Chicago (2002) • ‘Long Ago and Far Away” – Cover Girl (1944) • “Days of Wine and Roses” – Days of Wine and Roses (1962) • “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” – Dirty Dancing (1987) • “Fight the Power” – Do the Right Thing (1989) • “Born To Be Wild” – Easy Rider (1969) • “You Must Love Me” – Evita (1996) • “Fame” – Fame (1980) • “Flashdance…What a Feeling” – Flashdance (1983) • “Footloose” – Footloose (1984) • “Don’t Rain On My Parade” – Funny Girl (1968) • “People” – Funny Girl (1968) • “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” – Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) • “Unchained Melody” – Ghost (1990) • “Thank Heaven for Little Girls” – Gigi (1958) • “Put the Blame on Mame” – Gilda (1946) • “Swinging on a Star” – Going My Way (1944) • “Goldfinger” – Goldfinger (1964) • “Mrs. Robinson” – The Graduate (1967) • “Summer Nights” – Grease (1978) • “Luck Be A Lady” – Guys and Dolls (1955) • “Aquarius” – Hair (1979) • “High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin)” – High Noon (1952) • “White Christmas” – Holiday Inn (1942) • “Jailhouse Rock” – Jailhouse Rock (1957) • “Shall We Dance” – The King and I (1956) • “I Dreamed a Dream” – Les Misérables (2012) • “One Day More” – Les Misérables (2012) • “Hakuna Matata” – The Lion King (1994) • “Isn’t it Romantic?” – Love Me Tonight (1932) • “Suicide is Painless” – M*A*S*H (1970) • “Dancing Queen” – Mamma Mia! (2008) • “Mamma Mia” – Mamma Mia! (2008) • “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)” – The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) • “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” – Mary Poppins (1964) • “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” – Meet Me In St. Louis (1944) • “The Trolley Song” – Meet Me In St. Louis (1944) • “Everybody’s Talkin”‘ – Midnight Cowboy (1969) • “Come What May” – Moulin Rouge! (2001) • “Rainbow Connection” – The Muppet Movie (1979) • “I Could Have Danced All Night” – My Fair Lady (1964) • “I’m Easy” – Nashville (1975) • “Theme from New York, New York” – New York, New York (1977) • “Up Where We Belong” – An Officer and A Gentleman (1982) • “New York, New York” – On the Town (1949) • “Buttons and Bows” – The Paleface (1948) • “Streets of Philadelphia” – Philadelphia (1993) • “When You Wish Upon A Star” – Pinocchio (1940) • “Summertime” – Porgy and Bess (1959) • “Springtime for Hitler” – The Producers (1968) • “Old Time Rock and Roll” – Risky Business (1983) • “(We’re Off on the) Road to Morocco” – Road To Morocco (1942) • “Gonna Fly Now” – Rocky (1976) • “The Rose” – The Rose (1979) • “The Shadow of Your Smile” – The Sandpiper (1965) • “Stayin’ Alive” – Saturday Night Fever (1977) • “Theme from Shaft” – Shaft (1971) • “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” – Shall We Dance (1937) • “Ol’ Man River” – Show Boat (1936) • “Good Morning” – Singin’ In the Rain (1952) • “Make ‘Em Laugh” – Singin’ In the Rain (1952) • “Singin’ in the Rain” – Singin’ In the Rain (1952) • “Some Day My Prince Will Come” – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) • “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” – Song of the South (1947) • “Do Re Mi” – The Sound of Music (1965) • “The Sound of Music” – The Sound of Music (1965) • “My Favorite Things” – Sound of Music, The (1965) • “Some Enchanted Evening” – South Pacific (1958) • “Nobody Does it Better” – The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) • “The Man That Got Away” – A Star Is Born (1954) • “Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star is Born)” – A Star Is Born (1976) • “Shallow” – A Star Is Born (2018) • “Stormy Weather” – Stormy Weather (1943) • “Get Happy” – Summer Stock (1950) • “Way You Look Tonight, The” – Swing Time (1936) • “The Windmills of Your Mind” – The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) • “My Heart Will Go On” – Titanic (1997) • “Cheek to Cheek” – Top Hat (1935) • “The Way We Were” – The Way We Were (1973) • “America” – West Side Story (1961) • “Somewhere” – West Side Story (1961) • “Tonight” – West Side Story (1961) • “It Had to Be You” – When Harry Met Sally (1989) • “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead” – The Wizard of Oz (1939) • “Over the Rainbow” – The Wizard of Oz (1939) • “Let the River Run” – Working Girl (1988) • “The Yankee Doodle Boy” – Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) • “Puttin’ on the Ritz” – Young Frankenstein (1974)

Buzzworthy Suggestions for Other Awards

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